"The hurricane happened in between pay periods."

Episode 12 of Shack & Mu comes from the 11th annual HBCU Climate Change Conference in New Orleans with two guests who have decades in this work, Vernice Miller-Travis and Susana Almanza. They discuss in-depth what environmental injustice and climate do to families.

Vernice starts with a detail about Katrina that rarely makes the retellings. August 29 fell between pay periods. People had been paid the week before and would not be paid again for a week, so when the order came to leave, plenty of households had nothing to leave with. Not everyone had a car, and the Lower Ninth is not a walk from downtown, the only part of the city that stayed dry.

From there she makes the case for retiring the word resilience. Communities get knocked down, get back up, and get complimented on how well they take it, which leaves the knocking down unexamined. The recovery money bears her out. The Fifth Ward in Houston is still waiting years after Harvey while white neighborhoods got their FEMA money, eastern North Carolina got nothing a year on, Altadena's historic Black community is gone. What counts as resilience to her now is what people build for themselves. She also explains why the Lower Ninth flooded the way it did. The Army Corps channelized the Mississippi so tankers could reach the Gulf faster, and the wetlands that absorb storm surge went with it. Sankofa's wetland park is putting some back.

Susana Almanza grew up in East Austin in a family of ten. Tenth Street was the line between the Latino and Black neighborhoods, Austin's master plan put every community of color east of the highway, and school meant getting your mouth washed out with soap for speaking Spanish. PODER's fight now runs through land use. Development at 80 percent impervious cover, heat islands at 105 degrees, kids with asthma, landscapers with no guaranteed water break. Houses bought for two to eighteen thousand dollars are assessed at half a million now, and the property tax does the evicting. After PODER pushed six fuel storage operations out of East Austin, the towers went up on that land. The People's Plan of 2018 laid out a community land trust and cumulative impact rules. The ordinances are already written.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Family and the climate crisis

1:14 Vernice Miller-Travis joins

2:20 Katrina hit between pay periods

4:49 Retire the word resilience

6:45 FEMA money, Fifth Ward, Altadena

9:13 Sankofa and the 40 acre wetland park

10:47 Booker T. Washington and Sankofa

11:50 Stax, Al Green, and Isaac Hayes

14:22 Susana Almanza of PODER joins

17:26 Impervious cover and 105 degree heat

19:46 The People's Plan and a land trust

20:50 Economic racism and the property tax

22:00 The tank farm left, the towers arrived

23:29 Mercy Mercy Me and Gracias a la Vida

24:45 Closing

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Evacuation is a money question. Katrina made landfall between paychecks.

Resilience praises people for surviving what should not keep happening.

Recovery money does not reach everyone. Harvey, eastern North Carolina, and Altadena show it.

Displacement runs through land use and property tax, not only rent.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Vernice Miller-Travis is a longtime environmental justice leader, co-founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice in Harlem, and a board member of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

Susana Almanza co-founded PODER, People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources, in 1991 and directs it. She was born and raised in East Austin.

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"I think the answer is pretty simple. Being comfortable with the uncomfortable."

Episode 11 of Shack & Mu hands the mics to two HBCU students at the HBCU Climate Change Conference. Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali opens on June Jordan's line that we are the ones we have been waiting for, then he and Dr. Sacoby Wilson hear from Joseph Carter, a junior political science major at Texas Southern University, and Sincere Harrison, a senior at Clark Atlanta University who came up through the Bullard Center's Environmental Justice Climate Corps.

The gap they describe first is awareness. Students are living with exposures nobody has told them about. Mold came up as the example, in homes and in campus facilities, and neither of them knew much about it until the research put it in front of them. Both want to make the subject interesting enough that other students actually engage.

Then the question of where power comes from when the world makes you feel small. Joseph is the youngest person at his law firm and the youngest in the Texas Legislative Internship Program, which usually takes law students. He works housing defense across 72 counties in Texas, fighting unlawful evictions and the conditions landlords leave behind. Sincere walked into the Bullard Center internship with no idea what environmental justice was, spent a month in the field looking at what was fouling the air in Black communities, and has since recruited four students into the summer program.

What they carry back to campus comes down to exposure. Joseph noticed a Harvard summer program had two Texas Southern students in it while other HBCUs sent far more, and he runs a nonprofit pushing opportunities to students on his campus and high schoolers around Houston. Sincere does the same at Clark Atlanta for the students behind him, because nobody told him those doors existed either.

CHAPTERS

0:00 June Jordan and the next generation

0:29 Fighting for climate justice while in college

0:56 Mold, and what students are not being told

2:06 The Bullard Center internship

2:59 Why Clark Atlanta matters to this movement

3:12 You have power unless you give it away

3:43 Comfortable with the uncomfortable

4:47 Being the good you want to see

6:12 What they take back to campus

6:39 Only two Texas Southern students at Harvard

7:43 The arts question

8:06 J. Cole, Drake, and telling a story

8:38 Nas, If I Ruled the World

9:18 Closing

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Awareness comes first. Mold and air quality are already in dorms and neighborhoods, and nobody tells students.

