3.10: Environmental Racism and Justice

Environmental Racism

In addition to keeping specific groups of people residentially separated, ghettos seem to serve a variety of other unpleasant functions as well. Ghettos have been used for many years as dumping grounds for a variety of social ills and civic disamenities. For example, Chinatown regions across the West Coast hosted brothels, opium dens, and gambling houses – not because the Chinese embraced those activities any more than any other ethnic group, but because city leaders permitted/encouraged those activities, as long as they were in Chinatown. Rather than engendering pity for the Chinese that were left without protection from the law, the lack of police enforcement in these regions of the city reinforced negative stereotypes about Chinese people.

Ghettos are also frequently subject to industrial disamenities; health hazards not found elsewhere in the urban environment. Air, water, and ground pollutants are frequently worst in poor, minority neighborhoods leading to the evolution of what some call environmental racism. Historically, laundry activities were considered a nuisance – soap making was hot, dirty, and often foul-smelling, so “washhouses” were often confined to Chinese ghettos – giving rise to the institution of the Chinese Laundry. Many similar conditions exist today. Black and brown people in many cities suffer from higher rates of environmental health issues like asthma and obesity than non-Hispanic whites. These statistics may be caused partly by ethnic cultural practices and poverty, but it is also clear that poor minority people are least able to move away from polluted neighborhoods, most of which were established long before the Civil Rights era. Minority groups also have more trouble defending their right to a healthy neighborhood via political processes.

In addition to the obvious toxic pollutants, other environmental hazards in the form of things like payday lenders, fast food restaurants, loud traffic, and even poor disaster planning may undermine the ability of residents living in minority neighborhoods to live as long and as well as fellow citizens across town. For example, during Hurricane Katrina (2005), black residents of New Orleans were neglected by the city’s hurricane evacuation plan because the plan was designed to cater to people who owned automobiles. A significant percentage (100,000 people) of the city’s black population relied on public transport and were therefore not part of the city’s hurricane evacuation plan.

Environmental Justice

One of the spatial manifestations of racism and ethnic discrimination is the difference in levels of political representation. Another one is the location of unpleasant environmental activities. Landfills and airports tend to be built in places inhabited by less-powerful groups, while dominant groups rarely if ever have to organize to prevent such things being built in their neighborhoods. Some groups find their economic situations limited by underfunded schools or inadequate infrastructure. The idea that different groups should have access to decent places to live is called environmental justice.