“Green Life Matters”: Place and the Politics of Environmental and Commemorative Justice

Abstract

This article analyzes newspaper discourse in Richmond, Virginia surrounding the placement of a statue to Maggie Lena Walker, the first Black woman bank president in the United States, and the proposed removal of a live oak tree to make way for the installation of the Walker statue in the city’s Jackson Ward neighborhood, once known as the “Harlem of the South.” While at first glance, the heated debate surrounding the live oak tree’s proposed removal might conjure a familiar racial divide between white environmentalists and Black community members, this article suggests that the debate in the majority Black city instead captured a broader tension within Black communities torn between advocating for commemorative and environmental justice.