Rachel Levine called climate change "racist"

Question

Rachel Levine is quoted as saying "Climate change is racist."

Answer 1

On February 17th, @KelliKayK on X posted an image of United States Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine with the caption:

"CLIMATE CHANGE IS RACIST" - Rachel Levine

"BAT SHIT FUCKING CRAZY"

@KelliKayK's bio reads, "unapologetic, no filter, I make memes." They post far-right memes and propaganda to an audience of over 30K. 

When you type "Rachel Levine climate change racist" into Google, a warning pops up at the top saying that it looks like results to the search are changing quickly and that the user should 1. check the source, and 2. check back later. 

We've already checked the validity of the source from X and concluded that they're a far-right meme page. And while Rachel Levine never outright said that climate change is racist, we can trace this back to something she said in a video for Black History Month: 

"Climate change is having a disproportionate effect on the physical and mental health of Black communitie... Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to live in areas or housing that increase their susceptibility to climate related health issues.” A study published in the Science Advances journal published that Black, Latinx, and other marginalized communities are more at risk of living in areas exposed to wildfires. 

So while Rachel Levine did not say such a blanket statement as the original post was implying, it did come to a longer video with more context. 

https://nbcmontana.com/news/nation-world/bidens-rachel-levine-claims-climate-change-hitting-black-communities-especially-hard-president-white-house-democrat-democratic-trump-2024-woke-green-new-deal-transgender-race-racism-history-month 

Comments

This answer does a good job of fact-checking. It quotes both the sources and the fact-checking sources. The quotes help put the information into context and prove what the author is trying to say

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I like how you broke down the steps you did to find the information. While it is very easy to chalk things up as bait and give it no further attention, it is also these kinds of posts that slowly influences people's opinion over time. This post was well crafted and meticulous of a post that seems like it had little effort in the first place. Good job!

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I love that you used science to back up that the claim is false. You also did a good job of taking us through how you decoded the claim and discovered it to be false.

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This was a good fact check! You included sources and quotes which helped illuminate the issue and explain why the claim was false.

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I like how you included the study from Science Journal so people can understand why Levine would make a claim saying that climate change disproportionately affects Black communities.

Answer 2

This claim made by an extremely opinionated right-wing X account is dangerously misleading.

Further research into Rachel Levine on her statement regarding climate change brought me to a quote from a couple of weeks ago. She stated, "Climate change is having a disproportionate effect on the physical and mental health of Black communities. Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to live in areas in housing that increase their susceptibility to clime related health issues."

Nowhere in this speech did Levine claim that climate change was inherently racist. She simply tied the connection between the most difficult impacts of climate change and underprivileged communities, which is a very real and prevalent issue. It's not like the Earth chooses to have more extreme temperatures in the areas that are predominately resided in by African-Americans. 

https://nbcmontana.com/news/nation-world/bidens-rachel-levine-claims-climate-change-hitting-black-communities-especially-hard-president-white-house-democrat-democratic-trump-2024-woke-green-new-deal-transgender-race-racism-history-month

Comments

This was a well-made fact check! You used a quote and cited a source, while accurately and concisely explaining the situation and why the claim itself was incorrect. Good job!

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I like how you immediately started your answer by invalidating the source that the claim came from and stating that it is dangerously misleading.

Answer 3

Rachel Levine is an assistant secretary for health for the US Department of Health and Human Services. The account that tweeted this claim about Rachel Levine saying "CLIMATE CHANGE IS RACIST" and then proceeded to call her "BAT SHIT FUCKING CRAZY" seems to be alt-right account. This account posts extremist right-wing memes that attack politicians and does not seem like a reliable source whatsoever, the bio stating "unapologetic, no filter, I make memes."

After searching this claim online, I found a video on the HHS.gov Twitter account of Levine stating that "Climate change is having a disproportionate effect on the physical and mental health of black communities." No where in the video does she specifically state "Climate change is racist." Therefore this claim is exaggerated.

https://twitter.com/HHSGov

https://www.hhs.gov/about/leadership/rachel-levine.html

https://twitter.com/KelliKayK

Comments

Good fact check. I'm really glad you gave the original source, of course its Twitter. You could have included a little bit more information on the person who was posting this content and give a little more context on Rachel Levine would also be helpful. The other fact checks did a good job of doing this, good improvement for next time. Overall though I understood that this was false and the claim was very misleading.