Environmental Racism Essay Research Paper Communities are

Environmental Racism Essay, Research Paper

Communities are not all created equal. Have you ever heard of or considered the concept of Environmental Racism and what role it plays in the lives of Afro-Americans. I presume your answer is .no.. Well then, have you ever wondered why so many housing projects, which are majority Black occupied, are located near industrial parks. I presume you haven.t even noticed. Well, I have. Growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, I often visited my older cousin who resided in the Red Hook Housing Projects in Brooklyn. The aroma…garbage. It was like walking through a sanitation dump from the second you got off the G-train at Smith Street to the second you got back on. And how did you know you were almost there. From the sight of smoke floating from pipes on top of large square buildings. My only concern then was seeing my cousin and having fun for the weekend…not the effects of inhaling the fumes or why it smelled so awful. I figured that if my cousin lived there it must have been a good place or atleast affordable for the time.

However, now that I have come of age and traveled throughout the U.S. I have realized that Red Hook is not the only housing project located smack-dab in the middle of an industrial park. Red Hook is not the only housing project occupied by majority Blacks and Hispanics. Housing projects are not the only minority communities located near industrial parks. Industrial parks are strategically positioned. What does all this mean. What does it all boil down to.…The concept of Environmental Racism and the birth of the Environmetal Justice Movement.

Environmental Racism has been defined as the intentional siting of hazardous waste sites, landfills, incinerators, and polluting industries in communities inhabited mainly by Arican-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, migrant farm workers, and the working poor. Minorities are particularly vulenrables because they are perceived as weak and pasisve

Environmentalism is defined by the Webster’s dictionary as “(1) a theory that views environment rather than heredity as the important factor in the development and especially the cultural and intellectual development of an individual or group (2) the advocacy of the preservation or improvement of the natural environment; especially: the movement to control pollution.” Most people consider environmentalists as “tree-huggers” that fight for the rainforests and the ozone. More recently, however, there has been a new group of “environmentalists” that have come forward. They are minorities and their supporters that are fighting the environmental racism that has been occurring in their neighborhoods.

“Environmental racism can be defined as the intentional siting of hazardous waste sites, landfills, incinerators, and polluting industries in communities inhabited by mainly African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians” (Weintraub 1). As a practice, whether on purpose or unintended, environmental racism is often reinforced by government, legal, economic, political and military institutions (Buntin 4). Minorities are particularly vulnerable because they are perceived as feeble and passive citizens. They fear that if they fight against the poisoning of their neighborhoods it may jeopardize jobs and economic survival. Higher income areas are usually more successful in preventing or controlling the entry of polluting industries to their communities. Many at-risk communities are victims of land-use decision making that reflects the power arrangements of the dominant society. Polluting industries are attracted to poor neighborhoods because land values, incomes, and other costs of doing business are lower. Studies suggest clear relationships between high concentrations of minority populations with an unhealthy environment (Weintraub 3). Three out of every five Black and Hispanic Americans live have lived in communities with one or more toxic waste sites. Over 15 million African-Americans, over eight million Hispanics and about 50% of Native Americans are living in communities with one or more abandoned or uncontrolled toxic waste sites (Weintraub 2). On the other hand, only 34% of the White population live or have lived in a polluted area (Buntin 4).

Environmental racism is now well documented in America’s communities. There was a landmark study proposed by the Commissions of Racial Justice, United Church of Christ in 1987 that described the extent of environmental racism and the consequences for those who are victims of polluted environments.

The study revealed that:

- “Race was the most significant variable associated with the location of hazardous waste sites.

- The greatest numbers of commercial hazardous facilities were located in communities with the highest composition of racial and ethnic minorities” (Weintraub 1).

Some real-life examples of economical racism are as follows:

- “Three out of the five largest commercial hazardous waste landfills in the United States are located in predominantly African-American or Latino communities” (Buntin 5).

- “The largest hazardous waste landfill in the United States is located in Emelle, Alabama, a poor, predominantly African-American community. It receives toxic materials from 45 states and several foreign countries.

- An industrial toxic waste site is located in a