Yonkers Human Rights Commission Award Ceremony

Last night, I attended a ceremony in which the Yonkers Human Rights Commission gave its annual award to "stewards of the Hudson" Riverkeeper, with president Alex Matthiessen accepting the award. A reception followed.

The theme of the evening was "A Clean Environment as a Human Right". When the Hudson River was used as a waste-dumping ground by such companies as General Electric, Anaconda Copper Wire, and General Motors, the riverfront was an insalubrious locale in which to live, so low-income residences were often located there. Now, as water quality improves, the riverfront becomes a more desirable place to live, which may result in the displacement of low-income residents. Low-income individuals also tend to rely on fishing and crabbing as a supplementary food source, so they are affected by chemical pollutants to a greater extent.

The downside of the evening is that I was unable to get my ass down to Greenwich Village to see the lovely and talented Dorian Devins (see four posts ago) sing at Gizzi's Coffee Shop, but the Human Rights Award is only given out once a year.

Edit- forgot to mention that yesterday was Human Rights Day, which explains the scheduling of the awards ceremony.