Diving has been a space where I’ve learned a lot – It’s where I connect with God, and as a faith leader, it’s important to have a place where I just feel overwhelmed by how amazingly beautiful this world is. I often say in my organizing work that you fight for the things you love; and if not enough of us know and love the ocean, then not enough of us will wanna lean in and fight for it.
– Rev Mariama
Reverend Mariama White-Hammond is the founding and current pastor of New Roots AME Church, a multi-racial and multi-class community in Dorchester. She is also a scuba diver and an advocate for ecological & social justice, youth engagement, and spirit-filled organizing. Rev. Mariama also served as the Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space for the City of Boston, where she was responsible for enhancing environmental justice and quality of life. Using an intersectional lens in her ecological work, she challenges folks to see the connections between immigration and climate change and between energy policy and economic justice.
With MISI, Rev. Mariama worked on her book: Divine Diving: Sacred Lessons from Under the Sea. Through her written words, as well as other media extensions of the project, her goal is to help humans, and particularly Black women, restore their personal and communal relationships with the water, as well as encourage ideas of what care for the environment and for society could look like.