Environmental Racism and its Victims

So far, we have analyzed what environmental racism and injustice is, where environmental injustice thrives, and elements of environmental injustice. In these posts, I always mention the people who are affected by environmental injustice, however, in this blog post, I will go on to explore the people directly affected by environmental injustice.

Throughout this blog, I will call "victims" of environmental racism "unfortunate beneficiaries," (a term I totally just made up.) I am choosing to do this to reiterate that these people are not just victims, but survivors; survivors whose unfortunately is killing them.

Back to Basics: Who is Affected?

It's no secret that environmental racism and injustice is a systemic, bigoted practice. It affects marginalized people who do not live in affluent areas. It thrives on capitalism, classism, racism, sexism, ableism, and the further intersections of those ideas.

Environmental racism is the intentional placement of hazardous waste sites, landfills, and polluting industries in communities inhabited by mainly African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, migrant farm workers, and the working poor. 


The United Church of Christ (UCC) helped birth the environmental justice movement in 1987 when the UCC Commission for Racial Justice published Toxic Waste and Race, a supplemental study in understanding environmental racism. In this study, the terms "environmental racism" and "environmental justice" were coined. The UCC explains that minorities are especially vulnerable because they are perceived as weak and passive citizens who will not fight back against the poisoning of their neighborhoods because they fear that it may jeopardize their jobs and economic survival. 

This racism is the deliberate selection of communities of color to be used as a place where landfills can be built, and where toxic waste is disposed of. These unfortunate beneficiaries of environmental racism are often excluded by traditional environmental groups, and by the board in charge of making these decisions.

A town in Louisiana, Mossville, founded by a former slave

The Unsung Heroes

The unfortunate beneficiaries of environmental injustice have not been complacent in their circumstances; they have been speaking out. They are not the passive minorities who will not fight back. These minority communities have been at the forefront of environmental justice. Here's a short list of what they have done:

• 1991: The First People of Color Environmental Summit was held in Washington, DC. Over 1,000 people attended.
• 1992: The "Environmental Justice Act of 1992" was introduced to Congress by Congressman John Lewis and Senator Albert Gore.
• 1999: The Black farmers discrimination case against the USDA settles for $1 billion to 15,000 Black Farmers.
• 2002: First North American Indigenous Mining Summit held to develop action plans to address coal, uranium, and metallic mining activities in Native lands.
• 2006: The Concerned Citizens of Agriculture Street Landfill won their class-action lawsuit (after fighting for 13 years!) to be brought out of their contaminated community.
• 2007: The EPA finds Citgo guilty of environmental crimes in Corpus Christi, Texas.
• 2009: Judge orders Chevron to stop work on oil refinery expansion in Richmond, CA, resulting in a huge victory for the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.
• 2010: Black residents of Mossville wins hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on charges that the U.S. government has violated their rights regarding pollution.

Environmental racism perpetuates the notion that minority communities will not fight for their right to a clean environment. This notion has been proved wrong again and again, as the fight against environmental racism continues today.

Food Deserts In Rhode Island

In my last blog post, I introduced the term "food desert," as a factor of environmental injustice and explained who is affected and what efforts are being made to combat it. This post will dig deeper into this unfortunate phenomenon, and talk about local food deserts.

Recap: a food desert is geographical location where it is difficult to obtain fresh fruit and vegetables. A food desert mainly has a lot of fast food restaurants and corner stores, as opposed to supermarkets that offer produce and other nutritious foods. Food deserts are rampant among low-income minority communities, and rural towns. Food deserts are a form of environmental injustice. 

Food Deserts in Rhode Island:

Rhode Island is no stranger to food deserts. Even though we are the smallest state in the US, we still have communities that are victims of food deserts. From our rural towns, to the heart of the city of Providence, food deserts are unfortunately alive and well. 

Let's take a look:

Like I mentioned previously in my last blog, First Lady Michelle Obama partnered up with the United States Department of Agriculture to Food Access Research Atlas, to create a map where anyone can see if they live in a food desert.

I encourage you to take a look at the atlas, and test it out yourself. Put the town you live in and see if you live in a food desert, or if you live in a place where there are supermarkets that carry fresh and nutritious produce. (Comment with what you find!)

When I came across the atlas, I immediately searched where I live, Providence, to see where the local food deserts around me are. There are a number of communities that have low-access or even no access to vehicles to get them to their supermarket destination. The good news is there are no "red zones," zones in which a significant number of people who do not have to travel more than 1 urban mile, or 20 rural miles.

Keeping it local:

The Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island  is a non-profit organization made up of Rhode Island residents who care about their neighborhood's environment. The League started a Healthy Corner Store Initiative, which is a community campaign urging local small corner stores and bodegas to  add healthier options to their selection. By working with store owners, vendors, youth, and community residents, the initiative seeks to make it easier to find and cook healthier food.

Personally, I believe the League does a great deal of combating environmental racism, because most of the people in the League are indeed of color, and they cater to the people in their communities. For example, here is the Healthy Corner Store Initiative's poster:

The poster here is in Spanish, which I think is so important. This brings Spanish-speaking people into the conversation of food justice. 

When we make our actions and initiatives multi-lingual, we include people who otherwise might be excluded into the conversation of environmental justice.

Another powerful resource that takes on food justice in Providence, is the Providence Food Justice Mapping Project, a sustainability initiative specifically dedicated to exploring the opportunities and food barriers in Providence.

