Today, November 30, 2017, marks 1316 days that the city of Flint has been without tap water free from lead pollution. On April 24, 2014, city officials in Flint, Michigan made an ultimately disastrous change to its water supply, switching from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department to the Flint River. The water being drawn from the river was highly corrosive and lead-tainted, and residents immediately began to complain about loss of hair, appearance and taste of water and rashes, among other problems. The Michigan Civil Rights Commission issued a report detailing findings that “systemic racism going back decades is at the core of problems that caused the water crisis in the majority black city of Flint” (The Associated Press). Their findings beg the question: If Flint’s population was comprised of a white affluent people, would the state government have reacted to complaints about water conditions with more haste?

Communities of color are experiencing hindrances in the aftermath of natural, and manmade, disasters continuously. In the aftermath of hurricanes, deliberate placement of toxic sites and even government budget cuts, black, and often times poor, communities are those most affected. Large companies and government agencies are able to prey on minority communities and the result is a disparaging condition of life for those living in the area. The argument was long ago presented that this form of discrimination was merely coincidental and that toxic sites are equally distributed in white and non-white areas. More recently, debates have been presented claiming that the majority of contaminated areas are contaminated prior to African American communities moving into them, again furthering the 'coincidental' stance. Further, some argue that location planning for toxic sites and municipal solid waste landfills are completed prior to the location becoming an area consisting mostly of residents of color, thus reasoning there is no foul play involved. As new studies and cases affecting different communities in the United States are documented, these arguments have been contradicted empirically proving that there is an inconsistent encumbrance of toxic contamination in African American communities. 

Communities of color locally in the southern region of the United States are being disproportionately affected because of the deliberate disinterest and lack of value placed on their lives as a result of their deficient amount of political influence.

Environmental racism is a term used to explain disproportionate emissions of pollutants, and the close proximity of hazardous environments in socially marginalized racial minority communities. Environmental racism also refers to the denial of access to clean air, water and natural resources minorities often face. This form of racism is a part of a larger system of advantages and privileges based on race in the United States. The discrimination demonstrated through environmental racism is maintained by legal and governmental agencies, as well as business institutions. Environmental racism is facilitated by a greater construct of race and the ideology of whiteness. Linda Holtzman and Leon Sharpe together articulate the “concept of whiteness,” described as an identity concept invented and enforced by power and violence and the privilege and exclusive citizenship rights that stem from it. That same privilege is what charges the disparities that exist in education, employment, and housing and how this ongoing systemic racism is honing in on black communities in the form of environmental racism. 

Notably, problems regarding race and discrimination in the United States are often times intensified when circumstances beyond one’s control are introduced. In the wake of a natural disaster, no person should have to wait twice as long to be rescued because of one’s social or economic status, much like the criticisms presented relating to the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe (Lee). Timely rescue assistance, reasonable cost of evacuation, and federal emergency allocations are critical when one is in the midst of a state of emergency. Unfortunately, mismanagement and inefficient preparation in relief efforts can cause delayed reaction times. Moreover, low-income African Americans are often faced with a higher risk of lead poisoning as a result of housing disadvantages and contaminated water sources (Turner). These disadvantages stem from weak political influence regarding neighborhood improvements, thus making these neighborhoods undesirable to those that can afford to live elsewhere. This trend continues the downward cycle, as neighborhoods with poor people of color tend to stay that way after a certain amount of time, and influential political parties of government have little interest in pouring resources into areas they deem unsavory.

Without political power, these minority communities are typically preyed upon by companies and government agencies, resulting in a disparaging condition of life for those living in the area. Specifically in Michigan, blacks account for fourteen percent of the population, but the state government is dominated by Republicans leaving very little political power for Flint (Eligon). National correspondent John Eligon argues that there is a slower return time when responding to natural disasters in areas that are heavily populated by people of color than in areas that are suburban and white. This trend also is shown with more polluted areas of the country being predominately black. As the injustice that is environmental racism is discussed, the question of intentionality is often mentioned. It is important to note that regardless of motive, people of African American decent “suffer for being black and people of color” (Yancy 513). For a valiant change to be made, it is imperative for those that currently have the majority of social influence in the United States to not remain silent. It is an unrealistic request, but one important to voice.

There are several occurrences of environmental racism in South Carolina that could affect Carolinians including the toxic damage to the Port of Charleston (Wilson, et al), and the Environmental Protection Agency’s waste cleanup efforts in Spartanburg (Erbentraut). This form of racism has not been widely discussed; which may have resulted in environmental racism having been sheltered from the attention of most. The systemic devaluing of life is a more passive, subtle way of discriminating against unsuspecting local communities of color. Professor of Philosophy at Emory University, George Yancy, is quoted saying racism can be seen as a “system that continues to value black lives on the cheap (Yancy 511).”

