Environmental Racism: The Forgotten Issue

2020 certainly has not been the best year for the health of humanity. However, one good thing that has come out of this global pandemic is a renewed interest in social issues involving class and race around the world. For most of its existence, social media served to display only the good in people’s lives. Now, it is becoming an educational resource for many and advocacy is becoming normalized. The general consensus regarding the internet and social media now is that as individuals we all play a role in educating not only ourselves but others.  

To be completely frank, the person I was in March of 2020 is not the same person I am today. This revolutionized use of social media has allowed me to become so much more aware of issues that I often overlooked before. Though environmental racism has deep roots in American history, it is left out of the types of history taught in most schools. For the most part, racism is labeled as a sensitive topic that teachers shy away from and try to leave in the past, using the civil rights movement as an endpoint for suffering. The lasting impacts of segregation, along with the social and economic disadvantage today, are left buried under the modern success stories of 21st century America. Issues like environmental racism can be overlooked unless one does their own research. In the recent months, social media advocates have created posts that have shed light on both environmental and social issues, raising awareness for topics not taught in schools.    

The environmental justice movement revolves around the concept of fair treatment of all peoples in relation to environmental policy. The movement itself can be confused with simple environmental advocacy, which often ignores the inequities of the climate crisis. Environmental justice focuses on justice for all communities— regardless of their race or wealth bracket— and their respective relationships to the environment. As a result, the term environmental racism is becoming much more popular amongst younger advocates, shining a direct spotlight on the intersectionality of environmental issues and racism. 

Once I began researching environmental racism, I found myself unsettled by the lack of research there was surrounding the topic.  It was not until I did my research that I began to understand just how prevalent it was. 

Growing up in Queens, NYC, I would spend my weekdays roaming around my borough and the weekends taking trips with my friends to Midtown Manhattan. In the neighborhoods of Flushing and Corona, I saw overcrowded, run-down apartment buildings line the streets right up to the neighboring highways with little green space. The crowded streets were tight and littered with trash and the 7-train rumbled from the nearby tracks. Manhattan felt like an escape. Although crowded like Queens, it was different because these crowds were business people or groups of friends just hanging out. But by the end of the day, all these people would go back home. In the city, there were plenty of parks to go to, workers were deliberately cleaning the streets, and there was barely any industrial work happening. 

Another main difference was the social and economic statistics of these places. In Midtown, Manhattan, 70% of residents are White and have an average household income of $144,910. In Flushing, Queens 84% of residents are BIPOC with an average household income of $54,381. It is no coincidence that the stark difference in these statistics reflect the differing environments of these communities. The neighborhoods of NYC are just one example, but this gap is common across the United States. 

Recent studies have shown that environmental issues disproportionately affect different communities. To put it simply, lower income, minority communities tend to be near more industrial sites, polluted transportation, and less green space. This issue dates back to zoning laws that excluded communities from moving into certain areas. The current issue we are facing is that there are essentially no policies in place to reinforce environmental justice; this idea plays a role in why environmental racism is still ongoing in our society. 

The Flint Water Crisis is the most obvious example of environmental racism in our society. My assigned first-year reading text for college was “What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City.” Written by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the book explained the water crisis from the author’s personal experience as a doctor in Flint, Michigan. I was familiar with the story because it had been all over the news a couple years earlier, but the information in the book seemed completely new to me. The book erased the political narrative and focused solely on what was happening from a doctor’s perspective. Her descriptions of what she saw in her patients and found in her research showed that the issue of lead poisoning was no mystery — where it came from was clear. The bottom line is that the water crisis issue in Flint was not taken seriously by political officials. With Flint’s population being approximately 54% African American with 40% living in poverty, it concerns whether the situation would have been handled differently if a more affluent community had been affected. 

As the younger generations continue to grow up and become advocates themselves, it is important for us to address the disproportionate effects of the climate crisis. Often we focus on solely environmental destruction, but rarely do we think of the communities specifically affected by this description. Now it’s time to hold environmental racism up to an equal standard to the climate crisis. A start to raising awareness for environmental racism is not only education, but also bringing up the issue in a classroom setting, on social media or even just with friends. By starting a discussion, no matter how big or small the group, each individual can play a part in bringing this issue to the forefront of people’s minds. In reality, you have to ask yourself: how can we truly advocate for the saving of the Earth if we fail to protect the people inhabiting it?  

• education
• environment
• racism