Bryan Parras

Roles: Special Guest

Bryan Parras is one of the Gulf Coast’s most dynamic environmental justice organizers fighting along the entire central and eastern United States. Bryan grew up in a community on the east side of Houston, Texas, near one of largest concentrations of petrochemical plants, refineries and storage tanks in the world. Bryan is deeply involved in the documentation of environmental racism experienced by marginalized communities from Houston and throughout the greater Gulf Coast region. Bryan has maintained his indigenous roots by core values that have survived over 500 years of suppression. Bryan hopes to learn more about his indigenous roots by reconnecting with other indigenous communities and practices. In 2016, Bryan helped organize the Peace & Dignity Journey along the Gulf Coast, connecting New Orleans with Houston and for the first time opening up the Gulf Coast to the continental journey awakening old trails and trade routes from South to North. Bryan continues to help lead the rising environmental justice movement and is currently helping people in Houston and the Gulf Coast fight for a just Recovery after Hurricane Harvey. For Harvey’s one-year anniversary Bryan organized a People’s Tribunal with a coalition of housing, immigration, labor and environmental organizations.