Currently, in North Carolina the pig farming industry is proving to be detrimental to the lower-income, largely African American neighborhoods in close proximity. Investigative reporter, Erica Hellerstein focused the first portion of “Hogwashed,” a three-part article, on the pig farming industry’s footprint in North Carolina. ‘Hog farmers,’ disrupt the lives of the neighborhoods most closely surrounded by the pig farms through a combination of confinement houses, cesspools, and waste sprayers. United States Senator Corey Booker argues that corporate interests in North Carolina are “disproportionately placing environmental and public health burdens on low-income communities of color that they would never accept in their own neighborhoods” (Hellerstein). Stench from pig waste is the discernible concern that residents have, as it may be an annoyance. Even more, the air pollution from hog farms present a higher correlation between the waste filtering into air surrounding the farms and increased asthma symptoms and reduced lung function for children and a long term diminished quality of life for people living nearby (Hellerstein). Too often does race have a role in the selection of which areas are developed into a space that is arguably too hazardous to live.

Considering this, Mossville, Louisiana, is a small town comprised of approximately 500 residents that are predominately African-American. An alarming fourteen industrial facilities are situated in or near the five square miles that is Mossville (Gonzalez 298).  State officials made Mossville alluring to the manufacturing industry by offering ten-year tax exemptions to businesses, and in return, Mossville residents were plagued with pollution and toxicity. These decisions groomed the town into an industrial haven of sorts, with Mossville citizens at the mercy of the Calcasieu Parish government as they have no governing authority as a city. Mossville is a primarily African American unincorporated community suffering from a lack of political influence. The Calcasieu Parish has repeatedly made land use planning decisions for Mossville, approving hazardous industrial developments in and around the largely African American town. The injustice does not stop there, however, as even the process of fighting back against the seemingly clear cut environmental racism in Mossville has proved to be less than clear cut.

As Mossville residents have discovered, the legal steps necessary to prevent this unethical down pouring of pollution are laughable as the Office of Civil Rights has not made a formal finding of a civil rights infraction despite receiving nearly 300 discrimination complaints in its twenty two year history (Gonzalez 282-284). Moreover, a discrimination claim has proven to be difficult to verify, as the Antidiscrimination Law requires proof of intentional discrimination is shown. This is often times difficult to obtain as discrimination can be unconscious. Intent to harm a person of color as a primary motive is almost impossible to litigate, however Mossville residents have begun the process of seeking redress of these legal remedies through the Inter-American human rights system (Gonzalez 283).

The issue is often times deeper than just toxic elements seeping into community soils and waterways. In Charleston, South Carolina it was found that in addition to their history of industrial concerns, residents are also confronted with the problem of associated psychosocial stressors coupled with inadequate health-promoting infrastructure (Wilson, et al). The dearth of supermarkets, parks, open spaces, medical facilities reduce the community’s ability to defend against the adverse health consequences of their differential burden and exposure (Wilson, et al). Statistically speaking, in areas where residents are almost entirely white, there is eleven times more green space than areas where more than forty percent of residents are black, Asian or minority ethnic. This translates directly as “a subtle and constant disregard for the health of marginalized communities” often influenced by the sheer lack of value seen in the lives of people of color (Turner). 

One of the considerable oppositions to whether African American communities are being targeted is the ‘chicken or egg’ question. In other words, the state of demographics when toxic facilities were built is often called into question. Paul Mohai, while speaking with the podcast, Scientific American, relayed findings of a pattern of disproportionate placement and demographic changes that were already in motion before facilities were sited. Citing data from the 1970s until the year 2000, Mohai describes the decline in white populations around these hazardous waste facilities saying, “Facilities that were sited in 1980 and 1990 were already losing whites.” With these areas already beginning the conversion to a more heavily minority populated area, and eminent pollution looming, affluent whites avoid the area, and the cycle of systemic racism continues. 

A less voiced opposition of environmental racism’s impact on African American communities is the question of pollution relevance. That is, how well researchers can empirically prove that toxic pollution is what causes the health concerns that have arose. Cause and effect linkage, as Mohai refers to it, was a rebuttal for many environmental justice cases, and it is partially what has made the Flint, Michigan water crisis such a prevalent controversy. The evidence linking the contamination with the lead poisoning of Flint residents invalidates that argument, eliminating confusion about what may have caused Flint residents’ illnesses. 

