Environmental Justice

Environmental racism

Environmental racism is also insidious, and Chavis coins it this way: “Environmental Racism [ER] is racial discrimination in the deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste facilities, the official sanctioning of the presence of life-threatening poisons and pollutants near communities of color and the history of excluding people of color from leadership of the environmental movement.”¹⁶ In order to treat spaces as unimportant, or as sacrifice zones, the people in those spaces have to be considered unimportant, too. This is done by weaving a single narrative that BIPOC are responsible for their own deaths and hardships. “Why don’t you move?” This comment implies that BIPOC have the resources to move, and ignores history of redlining. Blaming tactics, are illustrated in cartoons, such as Dutch Boy, accusing Black people of being ignorant and ineducable.¹⁷  Others say, “…they wouldn’t be poor if they worked harder, and wouldn’t be sick if they were educated and simply took better care of themselves.”¹⁸ Comments such as these ignore the voices of real people and real problems.

“Climate change is not an equal-opportunity killer. It goes after the most vulnerable among us: children. Heat stress and air pollution can lead to preterm labor and increased risk of low birth rate. Zika can pass from mother to fetus, causing deadly birth defects. Children inhale more pollution in proportion to their body weight, which can have permanent effects on their development…Four million kids world-wide develop asthma each year simply because they have the misfortune of living near a major roadway. Shame on us who could be doing something about it.¹⁹

That said, environmental racism deliberately targets marginalized communities. We can research the problem, study the problem, speak on the problem, create committees about the problem, and pass the problem to someone else who will research the problem, …forever creating narratives that don’t address the problem! Justice is needed for people and the environment.