Transcript
>> HINOJOSA: She is a leader of
the Green Movement who's worked
tirelessly to bring green spaces
and green jobs to the inner
city.
Social justice and environmental
activist Majora Carter.
I'm Maria Hinojosa, this is One
On One.
Majora Carter, welcome to our
program.
>> CARTER: Thank you for having me.
>> HINOJOSA: So okay, you are a
genius, award winning...
important to say straight up at
the front.
I know, you're like, "No, no,
no!"
You are a woman of the South
Bronx.
>> CARTER: Yes.
>> HINOJOSA: And when people
think of the South Bronx, they
think of blown out buildings,
fire, garbage, pollution.
When you look at the South
Bronx, you see what?
>> CARTER: Possibility, promise, some of
the world's most beautiful
people...
>> HINOJOSA: Hmm!
>> CARTER: ...all sorts of assets that
are just waiting to be developed
and recognized as such.
>> HINOJOSA: But when you were
growing up in the South Bronx...
>> CARTER: Uh!
>> HINOJOSA: ...one of ten kids,
okay?
>> CARTER: ( laughing ) Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: What were you
seeing around you?
>> CARTER: I was seeing, you know, the
burned-out shells of buildings.
I did see, you know, crack heads
who lived across the street from
me in a burned out shell.
I did see my neighborhood played
out larger than life on
television about being, like,
the worst place in the world and
nothing good could come of it,
because that's where crime and
prostitution and all these awful
things were, and so that's what
I saw, you know, as a kid.
>> HINOJOSA: What does that do
to a kid?
>> CARTER: ( sighs deeply )
>> HINOJOSA: I mean, profoundly,
what does it do to you when you,
every day to get to school,
you've got to walk by the crack
addicts, and the garbage that's
not collected, and the broken
sidewalks, and the...
>> CARTER: It makes you feel as though
there's something wrong with
you, just inherently.
Like, you know, God wouldn't
have allowed you to be born here
unless there was something wrong
with you, and I spent a lot of
my early years, you know, trying
to figure out, "How am I going
to get out of this place?" and
for me, it was education.
And once I did, you know, I went
to the Bronx High School of
Science and then later on to
Wesleyan University, education
was it.
And I spent a lot of time trying
to completely disassociate
myself from my own roots.
>> HINOJOSA: What did that look
like for you?
What... you know, when you
try...
>> CARTER: ( laughing )
>> HINOJOSA: ...you know, "Where
are you from?"
"Well, I'm from Northern
Manhattan."
>> CARTER: ( laughing ) No, I... I would
say, "Well, I'm from New York,"
and try to change the subject.
And then they go, "But where?"
you know?
And I'd say, "Well, it's in the
Bronx.
It's really close to Manhattan.
( laughing )
I was so bad!
And you know, God forbid, you
know, if I was pushed far enough
and it was clear that I was from
the South Bronx, and... because
often, people were not kind--
they weren't.
Like, I remember hearing stuff,
like, when I... gosh, my 11th
grade high school studies
class-- you know, Mister... I
won't say his name-- but anyway,
you know, like, basically making
these jokes about the South
Bronx.
>> HINOJOSA: Wow.
>> CARTER: And I was just like... and I
was an "A" student in his class,
and still could not bring myself
to defend or support... I mean,
I didn't... I didn't have it in
me to do that.
>> HINOJOSA: Because... did you
really like the South Bronx?
>> CARTER: No, I hated it too.
I just didn't want, you know,
folks to... I didn't want it
associated with me, but I also
didn't want to hear it, either.
So... but it was... it was
definitely a tough thing.
>> HINOJOSA: And you were not an
activist when you... I mean,
there were a lot of activists in
the South Bronx.
That was not you.
>> CARTER: No, I was... I was acting my
way to get out.
That was my path.
>> HINOJOSA: And when you would
see these activists saying, you
know, "Protect the South Bronx,
clean it up, do something," as a
kid, what were...
>> CARTER: As a kid, I honestly didn't
see that many of them, because I
guess it was just like an older
generation that did that, but as
I got older, you know, it was
just sort of like, "There's
nothing here to protect.
