Every few months I turn my column over to a colleague who can write about a subject with more depth or passion than I ever could. This week, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, author of the Green Deen, eulogizes environmental advocate and activist Cecil Corbin-Mark.
––Christina Greer, Amsterdam News opinion columnist, associate professor of political science at Fordham University.
Last month Harlem lost a real hero. Cecil Corbin-Mark died Oct. 15 after suffering a stroke and passed away at the tender age of 51. As the deputy director of We Act for Environmental Justice ––and on staff there since its inception––Cecil was a modern hero for the planet and its people, for Harlem. He was a mountain of a man in his field.
He was the son of Winnifred Corbin, his father and Luces Mark and his “second mother,” Merlyn Corbin. Cecil was a life-long resident of Hamilton Heights, where his family has lived for the last six decades––many of you reading this right now likely have known him and his people.
WE ACT works to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low-income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. Cecil was a critical part of turning that lofty mission into action. He helped ensure the passage of a whole range of environmental justice laws like the state Toxic Free Toys Act to prohibit heavy metals and benzene in children’s products and clothing. Cecil sat on countless boards where decisions about land use and environmental policies like water and air quality were being decided. He was respected. People making decisions in this city recognized him as not only one of the smartest people in the room but also as the conscience. He did not have to speak much, but sometimes he did, he did not have to push much, but often he did in a way that got results.
I am reflecting on a few things in light of his passing and of this politically charged moment we are in. Climate change, which Cecil testified about to Congress this past July will bring heat waves, flash floods caused by more intense rainstorms and sea-level rise––how will all this affect Harlem? That is what Cecil was committed to addressing head-on. We have a lot of work to do. The pandemic offers a unique opportunity to really deepen our connections and challenge the dominant worldview of colonialism, consumerism, and the concentration of power governed through violent force and advances a worldview of sacredness and care, and ecological and social well-being governed through deep democracy. We need to face all these challenges giving our best––the way Cecil did.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer called him “a giant of the environmental justice movement,” who had “a wonderful ability to organize, and a keen sense of how to get projects done.” And, she said: “He was a good friend and I will miss him dearly.”
That is astonishing because that is how I feel as well.
Ibrahim Abdul-Matin is on the NYS Advisory Board of the Trust for Public Land