Graphic by Callie Wohlgemuth ’21
BY JOCELYN ZHOU ’22
Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate activist, was cropped out of a photo circulated by various press agencies after she attended the World Economic Conference in Davos, Switzerland. The photo only showed her white peers, including Greta Thunberg.
Nakate is the founder of the climate action group Youth for Future Africa and the Rise Up Movement. She has taken part in 56 Fridays for Future protests and has spent more than 80 days campaigning for the preservation of Congo forests.
Nakate was bothered by the high temperature of her home country and in turn worked to raise consciousness about the global climate. Inspired by Thunberg, she participated in the climate strike in December 2018. Despite her efforts, the initial report of the conference still did not include her in the photo.
“My reaction was more of a feeling of sadness and a feeling of being worthless and having wasted my time at the press conference,” Nakate said, according to CNN. “I didn’t just see the photo, I went ahead to read the article. And, in the article still, I was not introduced as one of the activists who were at the press conference.”
After confronting the agency, Nakate gained online support; Thunberg supported her and condemned the agency. The photo raised debate over the lack of representation of non-white activists in the media.
“I think it’s problematic,” Zoe Alberici ’22, a member of Sunrise South Hadley, said. “I think it’s definitely at the forefront of people’s minds.”
Beyond Nakate, many non-white indigenous activists have been dedicated to climate activism in different parts of the world.
Quannah Chasinghorse (17) and Nanieezh Peter (15) advocated for a resolution at one of the largest gatherings of indigenous people in the U.S. They aim to call on the federal voting members to take action on climate change. “We do not want to stop our ways of life. That’s why we’re here,” Chasinghorse said at the Alaska Federation of Natives 2019 Conference.
Helena Gualinga, a 17-year old girl from Ecuador, attended the climate strike in New York over outrage toward the Amazon rainforest fires.
“I know that this is what I have to do,” she told WBUR. “Give a voice to the people that have been silenced and the people that don’t have a voice.”
Kulsum Rifa, an immigrant from Bangladesh, represents the youth-led social justice group SustainUS as part of this year’s U.N. youth climate delegation in New York, speaking up for climate refugees.
“Just the thought of [my family] not having a place to live breaks my heart,” Rifa said to Vice. “If we take action now on climate change, they won’t have to become refugees.”
Indigenous Mexican-American activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez has been campaigning against climate change since he was six years old.
“Every part of the crisis is directly connected to social justice, to racial justice, to the human rights violations that are happening,” Martinez said to Al Jazeera. “Now, more than ever, there is a recognition of the need of indigenous communities’ voices being at the forefront.”