Discomfort is the cost of the room. Both describe being the youngest or the newest in the building and walking in anyway.

One internship can redirect a career. Sincere knew nothing about environmental justice until a month in the field.

Exposure compounds. Every opportunity passed down to a sophomore puts somebody else on the path.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Joseph Carter is a junior political science major at Texas Southern University. He interns with the Texas Legislative Internship Program at a firm doing housing defense work across Texas, and runs a nonprofit that gets opportunity information into students' hands.

Sincere Harrison is a senior at Clark Atlanta University on a pre-law track, studying criminal justice with a sociology minor. He came through the Bullard Center's HBCU Environmental Justice Climate Corps and now recruits students into it.

Find the environmental justice center closest to your campus and ask what they need. Then tell the students behind you.

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"Either I'm going to complain, I'm going to leave, or I'm going to do something about it."

Episode 10 of Shack & Mu is in New Orleans, where culture is not decoration. It is the strategy. Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali and Dr. Sacoby Wilson open on Amiri Baraka's line that an artist's role is to raise the consciousness of the people, then sit down with Rashida Ferdinand, founder of Sankofa Community Development Corporation in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Food comes first, because in this city food is history you can eat. On Sankofa's land that history is growing: field peas and purple hull peas, okra, hibiscus for tea, thyme and basil, tomatoes, chickens laying fresh eggs, beehives making honey. The point is not just access to groceries. It is owning the ground your food comes from. The organization takes its name from the Ghanaian concept of going back to your past to build your future, adopted after Katrina when the resources promised to the Lower Ninth never arrived.

Then the land itself. Four generations of her family have lived in that neighborhood, and her grandfather's house stood three blocks from the wetland park Sankofa restored. Go back a hundred years and this was marsh and swamp, so the restoration was less about building something new than pulling away what had been laid on top of what was already there. The people who know it best live on the block. Elders who grew up playing in that water were naturalists long before anyone handed them the word, and some are park rangers now, guiding tours from memory.

Art runs through all of it. She is a sculptor and a potter, and the clay she works with comes out of the ground at the park. Everybody is an artist, and the creative act here was sculpting the land itself. The episode closes on how the model travels: education programs, school partnerships, and a way of working other neighborhoods can pick up.

In this episode

• (0:00) Amiri Baraka and the role of the artist
• (0:19) Red beans, gumbo, and the history in the food
• (0:57) Katrina, petrochemicals, and other hazards
• (1:22) Meet Rashida Ferdinand of Sankofa
• (2:59) Why the name Sankofa
• (4:02) Field peas, okra, hibiscus, chickens, bees
• (4:53) Nature's supermarket and owning your food
• (5:11) Looking across the Lower Ninth after Katrina
• (5:28) Complain, leave, or do something about it
• (6:02) The vision has to come from the community
• (6:15) Four generations, three blocks from the wetland
• (6:45) What a wetland does for a neighborhood
• (7:10) The elders who were naturalists first
• (7:47) Getting kids back into nature based spaces
• (8:42) The soil has memory: art and the work
• (9:19) A sculptor whose clay comes from the park
• (10:30) Scaling the model past the Lower Ninth
• (11:13) Honoring what the land used to be
• (12:11) Partners doing the work alongside them
• (14:08) Power to the people

Key takeaways

• Sankofa means going back to your past to build your future. The name is not a slogan, it is the method.
• Ownership beats access. Growing field peas, okra, hibiscus, herbs, eggs, and honey puts the food supply in community hands.
• The wetland was always there. Restoring it meant removing what covered it, not inventing something new.
• The experts live on the block. Elders who grew up in that marsh guide the tours now, teaching from memory.
• Everybody is an artist. She digs the clay for her pottery out of the park she helped bring back.

About our guestRashida Ferdinand is the founder and executive director of Sankofa Community Development Corporation in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, and a ceramic artist. Sankofa runs food access programs, gardens, and the Sankofa Wetland Park and Nature Trail. More at sankofanola.org.

Go back to get it. Learn what your land used to be, find the neighbors who remember, and start with what you can grow.

