We're talking about trees today in honour and tribute to the great Happy Man Tree which is on Woodberry estate in north London. We're trying to see if there's any way we can keep that tree for the community because black folks and folks in general need oxygen and trees are the best hope for us giving us a good environment
Have you ever noticed when you are going to a nice neighbourhood particularly a white nice neighbourhood and there are gorgeous trees there, and now they just want to cut down all the trees in the black neighbourhoods? They say they are doing it to give housing. That is not a binary thing. It’s not like one or the other. You can have housing and trees. You need to be creative and you can have trees at the same time.
Hackney council is putting a lot of pressure on them to chop it down they want to chop it down. They claim they planted thousands of trees but they have not proved that, and some big questions about how they're managing that. They might not be working as well as they boast about it, so no point in justifying the cutting down of trees that have been here for decades and decades - the Happy Man Tree is 150 years old - and justifying that by saying or using a program that you are planting trees. Trees can’t be replaced. They have history, they have stories, and we tried to tell a few of them today.
Hug a tree baby.