Programs designed to service communities of color affected by environmental racism are critical when addressing possible solutions. Joseph Erbentraut found the Environmental Protection Agency to be essential in the funding for addressing issues associated to the problem of heightened exposure to pollutants as it relates to minorities while covering the program’s proposed budget cuts. The Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice program, to name one, is essential to helping “disadvantaged communities push back against industry pollution,” (Erbentraut). The program is tasked with merging community, government and industry interests to achieve a collaborative solution to serious environmental and public health concerns in over one thousand communities. Calling for more associations directly working to receive and interpret interests from populations of color is a step in the right direction. This can be made possible by larger budget allocations to the EPA. The environmental justice program currently in operation acknowledges the correlation between minorities and their heightened exposure to toxic pollutants. The organization provides modest grants to actualize local solutions to environmental racism in their neighborhood. The output of more government-funded environmental advocacy groups would be remarkable.

For instance, a community organization in Spartanburg, South Carolina was impactful in the EPA awarding a $20,000 grant to assist with cleanup efforts in a neighborhood surrounded by Superfund sites, areas identified by the EPA as contaminated with hazardous waste. The grant led to over $270 million in investments from various foundations, investors and other government agencies in the form of community health centers, affordable housing, a recreation center, gardens and green space (Erbentraut). Gina McCarthy, a former EPA employee, raved in a 2015 EPA agency blog post about the efforts in Spartanburg saying they were “a shining beacon of what’s possible when folks impacted by community decisions have a seat at the table” (Erbentraut). Spartanburg is a wonderfully choice illustration of what can happen when environmental decision making is given to those potentially being affected.

Secondly, fiscal investments are necessary to improving the value seen in African American communities. The Spartanburg story is another example of the necessity of investments that benefit African American and other minority communities. Proposed budget cuts as reported from the Office of Management and Budget would be detrimental to the EPA and its impact on environmental racism as the reductions would “essentially gut the program, reducing its funding from $6.7 million to just $1.5 million” (Erbentraut). To effectively make a change with environmental racism, government funding is crucial. A trickledown effect is possible, as investing capital in minority communities to better serve health needs would lead to an overall more positive outwards view of the neighborhood. When areas that are majorly minority have an affirmative appearance they are seen as having more value than those that are more run down. 

As a final point, minority communities must see an increase in political representation. Not necessarily that these communities need to have minority political officials, but that they need to have more political entities willing to work for them. Environmental decisions are related to political power in many cases, and without political clout, African American neighborhoods have difficulty challenging environmental decision-makers. An obvious example can be seen, “in Michigan, where blacks are fourteen percent of the population and the state government is dominated by Republicans” (Eligon). John Eligon, a national correspondent for the New York Times, quoted Michigan Governor, Rick Snyder as saying in a memo prepared by his staff that high chemical compound levels found in the water were “not a top health concern.” To combat environmental racism, there is an express call for people more committed to the health and well-being of people of color. The poor decisions made in Flint manifested from the government’s desire to save the city millions of dollars. The posed threat to citizen safety was not considered in the new water arrangement, and those charged with the responsibility of protecting the city’s residents failed, ignoring health complaints. With gradual changes to the individuals politically involved with socioeconomic arrangements these blunders may happen less often. Additionally, with political allies working to ensure an equal distribution of toxic hotspots and hazardous areas dilapidated environments will no longer be majority African American. 

As local minority communities in the southern region of the United States, as well as across America, are concerned presently, disproportionate emissions of pollutants and environmental warfare in the form of polluted drinking water and living areas are becoming a societal norm. The concept of whiteness and the political powers that further the divisive behaviors of targeting minority communities are fast at work. The happenings in Flint, Michigan regarding their water crisis as well as the toxic elements impacting Charleston, South Carolina project the dire necessity of political influence in communities consisting mostly of minorities. Debate pertaining to whether discriminatory placement of toxic facilities is often brought about when discussing environmental racism. Demographic patterns dating back several decades can disprove this theory, showing a decrease in white persons in many areas targeted for facility placement. Pollution relevance also can be debunked, with Flint, Michigan as the leading example. Direct fault for the drastic health effects on Flint residents can be directed at the lead polluted water, then at the state officials that were instrumental in the decision to cease use of the Detroit water supply. With the help of an influx of political powers, and proper funding to correct previous destruction caused by past indiscretions, environmental racism is an issue that can be rectified. It’s critical to begin to reverse this injustice, as racism is continuously strengthened by the economic privilege whiteness brings through the exploitation of minorities.