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"A system cannot fail those it was never meant to protect." Episode 7 of Shack & Mu comes from the Mobilize Frederick session at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, where Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali and Dr. Sacoby Wilson gather a panel of young climate leaders who are no longer waiting to act. Environmental biology graduate student India Dennis, campus food-garden organizer Lindsay Mullins, and public health major and advocate Ahmed Bockarie, make the case that nature-based solutions, natural infrastructure, and everyday environmental justice belong at the center of how communities protect their health, their food, and their future.India Dennis traces her own path from the concrete of Wilmington, Delaware, where her grandmother took her fishing and to parks, into an environmental biology program where she was one of the only students raising environmental justice, and she names the tools young people use to see the bigger picture, from GIS mapping to social media. The conversation grounds big ideas in concrete work.Lindsay Mullins is building a food garden on her campus near Frederick, Maryland, and shows how raised beds, hydroponics, and rooftop plots put growing food within reach of students who have only known concrete. She introduces "plant blindness," the disconnect that has most of us buying fruit in winter and meat from across the world without knowing where it came from or who grew it.Ahmed Bockarie, a public health major from Sierra Leone, connects diet, chemicals, and disease, and recounts a factory that dumped waste until wells tested last month came back contaminated, long after residents had been drinking the water.Chapters:0:00 Welcome, and the next generation of leaders0:40 India: conversation, social media, and self-education2:14 Lindsay: bringing a food garden to campus3:47 Ahmed: public health, advocacy, and reaching the mind5:01 Nature-based solutions and natural infrastructure5:35 India: growing up between concrete and a grandmother's parks7:27 The power of food and "plant blindness"9:31 Public health, chemicals, and the climate connection12:19 PFAS, forever chemicals, and the long tail of harm13:29 Ahmed: realizing the power you already have16:11 Lindsay: permission to lead, right now18:28 Don't wait for the baton: Destinee Wofford's story19:04 India: power as self-awareness and lifelong learning20:50 The role of the arts 25:38 Closing: stay up, stay focused, keep making changeABOUT OUR GUESTSIndia Dennis is an environmental biology graduate student who grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, shaped by both a city childhood and a grandmother who kept her close to nature. She brings environmental justice into every topic she studies, from GIS mapping to climate denial, works as a DJ, and, now raising a child of her own, frames power as self-awareness and lifelong learning.Lindsay Mullins is a student leading the effort to build a food garden on her campus near Frederick, Maryland. Her work centers on food access, "plant blindness," and using a shared garden to bring students of different backgrounds together, alongside campus sustainability projects like composting and solar power.Ahmed Bockarie is a public health major originally from Sierra Leone. He began in medical school but left during the war in Ukraine and continued his education in the United States, guided by his late father's belief that there is more than one way to make change. He focuses on advocacy and environmental justice, using social media to reach people who do not yet see how these issues touch their lives.Don't wait for the baton. Learn who represents you, show up to campus and community meetings, and use the power you already have to push for change where you are.FOLLOW US!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shack.mu/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shack.mu.podcastThreads: https://www.threads.com/@shack.muFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61591512191245

"We have the money to bring our sports teams back, but not to take care of our citizens." Ep 6 of Shack & Mu heads to Southeast DC, near the old RFK site, to ask who a city gets rebuilt for. As RFK 2.0 and the Commanders' return move forward, Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali and Dr. Sacoby Wilson dig into gentrification, displacement, and how to build without pushing people out.

First up is Dr. Rhonda Hamilton, a native Washingtonian and 2026 mayoral candidate, who breaks down the bittersweet reality of a beloved team coming home while residents spend 50 to 60 percent of their income on housing. She questions the stadium deal, the thin community benefit agreement, and the backroom handshakes that leave residents out. Then equitable development expert Carlton Eley explains what gentrification really is, why social impact assessments matter, and how a community benefits agreement should work. Drawing on the North Charleston port model and faith based development wins nationwide, he lays out a path where residents guide change instead of reacting to it. Justice belongs at the heart of planning.

• (00:00) Welcome, and the gentrification question
• (03:36) Meet Dr. Rhonda Hamilton, DC mayoral candidate
• (04:16) Why RFK 2.0 feels bittersweet
• (05:44) Billionaires, a parking garage, and a raw deal
• (07:10) The community benefit agreement problem
• (07:53) How everyday people get engaged
• (08:55) Did we learn from the DC United stadium?
• (10:33) Meet Carlton Eley on equitable development
• (12:09) What gentrification actually means
• (13:27) From residential to sports complex gentrification
• (14:04) Social impact assessments and why they matter
• (16:10) The North Charleston model that worked
• (18:10) Real examples of getting it right
• (21:04) Justice at the heart of planning

• Stadiums over shelter. A city that funds arenas while residents spend 60 percent of income on housing has its priorities backward.
• Gentrification is a process. It unfolds over decades through market driven development that goes unregulated and unmitigated.
• Community benefits done right. Base them on that assessment and let residents drive them, as North Charleston did with its port expansion.
• Residents are the experts. Real engagement means the people who carry the burden help steer the plan.

Dr. Rhonda Hamilton is a native Washingtonian, longtime mental health advocate, former real estate broker, and 2026 candidate for DC mayor. Learn more at rhondahamilton4dc.com.