There's nothing here; I mean,
I'm out of here.
Like, if anybody with a brain
should go," and that's the way
that I felt.
>> HINOJOSA: And then what ends
up happening is you go to
college; you do, you get away,
you go to Wesleyan, you come
back, you're living at home.
>> CARTER: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: You were supposed
to be far away from the South
Bronx; you end up coming back
home.
>> CARTER: Yeah, I only came home, you
know, because I was broke,
literally.
I started graduate school and I
had no money; like, my program
was that tough.
It was English with a
concentration in Creative
Writing, and the only place that
I could afford was my
parent's... an extra bedroom in
my parent's house.
And I stayed there for two
years, like, literally, and all
I did was go from my house to
the subway.
You know, it's like I knew
nothing about the neighborhood;
I didn't care.
And it wasn't until I actually
got a part-time job working at a
local community development
corporation up the street, and
just kind of got to know my
neighborhood a little bit more.
I, like, discovered that there
were, like, artists there.
There were people who did really
cool things, and, like, loved
themselves and loved each other,
and I was like, "Oh, my gosh...
this... there... this is my
neighborhood.
How did I not see that before?"
And then the thing that really
kept me there, though, starting
to understand the environmental
issues that were happening in
the community.
We got word that the city was
planning on building a huge
waste facility on our
waterfront, and it kind of
clicked something in me, where I
realized that, "Oh, wait a
second-- we've got a huge amount
of these waste facilities here."
Didn't really know that before,
and discovered that this one
would have brought an additional
40% of the city's, you know,
waste to our waterfront.
We were already handling about
40%.
>> HINOJOSA: So a lot of people
are like, "Waste treatment
facility," they don't even
know... so... being in the South
Bronx, you have seen, you have
lived around them.
>> CARTER: Yeah, I just thought...
>> HINOJOSA: What do they look
like?
What do they sound like?
What do they smell like?
>> CARTER: Oh, gross.
You know, there's... with 60,000
diesel truck trips that go
through the area because of all
the food, you know, distribution
place.
I mean, it's... we have the
world's largest food
distribution center in my
neighborhood; of course, the
food is just trucked in and
trucked out, which means, like,
huge fumes...
>> HINOJOSA: Huge trucks.
>> CARTER: Huge fumes and trucks.
You don't get the good food; we
just get the diesel pollution.
We've got two different kinds of
sewage treatment plants-- one
that, like, most of the Bronx's
sewage literally goes to it.
There's a huge methane flame
that's burnt, because they burn
off all the methane that comes
off the sewage, and I remember--
and you can see it from my
house-- and I just thought there
was, like, this big fire burning
down on the waterfront every day
of my life.
And then there's a sewage
pelletizing plant; takes the
sewage sludge and cooks it with
a bunch of chemicals, and it
smells like rotten eggs and
decaying bodies.
>> HINOJOSA: Ugh!
>> CARTER: And this has an impact on
people's health.
I mean, we've got one of the
country's highest asthma rates,
and we also know now that all
that fossil fuel emissions in
the proximity to it causes
learning disabilities in young
kids.
We now know that that-- the kids
that don't do well in schools
that are already in poor
neighborhoods where there're
poor schools to begin with--
have a better chance of going on
to jail than on to higher
education.
>> HINOJOSA: So you're at this
wonderful organization, The
Point...
>> CARTER: Mm-hmm.
>> HINOJOSA: ...which is amazing
in the South Bronx, and you hear
about this waste treatment
facility, and you get upset?
>> CARTER: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: And you're figuring
that all of your neighbors are
going to get really upset too.
>> CARTER: I figured.
>> HINOJOSA: And what happened,
actually?
>> CARTER: Many people would look at me
like, "Honey, this is the South
Bronx; this is what happens
here."
And, you know, I had a little
education; I had a little
distance where I realized that,
you know what?
Everybody doesn't have to...
everybody doesn't live like
this, and everybody doesn't have
to live like this-- and no one
should live like this.
