In the community of Chester, Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh investment company, Russell, Rea & Zappala (RR&Z), was built four hazardous waste treatment facilities since the 1960’s. Chester has approximately 45,000 residents in which most are African American and of low income (“Toxic Waste in Chester”, Pennsylvania). Residents of Chester blamed the four toxic waste treatment facilities for their reoccurring health problems. Unfortunately, the state government stands behind that there isn’t proof that the waste facilities are making them ill. Resulting from the state government’s ignorance, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) still allows the construction of more toxic waste facilities in Chester. But Chester didn’t give up so …show more content…
“Unsurprisingly, the EPA concluded that the health risks caused by environmental hazards in Chester are ‘unacceptably high’ for virtually all Chester residents” (“Environmental Racism in Chester”). They discovered that the Chester population had a much higher percentage of lung cancer than before. Children in these areas were affected the most and had high amounts of lead in their blood. “Also, the EPA found that many Chester residents are already in poor health which makes them more susceptible to the aggravating effects of pollution” (“Toxic Waste in Chester, Pennsylvania”). While the discoveries of the EPA study upheld the concerns Chester inhabitants, the EPA, on the other hand, asserted to have no genuine force to help serious improvement in the Chester group; especially when DEP keeps on allowing licenses to RR&Z. This is when Chester’s people need to rely on each other to fight against this inequality. Zulene Mayfield, a member of the Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL), was one of the most influential people in the race for environmental justice. She was simply baffled at the amount of pollution and injustice from the waste treatment centers was bringing to …show more content…
People in Chester are being discriminated so poorly that their lives are at stake. The best way to solve these problems is to remove the waste treatments out of Chester and more spread across the country. But, this is almost as near to impossible due the amount of resources and time it would take to remove the factories. The next best thing I think that could help is more and more support for the cause. If more people start to act on this issue and attack the waste treatment companies, one will start to see a change in the actions of the companies. Another step people could take to escape is blast the companies on the Internet. If people in Chester blew these problems up internationally or even just in America they could get the support they need. The government needs to stop harassing and discriminating against the Black Community. “The environmental justice movement has bridged the divide between nature and society in another way, urging that environmentalists pursue not just the protection of wilderness and natural systems but also the ecological health of human communities, specifically poor, minority, and indigenous communities” (Cannavó, Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature). To summarize this, Essentially politics and nature are morphing to create both good and bad
Exxon/Mobil, one of the nation’s leading oil producers, has its main refinery located in Beaumont, Texas. Each year, the residents of Beaumont/Port Arthur have to contend with the 39,000 pounds of pollution spewed each year by the Exxon refinery. Exxon’s emissions are 385% above the state refinery average. In 1999, the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Committee (TNRCC) allowed the plant to increase their emissions, without allowing the public to have a say in the matter. Interestingly, 95% of the people living near the plant are of African American descent and are in the poverty range. Some believe that this, along with the lack of education in the area, allows Exxon to get away with such high emissions. Residents in nearby neighborhoods have been complaining of headaches, nausea, eye, and throat irritation for years. Since 1997, Mobil has repeatedly violated health standards in its emissions of two key air pollutants: sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, These “rotten egg” smells are so strong, one can smell it through a car driving past the refinery. After numerous complaints and one record of a refinery worker becoming unconscious because of the fumes, the EPA awarded Exxon with a $100,000 environmental justice grant in October of 1998. Hopefully, Exxon has put the money to good use and cleaned up their emissions.
In his article entitled The "environmental racism" Hoax, white male, David Friedman explains his disbelief in the existence of environmental racism. He argues that the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to prevent environmental injustice make it too difficult to push business projects through in urban areas. Therefore business efforts, “shift operations to white, politically conservative, less-developed locations,” to avoid complications with EPA requirements (Friedman). Moving industrial facilities to predominantly white areas creates jobs and economic growth in these areas rather than in areas with larger colored populations. Therefore, it could be seen that the EPA’s efforts ironically counteract their purpose of protecting colored communities. This view attributes for lack of industrial plants in urban areas, but fails to consider the relationship between environmental horrors such as Hurricanes Katrina, Irma, and Jose, DAPL, and the Flint Water Crisis. Effort is not actively put into protecting communities of color in our country. Citizens fail to recognize the weight of this issue because our leaders themselves don’t prioritize
Native Americans have suffered from one of America’s most profound ironies. The American Indians that held the lands of the Western Hemisphere for thousands of years have fallen victim to some of the worst environmental pollution. The degradation of their surrounding lands has either pushed them out of their homes, made their people sick, or more susceptible to disease. If toxic waste is being strategically placed near homes of Native Americans and other minority groups, then the government industry and military are committing a direct offense against environmental justice. Productions of capitalism and militarism are deteriorating the lands of American Indians and this ultimately is environmental racism.
