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Environmental racism was coined nearly forty years ago in 1982, but COVID deaths, the Flint water crisis and the effects of climate change on the Global South has brought this idea to the forefront of activist’s minds.
Environmental racism is a form of systematic racism in which communities of colour are disproportionately affected by policies and practices undertaken by governments and corporations.
This often manifests itself via communities being forced to live in close proximity to hazardous sources of toxic waste, such as landfills and power stations.
Here’s all you need to know to familiarise yourself with environmental racism – from its origins, to famous examples, as well as what’s being done to change the situation.
Where did the term come from?
Environmental racism was raised as an issue with the environmental justice movement in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s.
It was African-American civil rights leader Benjamin Chavis, who had previously been the executive director of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, who first coined the term in 1982.
Chavis defined it as ‘racial discrimination in environmental policy-making… the deliberate targeting of communities of colour for toxic waste facilities, the life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants and the history of excluding people of colour from leadership of the ecology movements.’
Another pioneer of the environmental justice movement, Dr Robert D. Bullard, also pointed out how institutionalised racism from both government and corporate practices were responsible for environmental racism.
In a 2007 study, Bullard found that ‘race’ was the most important factor in ‘predicting the location of the nation’s commercial hazardous waste facilities.’
He found that African-American children were 5x more likely to have lead poisoning (as a result of proximity to waste) than Caucasian children.
Bullard was also able to prove that race was an even more significant factor than class or wealth; Black Americans making $50-60,000 a year were still more likely to live in polluted areas than white Americans making $10,000.
Where do we see environmental racism?
Although you may not have heard of the term ‘environmental racism’ before, there is a good chance you have heard of cases where it exists.
Flint, Michigan
The Flint Water Crisis is one of the most famous and frequently cited examples of environmental racism in the last decade.
In 2014, the city changed its water supply to the Flint river in order to save money, however failed to treat the new supply adequately.
This exposed Flint’s majority-Black population to dangerous levels of lead, E. coli and other contaminants and diseases.
Up to 12,000 children drank tap water containing high levels of lead and 12 citizens died from Legionnaires’ disease.
Despite reports of hair loss, skin rashes and discoloured water, the community’s complaints were ignored for 18 months.
The crisis lasted up until 2019, leading the Michigan Civil Rights Commission to conclude that the slow official reaction was a ‘result of systematic racism.’