>> HINOJOSA: And at that moment,
you basically said, "I'm
stepping up to the plate; this
is my issue"?
>> CARTER: Yeah, and I also had some
really amazing people in my life
who really supported me to do
that.
You know, some great mentors--
Yolanda Garcia from... the
founder of We Stay/ Nos
Quedamos, who, you know, looks
at me, you know, as sort of like
a new... part of the... a new
generation, and it was just like
I was going to be one of the
leaders in it, whether or not I
wanted to be.
( laughing ) She was... ooh, it
was incredible.
And I was incredibly shy; I
didn't want to talk in front of
people, and she was just like,
"You need to speak from your
heart, because this is your
community," and I'll never
forget that for as long as I
live.
>> HINOJOSA: When you, you know,
at that point, when you're
trying to get your community
active and you're seeing that
there's a lot of apathy-- it's a
predominantly African-American
and Latino community...
>> CARTER: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: ...you know, people
have this question, "Well, do
the folks who live there... do
they get it?"
I mean, there's... on the one
hand, they're like, "Look, this
is just who we are; we're going
to continue to be dumped on,
there's nothing we can do"...
>> CARTER: Mm-hmm.
>> HINOJOSA: And then there's
almost a sense of, "They don't
get it; they don't understand."
>> CARTER: Well, you know, if you start
talking about the environment,
you know, as if it only exists
in the rain forests or, you
know, up in the Arctic Circle,
then no, they're not going to
get that.
That's very far removed from our
existence.
>> HINOJOSA: And that kind of
environment, chances are they
may not even get to.
>> CARTER: Precisely-- but if you start
talking to them in terms...
meeting them where they are and
helping them understand, like,
how this... whatever was
happening right there was
impacting them.
Like for example, when we help
people make the connection
between their children's public
health in particular and the
coming waste facilities, and the
fact that there was already a
whole bunch there, suddenly
people were just like, "Oh, is
this pollution?
Oh, it's particulate matter
that's smaller than 2.5 microns?
That must be really small-- and
that's what going into my kid's
lungs, and that's what's making
me have to take my child to the
emergency room twice a month?
Oh, no, no, no.
We're... what do we need to do?
What petition to sign?"
>> HINOJOSA: It clicks.
>> CARTER: "Who do I need to talk to?"
Then they understood it, and
then later on, it was kind of
like, you know, people started
to think, "Okay, this is great,"
you know, "we are actually
seeing some movement," you know?
Like, they start to see how our
advocacy paid off, and that, I
think, was a really powerful
thing.
And later on, we wanted to see
even more, and then it's like,
"Well, what do you want in your
community?"
And it was some bizarre thing,
because so many times, I think,
in poor communities of any
color, we're not often asked
what we want.
You know, we know, on some
level, how to fight, because
that's what we do.
You know, it's just a part of,
like, being in our own culture.
It's like, you know, like, being
in a place that's hostile to our
very existence, because there
are forces at play that things
are done... you know, that
that's where you put the
pollution, and that's where you
put the bad schools.
This is where all these things
happen, and so we're used to
having things done to us, but on
some level, we had to recognize
that there were things that we
needed to really step up and
recognize what we wanted,
ourselves.
>> HINOJOSA: So this connection,
you know, a lot of times when
you hear people talk about
environment-- the environmental
movement-- it is; you're looking
at parks, you're looking at, you
know, the Arctic, you're looking
at these things.
How do... what... how does the
conversation need to change so
that people understand it is our
environment, wherever we live?
>> CARTER: People really only need three
things: something to love,
something to do, something to
feel hopeful about.
That doesn't change for
anybody-- I don't care how rich
or how poor you are-- and that
also has everything to do with,
like, how... the kind of
environment you want to live
in-- and environment not just
being, you know, going
someplace, but it's like
everything around you.
It takes into account, you know,
what kind of walk do you have on
your way to work?
You know, what kind of food do
you buy?
You know, where do you recreate?
You know, what kind of job do
you have?
And when we start helping people
see that all of these have
everything to do, you know, with
the environment, right?
