Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired others to demand change and enact laws that would ensure equality and justice for all. From his jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama he once wrote the immortal words, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” In so doing - many agree - he helped plant the seeds for the environmental justice movement.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data reported in 2005 found people of color were 80% more likely to live near industrial hazardous pollution sites than white Americans. As rising seas and weather events become more frequent, the poor will likely be most at risk just as when hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans - African American neighborhoods were hit hardest. The seeds of the civil rights movement and the legislation that followed became a common sense model for clean air, clean water and environmental protection for the good of all.
“I am old enough to have witnessed and experienced the remarkable progress that’s been made since the 1960s when Dr. King, in addition to his many other achievements, helped plant the seeds for what would become our nation’s now-thriving environmental justice movement.” - Attorney General, Eric Holder.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-helped-plant-seeds-environmental-justice-movement-says
http://www.livescience.com/39210-the-environmental-movement-debt-to-martin-luther-king-jr.html