“The whole structure of American thought was against me; American tradition had convicted me a hundred years before. And standing there … having to take it, knowing that I was innocent and that I didn't have a chance” (187). This was the demoralized perspective the majority of African Americans had in society during the 1940s, an era corrupted with uncontrollable racism and pure hatred towards the minorities. There was no equality, no opportunity, and no hope available for 99% of all the African Americans who were trying to enhance their lives. They were always subservient to whites. In Chester Himes’s novel, If He Hollers Let Him Go, Himes demonstrates the struggle life presents for African Americans in comparison to whites, as well as the
The Chesapeake area in the seventeenth century was a unique community that was almost absent of racism. In this community, at this time, property was the central and primary definition of one’s place in society. The color of one’s skin was not a fundamental factor in being a well respected and valued member of the community. Virginia’s Eastern Shore represented a very small fellowship of people that were not typical of the Southern ideals during this time period and gave free blacks owning property a great deal of respect and merit usually equal to that of any white man around.
Racism (n): the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other race (Wordnet search, 1), a controversial topic in today’s society, a subject that many people try to sweep under the rug, but yet a detrimental problem that has been present in America since the colonial era. Will this dilemma come to a halt? Can all Americans see each other as equals despite their skin color and nationality; and what role has it played in past generations versus today’s generations and how will it affect our future? Has this on going way of thinking gotten better or worse? These are questions raised when many think about the subject; especially members of American ethnic groups and backgrounds, because most have dealt with racial discrimination in their life time.
You decide, one Sunday, to take a random drive in the country to enjoy the fresh air and lush scenery of fields lit bright with glowing trees swaying in the afternoon sun. After exploring the countless, sand and dirt covered roads that pave the rolling landscape, you turn down one a little more remote than the others. To the right is a field of beautiful sunflowers, to the left you find an illegal dump site full of rusty old cars, appliances, and tin cans. You are appalled by the sight of such negligence by those who do not take the same pride in the environment as you do. How did this happen? Surely this was not the act of one person.
The Civil Rights Era was one of the most important period of the social history of the United States. By the 1950’s, Unyielding segregation was the rule throughout the country, not just in the south. For decades, suburban neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington was majority whites, while the majority of the black population settled in the central parts of the city by force. Further, more than half of the black population lived in poverty, could not apply for many jobs or dealt with unfair employment practices and limited opportunities for getting an education, and their children forced to attend segregated schools. Today, Seattle is considered a progressive state with a reasonable record of racial integration; however, a few decades ago, Seattle, Washington was a very segregated city, with a long history of racism, prejudice, and racial segregated practices. Many stores, restaurants, hotels, and other commercial establishments, as well as hospitals had color barriers.
Dating back to the beginning of times people have always been looked at different depending on the color of their skin or what your religion, race, or beliefs may be. It is in our human nature to not like people for certain things that they are. Many will argue that in this day in age we are no longer at a race war but how can you be so sure when you actually open your eyes and see reality. Rapper Kanye West once said “racism is still alive, they just be concealing it” and these words are everything but false. You must ask yourself the real question about racism and it is how could you ever cure such a thing in people’s minds? People are free to think and believe what ever they would like and old habits such as racism will never change in people.
1. Lynne Page Snyder. (1994). The Death-Dealing Smong over Donora, Pennsylvania: Industrial Air Pollution, Public Health Policy, and the Politics of Expertise, 1948-1949. Environmental History Review: pp.117-1392.
Have you ever been discriminated against simply because your skin is darker than the next person? Have you ever been told by someone that “your pretty for a dark skin girl or boy?” Have you ever been racist toward your own race? Since long before we or our parents were born, the black community has faced this problem with racism within the same race. In the black community, it is said that if a person have a lighter skin complexion, than they are superior to those with a darker skin complexion. Racism within the black community is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
Nydia Velazquez is a representative for New York’s Twelfth Congressional District, which includes parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. In her essay “In Search of Justice,” Velazquez describes several unjust situations that happened in her district. She points out that the residents of Greenpoint, which is the heart of her district, are among the poorest in the country. She argues that large corporations carelessly dump their waste next to poor minorities’ living areas and emphasizes the terrible air conditions in her district. Velazquez believes that minority communities are treated unfairly under the environmental law, which targets large corporations.
Black youths arrested for drug possession are 48 times more likely to wind up in prison than white youths arrested for the same crime under the same circumstances. Many people are unaware how constant racism has been throughout the years. It is important to understand the problems of racism because it is relevant to society. Racism in America is very real and Americans need to know it.
Environmental racism is starting to get attention in the Florida legislature. Low-income; minority ; Blacks ; Hispanics / Latinos ; Asians ; Philippines ; Latin American ; factory owners ; people with money. Environmental racism is something that affects black minority and low-income people around the world. “The state of Florida needs to take at the factors that have caused this”. What this is is that the toxic waste the polluted Florida needs to be checked out.
Racism is commonly thought of as an act that is synonymous with violence; however, one common form of racism, environmental racism, often takes place without people being aware the events are happening before detrimental activities have been put into action. In Melissa Checker’s book Polluted Promises, she relates that Reverend Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. coined the term environmental racism while stating that there is “deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste disposal and the siting of polluting industries” (Checker 14). This problem is important to discuss, as many groups of people around the United States continue to be impacted by these events every day. Such people include