The award winning, nationally syndicated documentary film, "Razing Liberty Square”, concerns three prevalent issues facing communities nationwide – climate change, housing insecurity, and economic inequity. These three issues are currently driving inequitable redevelopment in Liberty City, Miami.

Until recently, Liberty Square was home to the oldest segregated public housing project in the United States. Now, it is ground zero for a burgeoning trend: climate gentrification, a term coined by climate and environmental justice trailblazer Paulette Richards. As rising seas threaten Miami’s luxurious beachfront, wealthy property owners are pushing inland to higher ground, creating a speculators’ market in a neighborhood previously ignored by developers and policy-makers alike.

Located 12 feet above sea level, Liberty City becomes more attractive with each rising tide and as a result, the original Liberty Square is demolished, displacing residents and erasing a decades-old community.

Speaker: Valencia Gunder, Liberty City native, activist, and organizer. Valencia is the Co-Director of the non-profit organization, The Smile Trust, and Executive Director of The Black Collective. Her work both locally and nationwide, has equipped Black communities with resources for freedom and liberation, especially in the environmental and climate space.

Moderator: Nkosi Muse, Environmental Science and Policy PhD Candidate at the University of Miami, Black in Environment organizer, and resident meteorologist for numerous local community organizations. His work with Valencia and The Smile Trust has been centered around climate education and hurricane preparedness in South Florida.