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Dr. Robert D. Bullard To Kick Off “Journey To Justice Fact-finding Tour” In His hometown Of Elba, Alabama

Residents are tired of being ignored after years of flooding caused by highway expansion.

Bullard Center

Date
July 10, 2023
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 10, 2023

HOUSTON, TX - After 55 years, “The Father of Environmental Justice” Dr. Robert D. Bullard is taking the movement to his hometown of Elba, Alabama. A small town with about 4,000 residents located in South Alabama Wiregrass Region 42 miles west of Dothan, AL. That’s where you’ll find the Elba’s Shiloh community. Shiloh is a tight knit family of residents who have been plagued with flooding for more than five years. It’s a problem they believe was caused by the expansion of U.S. Highway 84 from into a four-lane road in 2018.

Prior to 2018, a small dirt road is what took you through the small community. Shiloh homeowners have complained to state and federal officials, but no help has come to relieve the flooding. The community becomes a lake during heavy rainfall. Background information on the “Journey to Justice Fact-Finding Tour” is discussed in the Bullard Center Blog.

On Thursday July 13, 2023, Dr. Robert Bullard and his team of environmental justice and transportation equity experts will be conducting a fact-finding tour and meetings with Pastor Timothy Williams and other Shiloh leaders to assess the community’s growing flooding problem and lack of government action. The 2-Day event consists of the following:

  • Press Briefing: Thursday, July 13, 2023 at 12:30pm CT in Shiloh, AL
    ○ Location: 14632 US Highway 84 Elba, AL 36323
  • The briefing will be followed by a Shiloh Community Tour (2:00 pm - 4:00 pm CT).
    Meet The Homeowners:
    Friday, July 14, 2023 from 10am – 4pm CT
  • The Bullard Center team will visit with individual Shiloh homeowners.
    A Fact-Finding Community Forum will be held at 5:30pm CT at 314 County Road 263, Elba, AL 36323. The event is open to the public.

Media Coverage:
Media planning to attend in person are encouraged to RSVP by 12 P.M. on Wednesday, Jul 12, 2023.
RSVP to Briana Augustus at briana.augustus@tsu.edu or (713) 313-1407‬

About the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice
The Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University was launched in 2021 to address long standing issues of systemic inequality and structural racism that cause disproportionate pain, suffering and death in Black and other people of color communities. The Bullard Center works to promote environmental, climate, economic, energy, transportation, food and water and health justice. Texas Southern University is a student-centered comprehensive doctoral university committed to ensuring equality, offering innovative programs that are responsive to its urban setting, and transforming diverse students into lifelong learners, engaged citizens, and creative leaders in their local, national, and global communities.

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