Like, our pollution-based
economy, you know, helped
dictate that there were poor
communities-- poor communities
of color-- that were always at
the negative end, you know, of
what that meant.
Like, we weren't the ones making
lots of money from these crazy
technologies, and the pollution,
and the trucks that may carry
goods that we can't get in our
own communities; but we were the
ones who were breathing it in,
and getting sick, and getting
all sorts of cancers and stuff
like that.
>> HINOJOSA: So a term like
"environmental racism"?
>> CARTER: Mm-hmm-- no, actually, I
don't like to use "environmental
racism"...
>> CARTER: >> HINOJOSA: Because?
>> CARTER: Because when people who might
be, or, I think on some level we
all are, hear of that word, they
have... especially when it's in
relation to the environment,
they'll think, "Well, that's not
me," and it shuts you down.
When you say something like...
>> HINOJOSA: "It's their
problem; it's their
community..."
>> CARTER: Exactly, like, "I didn't do
that; I'm not a racist."
But if you say things like,
"Everyone deserves environmental
justice," then everyone deserves
the right to live in a place
that's not disproportionately
impacted by lots of polluting
facilities, and that we should
have some environmental
benefits.
Nobody could disagree with that,
especially when you start to
make the claim that if you... if
folks don't have that, then
sooner or later, it's going to
affect everybody.
And people can... everybody can
figure that out.
>> HINOJOSA: Because, actually,
the South Bronx is very close to
Manhattan.
>> CARTER: Hmm, interesting!
>> HINOJOSA: ( laughing )
We all do breath in the same
air.
>> CARTER: Yeah!
>> HINOJOSA: You had an amazing
experience-- and I've been up
there with you-- that your dog,
who was a little... who was a
stray, ends up leading you all
this back way, and you end up
finding that there's a
riverfront...
>> CARTER: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: ...in the Bronx--
in the South Bronx.
>> CARTER: Mm-hmm.
My dog... it was around the time
we were just really early on in
the stages of fighting against
the waste facility, and I got a
dog at the same time.
And I kept getting these notices
to see if we wanted to restore,
and asking community groups to
work on these... to get these
grants to restore the Bronx
river.
And I knew there was a Bronx
River-- there was a parkway
called the Bronx River Parkway.
It went through my... you know,
past my neighborhood.
Never occurred to me that we
could get to the river, because
so many polluted facilities.
My dog-- actually it was a she,
Xena...
>> HINOJOSA: Oh, ooh!
>> CARTER: ...that's okay.
She's a big girl, but she's
about 80 pounds, and she
literally... I would go jogging
with her, and she pulled me into
what I thought was an abandoned
dump, and it turns out that it
was, in fact, a dock that was
disgusting.
But at the end of it that was
the river, and I realized, "Oh,
my gosh," like, "we could have a
waterfront park here," and
literally ran home, wrote the
proposal, and it grew into this
amazing, amazing thing that we
were able to leverage that tiny,
little $10,000 grant, like, tons
of times over, and we got a $3
million park that was debuted in
2006.
>> HINOJOSA: What I want to know
about is how did you figure...
okay, "I'm from the South Bronx,
but I am going to challenge all
of these people.
I'm going to take them on,"
because, you know, again,
everybody thinks of the South
Bronx as the dumping ground.
>> CARTER: Right.
>> HINOJOSA: What made you...
from where, to just say, "Yeah,
okay, sure, I've been to
college, I did all these
wonderful things.
I have a great degree, et
cetera."
But what made you really think,
"And I'm going to challenge them
and I'm going to win"?
>> CARTER: I didn't know I couldn't, you
know?
It just seemed like this was
right thing to do.
It's just like, how could you
dump on a community, like, this
vulnerable for so long and not
think that someone was going to
challenge it?
And I wasn't the first person to
challenge them, by no stretch of
the imagination.
I just use a sort of a different
tactic.
But it just seemed like there
was nothing else I could be
doing with my life, really, and
like, I didn't know how it was
going to work out, but I sure as
hell was going to try.
