Reference
- Environmental RacismEnvironmental racism includes differential exposure to harm and limiting of access to resources that are reliant on, or that reproduce forms of, racial differentiation. The term is commonly attributed to the Reverend Ben Chavis, who in 1982 was the director of the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice when toxic chemicals were sited in Warren County, Virginia, because it was predominantly poor and black. Chavis understood this action as part of a broader institutional history of racism in America, and coined the term environmental racism to call attention to the official sanctioning of the life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants in communities of colour, including those of African-Americans, Native Americans, Asian-Americans, Chicanos/Latinos and others (Chavis, 1991). This definition has been amended to include not just the actions of institutions, industries and governments, but also their failure to act, as in the case of the federal government’s lack of response to Hurricane Katrina (Sze, 2005)...
- Environmental Racism: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on environmental racism. This page includes links to reference articles, journals, and a mind map.
Internet Resources
- Robert Bullard: How Environmental Racism Shapes the USThe U.S. is segregated, and so is pollution. These words come from the so-called “father of environmental justice,” Robert Bullard. As a sociologist, he has proved that minority communities in Houston suffer most from pollution and has written more than a dozen books on sustainable development, environmental racism and climate justice. He sits down with Walter to discuss his life’s work.
- Trump’s EPA Concludes Environmental Racism Is RealA new report from the Environmental Protection Agency finds that people of color are much more likely to live near polluters and breathe polluted air—even as the agency seeks to roll back regulations on pollution.
- What is environmental racism and how can we fight it?Poisoned tap water in Flint, Michigan. Toxic waste dumps in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. A town in China where 80% of children have been poisoned by old computer parts. What do these things have in common? All are examples of environmental racism, a form of systemic racism whereby communities of colour are disproportionately burdened with health hazards through policies and practices that force them to live in proximity to sources of toxic waste such as sewage works, mines, landfills, power stations, major roads and emitters of airborne particulate matter.
Streaming Media
- Target: St. Louis - Environmental Racism During the Cold WarPost-Hiroshima, the US Army engaged in classified open-air studies on the effects of aerosol radiation. Low-income African-Americans in St. Louis were the unwitting subjects of that testing, by design.
- Arlit: Deuxieme ParisA case study in environmental racism set in a uranium mining town in the Sahara desert of Niger. Here European corporations extract nuclear power and profits leaving behind disease, contamination and unemployment. Ironically the primary activities of Arlit today is waiting, waiting to die of radiation related sicknesses or to emigrate to find work in Europe itself.
- Environmental Racism is the New Jim CrowCommunities of color face disproportionate rates of natural disaster and environmental harm. Staff writer Vann R. Newkirk II argues that discrimination in public planning is to blame. “Pollution and the risk of disaster are assigned to black and brown communities through generations of discrimination and political neglect,” says Newkirk II. The environment is a system controlled and designed by people—and people can be racist.
Perspectives
Environmental Racism in the United States and Canada: Seeking Justice and Sustainability
From Flint, Michigan, to Standing Rock, North Dakota, minorities have found themselves losing the battle for clean resources and a healthy environment. This book provides a modern history of such environmental injustices in the United States and Canada. From the 19th-century extermination of the buffalo in the American West to Alaska's Project Chariot (a Cold War initiative that planned to use atomic bombs to blast out a harbor on Eskimo land) to the struggle for recovery and justice in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017, this book provides readers with an enhanced understanding of how poor and minority people are affected by natural and manmade environmental crises. Written for undergraduates as well as the general reader with an interest in social justice and environmental issues, this book traces the relationship between environmental discrimination, race, and class through a comprehensive case history of environmental injustices. Environmental Racism in the United States and Canada: Seeking Justice and Sustainability includes 50 such case studies that range from local to national to international crises. Provides comprehensive coverage and analysis of the far-reaching specter of environmental racism in the U.S. and Canada, using numerous case studies that extend across the U.S. and Canada from the 19th century into the present day Examines the confluence of climate change, natural resource conflicts, political and corporate corruption, and racism Reflects a regional arrangement to better highlight patterns and types of injustices as well as victims Is written by a prolific author and expert on environmental and Native American issues
Gonna trouble the water
Ecojustice, water, and environmental racism
From the Ground Up
From the ground up environmental racism and the rise of the environmental justice movement