Carlton Eley is a nationally recognized equitable development expert and urban planner, formerly of EPA's Office of Environmental Justice. Learn more at eleygroup.com.

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"Am I supposed to pay for your data center while my own electricity bill keeps climbing?" Ep 5 of Shack & Mu lands in Glen Arden, Maryland to take on the AI data center boom and the community fighting one in their backyard. Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali and Dr. Sacoby Wilson break down why data centers are an environmental, public health, and economic justice issue, then sit down with organizer Staci Hartwell.

The proposed Landover data center, planned for the old Landover Mall site, becomes the case study. The hosts walk through what most economic development pitches leave out: energy bills passed on to residents, diesel generators pumping out particulate matter tied to asthma and cancer, and heavy water use in a county already graded F for air quality. Staci Hartwell of the South County Environmental Justice Coalition shares what she saw inside the county's data center task force, why the community was notified late, and how a groundswell of letters and voices pulled politicians back to the table.

In this episode

• (00:00) Welcome, and why AI data centers

• (00:47) The energy bills nobody agreed to pay

• (01:35) Diesel, particulate matter, and your health

• (02:45) Why ethics and transparency matter

• (03:07) Meet Staci Hartwell of the South County EJ Coalition

• (04:34) Inside the county data center task force

• (05:56) Turkeys, trinkets, and the developer playbook

• (06:36) An F for air quality and cumulative impacts

• (07:22) Ranked in the 86th percentile for burden

• (08:01) The power of the people's voice

• (10:18) Pro development, pro community, pro justice

• (12:01) Lessons from the xAI data center in Memphis

• (13:02) A public health, economic, and justice issue

Key takeaways

• Your bill pays for their build. Data centers can push energy costs onto residents already facing energy poverty, forcing choices between power, medicine, and food.

• The pollution is real. Diesel backup power brings particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and VOCs tied to asthma, cancer, and shorter life expectancy.

• Transparency was the first casualty. The community learned about the Landover project late, and the task force was stacked with vested interests.

• Your voice moves politicians. Letters, turnout, and organizing pulled electeds back to the table once the people demanded it.

• This is about smart development. Growth the community asks for and benefits from, driven by the people who live there.

About our guest

Staci Hartwell is a native Washingtonian, Prince George's County resident, and strategist with the South County Environmental Justice Coalition. She has been a leading voice against the proposed Landover data center.

Get engaged. Learn who represents you, show up to planning meetings, and write the letters that make decision makers listen.

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"Food is health. Food is wealth. Food is power." Ep 4 of Shack & Mu heads to Southwest DC to talk food justice and urban agriculture with the people growing change block by block. Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali and Dr. Sacoby Wilson break down food deserts, food swamps, and food apartheid, then sit down with two leaders from Dreaming Out Loud.

Founder Chris Bradshaw explains how a three acre farm becomes a catalyst for jobs, community wealth, and cultural reconnection, from seeds once carried in women's hair across the Atlantic to the African roots of country music. He makes the case for land back in the city, policy that protects growing space, and innovations like a mushroom farm built into a tiny home in Ward 8. Development director Sarita shares how she funds the work and why she launched a Food as Medicine pilot with Kaiser Permanente and the Marriott Foundation to prove what communities have always known. They close on a simple truth: access to food is a human right, and everyone deserves the chance to grow.

• • (00:32) Food deserts, food swamps, and the food force
  • (01:15) Food apartheid and who goes hungry
  • (01:46) Why food is health, wealth, and power
  • (02:40) Meet Chris Bradshaw of Dreaming Out Loud
  • (03:08) What food insecurity looks like in DC
  • (03:59) Urban agriculture, youth, and cultural reconnection
  • (05:50) Land back in the city and the policy fight
  • (07:31) How to start growing at home
  • (08:28) Meet Sarita and the funding behind the mission
  • (10:20) The Food as Medicine pilot
  • (12:06) A message to elected officials
  • (13:45) Food is health, wealth, and power

• • Grow your own power. Community gardens and urban farms on every block turn food deserts and food swamps into a food force.
  • Urban agriculture builds more than food. It creates jobs, community wealth, intergenerational bonds, and a path back to heritage food ways.
  • Land back belongs in the city. Protecting urban growing space through policy keeps community farms alive.
  • Proof moves funders. Dreaming Out Loud's Food as Medicine pilot builds the data to back what communities already live.
  • Food is a human right. No one should have to fight for access to healthy food.

Chris Bradshaw is the founder and executive director of Dreaming Out Loud, a DC nonprofit and social enterprise running a farm, food hub, and food incubator. Sarita is the organization's development director, funding the mission and leading its Food as Medicine pilot. To learn more about Dreaming Out Loud and their incredible work, visit dreamingoutloud.org and follow them on Instagram at @doldc.

Back a local community garden or urban farm, and start something on your own windowsill this week.

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