>> HINOJOSA: You, of course,
dedicate yourself-- or dedicated
yourself at the beginning of the
community... of your career to
working in the South Bronx.
How many other South Bronx
are there across the country?
>> CARTER: Oh, countless, countess
numbers.
I mean...
>> HINOJOSA: How do you want
people, you know, who are
watching this show... what do
you want them to look out, like,
when they're driving by, what do
you want them to be looking for
in terms of these communities
that maybe they drive by and
they're just like, "They're
abandoned, has nothing"...
>> CARTER: Mm-hmm.
>> HINOJOSA: What do you want
them to be thinking about as
they're zipping by?
>> CARTER: I want to remind people that
people everywhere are human, you
know?
That we all have the same
dreams-- the same hopes for our
future, for our children, for
ourselves where we are right
now, and I think the horrible
thing about the way poverty has
been treated, you know, in our
country-- and actually around
the world, but specifically in
this country-- is that it's...
the problem is the people there,
and there's somehow something
really, horribly wrong with
them.
And no one really thinks-- the
same way that I didn't know--
you know, back when I was not
that much younger at this point,
you know, that there were
institutional, you know,
regulatory, you know, issues
that created the South Bronx.
I mean, nobody in my
neighborhood, you know, 50
years... not even 50 years ago
when there was lots of
manufacturing asked for it to be
outsourced to China, therefore
losing huge amounts of jobs in
our communities.
And we could talk about places
in Kansas City, and Chicago, and
all over the Rust Belt, and down
South, and all over-- we didn't
ask for that.
You know, we didn't ask for the
prosperity that actually would
have led us into... more of our
kids into higher education
rather into prison, to just go
away.
We didn't ask for the
pollution-based economy to
become, you know, basically, you
know, indestructible from our
own communities.
Just like, remember, we
didn't... those... there was
institutions and huge, powerful
bodies that did that, and of
course, there were going to be
consequences for the people that
live there, and it would make it
harder.
>> HINOJOSA: You know, I've
lived in some of these
communities, and I always try to
tell people, "You know what?
We're just abandoned
communities..."
>> CARTER: Yes!
>> HINOJOSA: "...we're
completely abandoned, and
everybody who's living there
wants a better community."
But, you know, then the drugs
come in, and then the police
don't come, and it's just you're
an abandoned community.
But you decide to respond to
that by creating an organization
called Sustainable South Bronx.
You end up winning this amazing
award-- the MacArthur Genius
Award.
I know you don't like it when
people say it, but it is the
truth...
>> CARTER: Except my husband.
I like to trot that out with him
every now and then.
>> HINOJOSA: ( laughing )
>> CARTER: It's like, "Honey, who's the
genius in the house?"
>> HINOJOSA: Oh, my gosh!
>> CARTER: Okay.
>> HINOJOSA: So and you end up,
you know, addressing the TED
Conference, and you end up
meeting Vice President Al
Gore...
>> CARTER: Uh-huh.
>> HINOJOSA: ...and that moment
when you meet Al Gore is pretty
amazing, right?
>> CARTER: It was.
>> HINOJOSA: Because he
basically says to you, "Oh, just
apply for a grant," you know,
"we're going to include you in
the environmental stuff."
And you said to him...
>> CARTER: Well, actually, he didn't say
it includes me in the
environmental stuff.
>> HINOJOSA: Oh.
>> CARTER: It was more of, like, a
brush-off.
The, you know, "Apply for a
grant" was kind of like, "We'll
have these little things that,
you know, that's what we do for
folks that don't really deserve
a seat at he table."
And I was just like, "No, we all
need to have a seat at the
table."
It's big enough for all of us.
>> HINOJOSA: I love that.
You're replying to the Vice
President...
>> CARTER: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: ...former Vice
President, and saying, "No, no,
no, no, no.
I'm not asking for anything; I'm
telling you...
>> CARTER: Yeah, "...what you need so
that we can make this world a
better place."
>> HINOJOSA: And how's your
relationship with Al Gore these
days?
>> CARTER: Oh, we don't really have one.
I mean, I totally support what
he's doing.
