BIPOC members accuse Climate Council of racial ‘tokenism’

The first meeting of the Vermont Climate Council of 2023 erupted with frustrated members of the BIPOC community accusing the council of racial tokenism.

Judy Dow, a Vermonter of Abenaki descent, serves on the Agriculture and Ecosystems Subcommittee of the Climate Council, though she is not a member of the Council.

Dow is also the executive director of Gedakina, a multigenerational organization that supports Indigenous youth, women and families across New England. She has been deeply engaged in the Climate Council’s work since its inception and is frequently outspoken about matters of social justice and the council’s failure to live up to its obligations to marginalized communities under the law.

During the public comment portion of the full Climate Council’s Jan. 9, 2023, meeting, Dow called out the members for not listening to voices from the BIPOC community. She accused committee schedulers of deliberate foot dragging and said council leaders were reneging on promises to discuss topics important to BIPOC communities (particularly the future of biomass generated electricity at the McNeil and Ryegate power plants). She also said materials were deliberately being excluded from the Council’s upcoming report to the Legislature.

Joining Dow was Ana Mejia, an organizing director at Rights & Democracy, who repeatedly accused the Council of treating BIPOC members as “tokens,” and asked why out of 23 official council members (four of the 23 seats are currently vacant), there were zero representing the BIPOC community.

The Global Warming Solutions Act calls for the Senate Committee on Committees to appoint seven members to the Council, the Speaker of the House to appoint eight, and the Governor’s Administration to supply eight.

None of the Senate appointees come from BIPOC communities. From the administration, only Dr. Harry Chen, interim commissioner, Department for Children and Families, is a person of color. Currently, four of the Speaker of the House’s appointments are unfilled, despite new terms beginning in November 2022. Of the four seats that are filled, none are from BIPOC communities.

More to the points of Dow and Mejia, of those eight Speaker appointees, only three chose to step down at the end of their terms. Five asked to be reappointed. The speaker reappointed four of them. The fifth, Dr. Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux, a professor of climatology in the Department of Geography at the University of Vermont, who is Black and was the only legislative BIPOC appointee , was not reappointed despite her request for reasons that have not been made clear.

(Note: As of Jan. 10 at 6:00 p.m., Dr. Dupigny-Giroux’s name appeared on the Climate Council’s website as a member. This writer sent an email to both the speaker and Dr. Dupigny-Giroux to clarify the situation. Though neither responded to the inquiry. As of Jan. 11 at 3:00 p.m., Dr. Dupigny-Giroux’s name has been removed and the seat listed as “vacant.” This story may be updated when minutes and video of the Jan. 9th meeting are made public, though as of Friday, January 13th neither has been posted to the website.)

Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. © Copyright True North Reports 2023. All rights reserved.