The project focuses heavily on providing detailed maps to where food is accessible in Providence. They have provided this excellent visual for guidance:

If you can, note which areas are green and which aren't. If you aren't too familiar with the neighborhoods in Providence, I will give you a hint, the green areas are the most affluent ones.

This is why environmental justice and campaigns like the two I mentioned are so important. If we do not take direct action, our rich, White neighbors will be the only ones with proper food access. 

Exploring Elements of Environmental Injustice: Food Deserts

Previously, I have unpacked environmental racism and injustice, providing a definition for the term, then a working list of what efforts can be made to combat it. In this blog post, I will introduce a concrete example of environmental injustice: food deserts.

A food desert is a geographical location where affordable and nutritious food is difficult to obtain. Food deserts exist mainly in rural areas and low-income communities.The American Nutrition Association, a non-profit devoted to optimal health through wellness and education, provides an poignant point as to why and how food deserts exist. The AMA offers that food deserts lack whole food providers, especially providers that offer produce. And in return, more "quickie" marts are established in the wake of less supermarkets. Quickie marts are local corner stores, or bodegas, that sell more packaged, processed food high in sugar and fat.

Who is affected?

People living in low-income communities, are primarily victims of food deserts. Big cities that have a surplus of neighborhoods are often affected. Additionally, people who do not have access to cars are huge victims of food deserts. 

This map is from the United States Department of Agriculture and it provides a proper visual of communities where food deserts are rampant.

 For example, in Chicago, many of the poorer, Black communities do not have access to fresh food within a mile of where they live. It was so bad that a supermarket chain was given $5 million to build stores in food deserts in Chicago .

What can be done?

Unfortunately, not every state as an initiative building bond like that of Illinois. However, other efforts are being made. First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign focuses on spreading healthy initiatives in families and communities with the goal of eliminating childhood obesity. This video introduces The White House's efforts to eliminate food deserts across America. 

With the help of the United States Department of Agriculture, First Lady Michelle Obama established a food desert locator, to track supermarket accessibility in low-income communities.

The locator map itself  is pretty genius, as it showcases the sad reality of food deserts. 

So we've got a locator? So what? What else can we do? (Those are actual, genuine questions I have.) In my opinion, there's only so many articles, and research that goes into this work. Now where is that work? When I looked into ways the community could help itself, I found so many "options" that were sold as easy and doable, when in reality, they were not. They suggested that people start their own gardens, and stop construction of gas stations in favor of urban farming. These are nice ways to combat food deserts indeed, but who has the time, energy, and resources for that? Certainly not these low-income communities.

How can we be realistic and get people the healthy nutrition they deserve? These are all my own thoughts and questions. Moving forward, I will vamp up my research and talking about food deserts here in Rhode Island.

If you have any ideas how we can eliminate food deserts realistically, feel free to comment below!

Unpacking Environmental Injustice

In my last blog post, I introduced the topic of environmental injustice and wrote that it will be the central focus of this blog. But before we dig deep into environmental injustice, let's uncover what it is. 

What is environmental injustice?

Environmental injustice, best known as "environmental racism" can be defined in a multitude ways. However, a definition of environmental racism I really adhere to comes from Do Something, which explains it as "the geographic relationship between between environmental degradation and low-income or minority communities."

Who experiences environmental injustice?
To reiterate, mainly low-income and minority communities. This could be a large spectrum of people. Women, children, the elderly, single-parent families, queer people, disabled people--mainly anyone who is marginalized in this country, therefore not receiving the best housing.

Going back to the article I posted earlier, it exemplifies some of the people who experience environmental injustice:

5. African Americans are 79 percent more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods where industrial pollution is suspected of causing the greatest health dangers. 
8. “Approximately half of all Native Americans live in communities with an uncontrolled toxic waste site," according to the Commission for Racial Justice.

(African Americans are more likely to have asthma due to being exposed to hazardous chemicals in the air in their community. This picture comes up the images section when environmental racism is Googled.)

What's the difference between "environmental injustice" and "environmental racism?"

The term "environmental injustice" is used when speaking of this subject in general, and the term "environmental racism," is used when discussing how this injustice affects people of color. I think it's important to differentiate the two terms because first, I'll be using both terms frequently, and second, I don't want to water down what racism really is by simply calling it an "injustice." Racism is racism.

What can we do to combat it?

This is what's most important to me. I don't want to spend much time listing statistics and instances in regards to environmental racism, (because, really, I could go on and on and on about it.) and instead, urge a call to action to stop environmental racism from existing and proliferating.

So, I have created a (working) list of what can be done to combat environmental injustice.

1. Talk about this. Tell people about environmental injustice. Let them know it exists, and spread knowledge and awareness.
2. Take action. Either at protests like the People's Climate March, as pictured below. Get the word out there.
3. Vote for politicians that are determined to end environmental degradation everywhere. (Spoiler alert: there aren't that many, but take this step further and call them and ask what they are doing about pollution on the South Side.)
4. Talk to people who are directly experiencing this. Listen to their stories. See what you can do to help. Fight with them.
5. Be aware of your surroundings. Do you live a privileged life? How clean is your tap water? Do you have parks in your neighborhood? What is the air you breathe like? Think about why.
6. Be aware of all surroundings. Are there opportunities for clean, sustainable living everywhere you go? (Spoiler alert again: probably not.) But identify why.

The People's Climate March brought together over 400,000 people from all over the world for one major cause: getting policy makers to change the way the environment affects the world and its people. Together, we can.

That's my working list of how we can fix it. What are yours? Comment if you have any ideas! This is not something that can be done working alone. We all share the earth, let's all protect it.