Majora Carter’s ‘Greening the Ghetto’ Talk
In February 2006, Majora Carter, environmental justice activist, delivered an emotionally charged talk, “Greening the Ghetto” highlighting her fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx. The talk addresses how race and poverty have impacted urban policy planning. She discusses how sustainable development such as creating green spaces in cities can improve a community’s standard of living. I loved the informative talk on the Ghetto because she presented it with incredible energy, authenticity, and passion. With the well thought-out and organized talk not only is the message captivating but also her enthusiasm makes the talk one of the most compelling speeches to listen to. This essay examines the talk and its subsequent aspects that make Majora’s message on environmental justice worth watching. The paper begins with an evaluation of the elements of speech organization; secondly, it examines the use of humor, then an analysis of embodied experience, and finally evaluates the weakness of Carter’s speech.
Majora’s talk has an array of incredible strengths of the speech that make it worth watching. Generally, Carter provides a well-structured and excellently organized speech with a clear introduction providing a clear problem statement, a detailed body addressing the problems statement, and conclusion. In her introduction she opens with a note of appreciation and persuasively talks about the environmental effects of urban planning in minority neighborhoods by providing the clear problem statement, “while sustainable development is necessary to survival, it is often resisted as politically and economically impractical.” The introduction provides a clear purpose and helps to unpack the significance of the core subject; environmental justice. She then provides a detailed analysis of the theme addressing environmental justice while utilizing several aspects of throughout the speech such as personalizing her experiences and embodying her story throughout the speech. In her analysis, the lucid evidence she uses to support her arguments makes the talk worth watching. Besides, she incorporates numerous stories relatable to the audience’s lives and relevant information providing a rational support to the analysis. Lastly, she concludes with a great call-to-action; ‘I have come from so far to meet you like this. Please don’t waste me.” The personalization and conclusion is something to consider because it highlights the dire need for the audience to align with Majora’s campaign for environmental justice.
The humor incorporated in the talk makes the speech entertaining. Majora addresses the harmful effects caused by environmental injustice while describing efforts to empower residents in the affected neighborhoods to take authority in embracing economic and sustainable practices. Majora uses humor and lighter-hearted notes to shift the audience’s emotions through entertainment. For instance, she incorporates lightness to describe her childhood excitement about the butterflies’ attraction to the gardens. Besides, she also playfully violates TED rules about not asking for financial support. She says, “…I don’t think he understands that I wasn’t asking for funding. I was making him an offer.” At this instance, she pauses for a while as the audience applause. She continues, “Now don’t get me wrong, we need money.” Majora cleverly incorporates humor and sarcastic comments through her speech keeping the audience entertained. With the consideration that the topic of environmental justice is delicate, the humor helps Majora to be less emotional and grabs the attention of the audience.
Being part of the communities affected by environmental injustices and sharing her stories, she embodies the personal and social harms that she addresses. Majora speaks with authenticity and authority to address the specific harms affecting the Black people’s communities. For instance, she rhetorically says, “Yeah-I’m a poor black child from the ghetto.” Through the use of rhetorical aspect and embodied experience, the talk invokes an emotional response and moral consciousness to the viewers. Besides, the salient features of embodied experience help the viewers to connect with Majora’s authenticity on the subject of environmental justice. Majora talks about the financial and health impacts of environmental justice. Notably, she highlights that these problems including toxic wastes, urban light, inequality, and health threat-not only affect the Black community but the whole society at large. Majora personalizes the issue by recounting her experiences of burning buildings and the death of her brother. She further humanizes the issue by highlighting her humanity and the embedded differences with her audience. She says,
“Yeah [raises hand] — I’m a poor black child from the ghetto. These things make me different from you. But the things we have in common set me apart from most of the people in my community, and I am in between these two worlds, with enough of my heart to fight for justice in the other.”
Majora helps establish the emotional differences of the ghetto and lavish city communities. Although she identifies herself with the ghetto, she confirms her similarity with the audience by the common goals of advocating for environmental justice. Notably, the statement creates a moral impact to the audience by establishing the need for social unity to fight for environmental justice in the community.
Throughout the speech, Majora embodied herself into the message. For instance, in the middle of the speech she talks about her involvement in successful campaigns such as the installation of green roofs and ‘cool roofs,’ and participation in the green-jobs training program. Conclusively, the speech addresses themes of environmental justice by recounting much of her history in her speech, making it a significant talk to help understand the worthwhile subject.
However, despite her persistence, courage, and passion for delivering a compelling message Majora’s talk is not without flaws. To begin with, Majora speaks too rapidly which makes me feel lost in most parts of the speech. Maybe she had limited time to present but she ought to have respected the audience’s capacity to absorb the message. Additionally, Majora reads from a script, thus lacing her eye contact with the audience. It would be more useful if she paused throughout the speech after dramatic statements, thus allowing the viewer to absorb the rich content of information. In addition, her speech delivery skills need to be honed such as utilizing body gestures and maintaining eye contact with the audience.
In conclusion, for an 18-minute talk, coupled with the humor, embodied experience, and statistical evidence, the content is great, driving out the problem statement of the harmful effects of environmental injustice. Conclusively, Majora establishes her authority and authenticity with the subject of environmental science and business in her message. In essence, she describes her, concepts with a zeal that resonates with the audience, while reinforcing the theme of environmental justice.
Work Cited
TED Talk. “Majora Carter: Greening the ghetto.” TED.com, talk by Majora Carter, February. 2006, www.ted.com/talks/majora_carter_s_tale_of_urban_renewal#t-31886.