In Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development in California, author Laura Pulido discusses how black and minority communities are disproportionality exposed to pollution in Los Angeles and she provides the historical background of how industrial plants are located next to these communities. However, this issue is not unique to southern California. Black people in Institute, West Virginia, face daily hazards of poor air quality. With a population of 1,400 people, Institute is located in the Chemical Valley and home to the Union Carbide Chemical plant (Ward, 2021). This plant has been known to produce ethylene oxide, a cancer causing chemical (NPR).
Post Civil War, a large population of freed slaves migrated to Institute because of its close proximity to the southern plantations. In 1943, the Union Carbide Plant was established (Center for Land Use Interpretation). Black residents then had a difficult time leaving because their homes were polluted and worth very little. In addition to this, they could not receive loans to move into new homes because of Redlining. Conversely, their white neighbors had no problem receiving loans and leaving. The black residents were commonly denied home loans and forced to stay in the polluted area. (Ward, 2021). As a result, black residents have a higher risk of cancer due to prolonged exposures of the ethylene oxide carcinogens.
Just like Los Angeles, black people had limited mobility because of Redlining and other racial discriminatory practices resulting in poor health for all. Unfortunately, environmental racist cases like these happen all over the country.
If you're interested in listening to a podcast related to this topic: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/20/1074376796/when-the-air-you-breathe-is-toxic#:~:text=And%20while%20it's%20been%20a,chemical%20produced%20at%20the%20plant.
Institute Plant | The Center for Land Use Interpretation. (n.d.). https://clui.org/ludb/site/institute-plant#:~:text=One%20of%20two%20major%20chemical,Dow%20Chemical%20Company%20in%202001
NPR. (2022, January 20). When the air you breathe is toxic. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/01/20/1074376796/when-the-air-you-breathe-is-toxic#:~:text=And%20while%20it's%20been%20a,chemical%20produced%20at%20the%20plant.
Pulido, L. (2000). Rethinking Environmental racism: white privilege and urban development in Southern California. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 90(1), 12–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/0004-5608.00182
Ward, K., Jr. (2023, February 6). How Black communities become ‘sacrifice zones’ for industrial air pollution. Mountain State Spotlight. https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2021/12/21/black-communities-industrial-air-pollution/
This post did a great job of highlighting the fact that these disparities and examples of environmental racism occur across the country. You discussed the historical origins of redlining in the region, which helped explain how and why institutional racism and spatial injustice exist in Institute, West Virginia.
ReplyDeleteYou said, “Unfortunately, environmental racist cases like these happen all over the country.” This brought to mind other examples of environmental racism that I have familiarized myself with. If you’re interested in learning more about other cases of environmental racism in connection with redlining, I have some articles that you may enjoy reading (if you have free time). The first article is about Cleveland, which I consider myself to be a citizen of. However, I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, which was a blue/green zone, not a red zone. When first learning more about and engaging in ways to advocate for environmental justice, I felt a responsibility to my local community to learn more about why environmental racism, specifically lack of tree cover, occurs in the urban areas of Cleveland, and I came across this article: https://www.npr.org/2021/06/23/1006223328/bringing-back-trees-to-forest-citys-redlined-areas-helps-residents-and-the-clima
Additionally, I have an article about Cancer Alley, Louisiana, and the long lasting effects of redlining on the disproportionate cancer levels in the community, caused by various chemical plants sited within the town. This essay is a lot longer than the first article, but it has a lot of really great information. https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1440&context=elj
Yes, this is certainly a nationwide problem not limited to a few places. I have found that it often subtle as well. I enjoyed my neighborhood growing up and most of my extended family lived nearby. I thought it was a good place but as I became older, I realized that in our city, it was not considered a nice place to live. There was nothing as obvious as redlining but only curtain ethnic groups lived there. Prejudice can take all kinds of forms.
DeleteEnvironmental hazards are an extreme issue for marginalized communities everywhere, like you said. Recently I have been learning a lot about fracking and its effects in Appalachia. Athens County is one of the poorest counties in all of Ohio, lying in the Appalachian belt. I feel like many do not know that fracking is an issue very near and dear to Athens County. Fracking waste injection wells are disproportionately put in marginalized communities. Just last September, waste injection wells in Coolsville (upper Athens County) were suspended for being a serious threat to groundwater. Very scary, and its sad to recognize how these hazards heavily contribute to a cycles of prejudice and oppression.
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