I mean, really, no one-- no
one-- has done more to raise the
issue of climate change on this
planet, you know, except the
other folks he won the Nobel
Prize with.
And but I still think that there
is still this perception, you
know, that folks from
communities like ours-- whether
it's urban or rural, because
believe me, South Bronx's come
in rural places too; they are
white, they are black, they are
everything in between; it's
bizarre.
>> HINOJOSA: Yeah, I've been to
a place where there's a pork
processing plant where there's a
lot of environmental
pollution...
>> CARTER: Exactly.
>> HINOJOSA: ...in North
Carolina, yeah.
>> CARTER: Yeah, actually one of our...
our first client for my new
consulting firm is actually
working around in that area, but
that's a whole other story.
>> HINOJOSA: No, but that leads
us into the next thing, because
you basically have decided that
you want to grow bigger.
>> CARTER: Mm-hmm.
>> HINOJOSA: It's not about just
staying at one community-based
organization, which is an
amazing organization.
You decide you need to grow, and
so you create your own
consultancy, and you actually
say, "I've found my inner
Capitalist."
( laughter )
>> CARTER: Yes.
>> HINOJOSA: Because you're
feeling like, you know, yeah,
South Bronx people are really
good to fight and protest, but
you're saying, what?
You want to change?
>> CARTER: I want us to also understand
our value.
Like, I think that the lessons
that I learned in the South
Bronx, that, you know, the
projects that we pioneered-- in
particular, we're developing one
of the first Green Job training
and placement systems in the
country that really worked with
and taught the ecological
restoration skills to some of
the most... folks with
significant barriers to
employment.
Folks that who were
incarcerated, folks that had
been in the public welfare
system for decades-- you know,
families, generational poverty--
and taught them these skills,
and were able... helped them
understand not only could they
get money in their pockets, but
they also could provide these
amazing environmental services
that did... that provided real
monetary benefit, you know,
actually, to our municipality in
terms of, you know, reducing...
helping to, like, deal with
urban heat island mitigation,
which is the fact that lots
of... that our cities are much
hotter simply because of all the
black-top surfaces that we have
and asphalt and stuff like that.
Water conservation, energy, you
know, efficiency issues; and I'm
like, "This is a great thing."
So I took that and realized that
there's some real value in this.
I mean, there are lots of people
that talk green, but there
aren't a lot of folks just yet,
because this is still a very new
movement-- big time.
>> HINOJOSA: I love... well,
yeah, no.
I mean, I love the fact that
everybody is green now.
>> CARTER: I know, I know.
>> HINOJOSA: Everybody's green,
and I'm just like, "Just how
green are you?"
>> CARTER: Yeah.
It's a really interesting kind
of thing, because what... and I
realized that there was so many
folks out there like, you know,
touting themselves as green
consultants, who have actually,
like... actually never done many
of the things that I've done.
>> HINOJOSA: Really?
>> CARTER: And I was just like, "Wait a
second."
Like, I know... I mean, like, I
saw the changes that it made,
number one, in people's lives
when they saw themselves as a
powerful being.
When they realized that they
could do something to make this
world a better place, and they
were.
You know, when they put a green
roof up, when they actually
worked as a part of an urban
forestry, you know, steward
team.
That they knew they were
providing a real benefit to the
environment, and they felt that
power.
I mean, that was incredible
stuff.
>> HINOJOSA: And plus, they were
getting paid, right?
>> CARTER: Absolutely!
So they knew that they had... it
was like the dignity of work,
the dignity of the kind of work
they were doing, and I was just
like, "This is a model that we
need to take out.
This is exact... like, how do we
help other, you know,
communities, municipalities,
regions around the country do
this?"
>> HINOJOSA: And one of the
places where you found some
lessons I think was unexpected
to you, which is Bogota,
Columbia.
>> CARTER: Oh, yes, uh-huh.
>> HINOJOSA: And again, people
think of Columbia and they kind
of think of it in the same way
as the South Bronx-- disaster,
don't even go down, scary,
crime.
>> CARTER: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: In face, Bogota,
the capital, has done amazing
things.
