Justice or Racism it’s a long path to harmony
centercenterJustice or Racism it’s a long path to harmonyAbstractWhat will it take for justice to prevent racism and protect our minorities and poor from environmental hazards?Alicia ArmstrongEnvironmental Ethics9410077300Justice or Racism it’s a long path to harmonyAbstractWhat will it take for justice to prevent racism and protect our minorities and poor from environmental hazards?Alicia ArmstrongEnvironmental EthicsJustice or Racism A Long Path to HarmonyEnvironmental racism and environmental justice are not a new concept. As Robert Bullard the “Father of the Environmental Justice Movement” states in his Environmental Justice in the Twenty-first Century “hardly a day passes without the media discovering some community or neighborhood fighting an attempt to build near it a landfill, incinerator, chemical plant, or other polluting facility, or fighting to bring attention to the harmful effect that people are suffering as a result of such an entity already located nearby”. Why are so many companies coming into low income mostly minority areas to build their highly polluting, toxic companies?So what is environmental justice and environmental racism? Environmental Justice can be defined as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Fair treatment according to Robert Bullard is “no group of people, including racial, ethnic, or socio-economic groups, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local and tribal programs and policies”. So why are there so many communities in the United States that are being affected by pollutions which are populated by African Americans? According to the publication Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty 1987-2007, African Americans are 79 percent more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods where industrial pollution is suspected of posing the greatest health danger. This is not only a problem for African Americans though. Puerto Rico is dealing with another type of environmental justice problem. Their territory is still trying to overcome the devastation of Hurricane Maria. As of March 2018 nearly 200,000 families still did not have power many of the residents are suffering from forms of mental illness because they are still having to deal with the aftermath of the hurricane. Why has it taken so long for the government to step in and help, why are there still so many people without the help they need. These are basic necessities that have not been re-established. These are minorities, they are part of the United States but it seems the government is not helping the way it should. We look to the government to protect us and the environment however it seems that when it comes down to it we are not being protected and we are losing essential parts of the environment because of this.Environmental racism is defined as the placement of low-income or minority communities in proximity of environmentally hazardous or degraded environments, such as toxic waste, pollution and urban decay. While there are competing views as to an exact definition, the interplay between environmental issues and social indicators are key to its understanding according to Wikipedia. Environmental justice is the movement’s response to environmental racism. According to the EPA Environmental Justice FY2017 Progress Report there are over 175,000 people that live in the 27 square mile foot print of the Omaha Lead Superfund Site in Omaha Nebraska. This property includes residential, day cares, schools and playgrounds. These areas are where child play and can be exposed to the lead contaminated soil as a result of being on historic lead smelting and refining operations. It has taken 18 years of cleanup work to show a measurable drop in children’s blood lead levels. The percentage of children with elevated blood levels has dropped from 1999 at 25% to 0.03% in 2017. These are children from low income and minorities. The percentage is going down but should these neighborhoods and schools been built in these areas at all? The land should have been cleared and cleaned up before we brought families in. Researchers at the University of Minnesota conducted a study “nonwhite people, regardless of income, are exposed to higher levels of air pollution than white people”. Why is this? If you look at the way and where whites and nonwhite people live you can see a large difference in the amount of pollution that they are exposed to. You can see Chester Pa for example that is predominately an African American population and they have several highly polluting companies in their backyards. You can look at areas like Portland Main with an 83% white population, this is a city with little to no pollution. This is a perfect example of environmental injustice and environmental racism.The EPA has an Office of Civil Rights which responsibility is to look into discriminatory decision making by agencies and private companies that receive federal funding. This department should be protecting the population from poor decisions that may harm people. In Flint Michigan in 1992 the Michigan Department of Natural Resources had approved the building of a new power plan in an area made up mostly of African Americans. This particular power plant was using demolition wood which was covered with chemicals and lead based paint. Think about the type of particular matter that would be released into the air and water supply by this combination, it is toxic. Complaints were made to the EPA Office of Civil Rights they were to start an investigation in 1995 and it was not until a decade later that they sent a few people to investigate the situation. On January 19, 2017 the last full day of the Obama administration the EPA External Civil Rights Compliance Office said that “African Americans were treated less favorably than non-African Americans” during the hearings for the power plant. Why did it take 25 years for the government to come to a conclusion on a complaint that was made back in 1992? “A Center for Public Integrity investigation in 2015 detailed the EPA’s anemic enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin by recipients of federal funding. The analysis showed that the civil-rights office hadn’t made a finding of discrimination in 22 years – apart from a preliminary one in 2011 – despite having received hundreds of complaints. Last year, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights cited the Center’s work in a performance review that found the EPA was failing to meet its obligations under the act.” If the government has a department that’s duty is to analyze civil rights complaints based on Title VI and they are not doing this who is monitoring their performance. Why anyone wouldn’t be watching the performance of this department for 22 years. The government should have a checks and balances in place in order to make sure that its citizens are being taken care of and not being ignored. These complaints are not a dog off a leash but life changing life ending complaints. These are people’s lives that we are hurting, these are children that may not have the opportunity to become adults due to cancer or other illnesses. No parent should have to watch their child die because they wanted to provide them with a home to live in and all they could afford was one in a low income area that is surrounded by harmful business and then not get the help from the people that they should be able to rely on.Environmental justice should take care of the problem of environmental racism but it isn’t. Justice is a way to protect something however it seems that in a lot of situations there is no justice. The environment is being harmed by companies coming in and polluting the air and water supplies. They are contaminating the soil which in turn harms the food we eat. However when you look at the areas these companies are being approved to build in you will see that they are low income minority areas. These are the people who the government has turned their backs to. Sadly this comes down to a money issue again. The companies are looking for low cost to build and the government is looking for money. You will hear that by building in these areas it will be good for the residents, it will provide more jobs, it will provide money for the area but what we need to look at is what harm it will do to the residents. Until both parties can come to a solution we will never have harmony between environmental justice and environmental racism.BibliographyBullard, Robert D. Environmental Justice in the Twenty-first CenturyBullard Ph.D., Robert D, Mohai Ph.D. Paul, Saha Ph.D. Robin, Wright Ph.D. Beverly, Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty 1987-2007. United Church of Christ, 2007Burford, Talia; Rare discrimination finding by EPA civil-rights office. January 25, 2017 , Zoe: How the EPA Has Failed to Challenge Environmental Racism in Flint and Beyond. January 28, 2016. , Rick: 6 months after Hurricane Maria, life in Puerto Rico is better-but will “never be normal again” USA Today, March 5, 2018Smith, Michael Denzel: Racial and Environmental Justice Are Two Sides of the Same Coin. April 22, 2014. : Environmental racism. United States Environmental Protection Agency: Environmental Justice. for Health & Environmental Justice: Environmental Justice & Environmental Racism ................
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