>> CARTER: Amazing work.
>> HINOJOSA: What have you
learned from Bogota?
>> CARTER: Oh, my gosh.
They, like, helped redefine what
transportation could and should
be, you know?
Especially in urban contexts
where you've got, you know,
huge-- like, the gap between
rich and poor is very large.
The same way it is in a lot of,
you know, urban municipalities
around the world.
And then what they did was they
looked at how many folks
actually use cars.
It was only, I think, like 14%--
you know, the wealthiest, you
know, part... you know, upper
echelons of Bogotan society.
And then most people didn't, and
how did they... may people
actually lived on less than a
dollar or two a day.
And then they realized that the
only way to actually create,
like, a sense of pride for all
of Bogota was to make...
democratize transportation.
>> HINOJOSA: Democratize
transportation, okay.
What does that look like?
>> CARTER: Well, in many cases they got
rid of cars, you know?
Literally narrowed streets; got
rid of parking so that if you
wanted a car, you had to pay for
it.
It was not a city's
responsibility to do so.
And then they created things
like bike paths, because most
folks were able to afford a
bicycle to get around.
And they created one of the most
incredible bus rapid-transit
systems that just allowed folks
of, you know, any class, you
know, to get to a place really
efficiently, and in comfort, and
in style, and it was affordable
to pretty much everybody.
And then they also, in the
poorest of the poorest
neighborhoods, I mean, they
basically like, slums...
>> HINOJOSA: Yeah.
>> CARTER: ...they actually created
these beautiful open spaces, so
that people could be outside,
which, of course, reduced the
crime rate there.
>> HINOJOSA: Wow!
>> CARTER: It was just like, this... I
mean, and they did it for a buck
and a quarter.
I mean, it was... I mean, okay,
I'm exaggerating there, but it
was still one of some of the
most inexpensive pieces of
infrastructure that they put in,
and I was just like, "Why aren't
we doing this kind of stuff
here?"
And I was... I was very close to
that area, because it reminded
me of my own community.
>> HINOJOSA: So when you think
of the possibilities... of
course, you are now working
countrywide...
>> CARTER: Mm-hmm.
>> HINOJOSA: You have... are you
doing international stuff too?
>> CARTER: With any luck, yes.
>> HINOJOSA: Okay, some
international stuff.
>> CARTER: We've got some... feelers out
in the U.K. and also in Canada.
>> HINOJOSA: So your vision of
what these communities can look
like-- describe them for me.
Yes, you're a visionary, you're
a dreamer; okay, your "dreamo"
vision.
>> CARTER: Okay, I'll give you one
example.
We got a contract working in
Northeastern North Carolina to
help them do regional green
economic development plan.
This is an area... it's going to
have some serious impacts with
sea level rise over the next,
you know, 20-some years.
Right now, thinks like mega hog
farms and processing... you
know, hog processing plants are
huge there.
They're environmental disasters,
you know, for the people that
are living near them.
You can live at the end of,
like, a place where there's,
like, hog swill.
It's just not so pretty.
But we think that those are the
folks that should be real
leaders in climate adaptation
strategies.
Like, we know that sea level is
rising.
How do you prepare an area for
that?
What kind... is there
horticultural... is there green
infrastructure that you can add
to that place?
Like for example, in the New
Orleans are, many wetlands were
destroyed, and that's one of the
reasons why hurricanes have
those increased storm events,
because there are not... those
natural defenses that really
attracted the water are gone.
So helping the folks in
Northeastern North Carolina do
some of that and really make
them leaders, build the
workforce of the future, help
improve... create taxpayers
where they were tax burdens.
That's what we're doing.
>> HINOJOSA: Majora Carter,
thank you so much for your
vision, for your energy, for you
dreams...
>> CARTER: Thank you.
>> HINOJOSA: ...and for making
them reality.
Thank you.
>> CARTER: Thank you so much!
>> HINOJOSA: Continue the
conversation at
wgbh.org/oneoneone.
Captioned by
Media Access Group at WGBH
access.wgbh.org
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