Racism and Social Injustice Essay

In “Disproportionate Siting” author Dorcetta Taylor discusses the common claims of unequal exposure to environmental hazards being due to racial and class discrimination (33). Taylor states, “Proponents of this thesis argue that hazardous facilities are disproportionally located in minority and low-income areas and that these patterns are the result of discrimination” (33). In regards to racial and social class discrimination, she argues that the claim of racism is the more controversial of the two with many scholars arguing on both sides (Taylor, 34). She then delves into different studies that argued that race was a factor in explaining location of and exposure to environmental hazards (Taylor, 35). Taylor then discusses the studies that

In the Brullard reading, Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: 1987-2007, Brullard discusses racial and socioeconomic disparities in relation to environmental issues from 1987 to 2007. 1987 is significant because it is the year when a report about environmental racism entitled Toxic Wastes and Race was published. This report raised awareness about the idea of environmental injustice and spurred further research on the subject. In Chapter 3, Brullard outlines two different methods used in this research: analysis of census data and “distance-based” methods. Brullard explains that using different research methods leads to slightly varying results, but studies using both methods still show racial disparities in relation to environmental hazards. In Chapter 4, Brullard argues that these disparities still exist in 2007, and that they exist all over the United States. In Chapter 7, he provides a contemporary example: the Holt family. The Holt family’s well water was contaminated because it was located near a landfill. The government, while

In the book, Sacrifice Zones, Steve Lerner takes readers through twelve separate stories of communities in the United States that have been unwillingly exposed to high levels of environmental toxicity. In each of these cases, citizens of those communities reacted to and pushed back against being exposed to toxic chemicals, sometimes successfully and sometimes less so. In every case, the people most heavily exposed to these health hazards were minorities and low-income citizens, which, Lerner argues, is why government officials and corporate decision-makers chose knowingly to risk exposing them. This paper will outline Lerner’s book and argue that despite a long history of protests, lawsuits, media attention and nationwide outrage, willing exposure of low-income and minority Americans to toxic chemicals in the pursuit of government and corporate interests is still a major problem today.

The article on “NAACP Report Reveals Disparate Impact of Coal-Fired Power Plants” talks about how coal pollution from the coal-fired power plants will negatively impact the environment surrounding it, including the population in the surroundings, and the harm it will bring upon them. It suggests that Americans that reside near a coal power plant has a lower average income than most of the Americans in the nation. Furthermore, it also pointed out that 39% of Americans that live near a coal power plant are “people of color”. This article claim that coal pollution from the coal power plant is killing population that has a low income and people of certain races. According to the article, climate change is also a negative impact brought on by coal

In the film “Race: The Power of an Illusion, Part 3: The House We Live In,” the subject matter is race within our government in relation to the idea that race is a socially constructed idea. The film emphasizes that the only difference in biology between a person of color and a white person is the color of his or her skin. Although the film is not directly related to the environment, it supports the ideas of the article “Trump's EPA Concludes Environmental Racism Is Real,” by Vann R. Newkirk II. In the article, it is statistically proven that communities in which people of color are centralized are the ones that are struggling the most with environmental conditions. Learning more about this discrimination reminded me of Richard Louv’s article

The book Toxic Communities examines several theories that are used to explain why hazardous substances and facilities are prevalent in minority communities. A pungent argument in the book is why people in minority communities choose not to move away from places hosting hazardous facilities. In other words, the book identifies reasons why people choose to remain in communities where dangerous facilities are sited. Grounded in practical examples and cases, the book is divided into ten chapters and concluding remarks. The first chapter explores the rise of environmental justice activism as a response to notable cases of toxic exposure in some parts of the United States.

One of the first influences on the deliberation on Environmental Justice was The Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America. Leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. fought hard to ensure that social transformation and power be established for African Americans, especially those in the southern states as well as those in the northern inner-city parts. Activists like King altered the philosophy on Environmental Justice arguing that there was a lopsided effect that proved that environmental hazards were not accidental. What environmentalists advocated instead was that environmental dangers resulted from racial segregation that placed power plants, nuclear plants, and other potential ecological hazards in areas with a high concentration of minority and low income groups. Several activists defined this as “environmental racism.”

Those who argue that environmental racism is a serious problem in America and the whole world, and their number are growing, are correct in at least one of their assertions. Racism exists. environmental problems exist. these facts, however, do not reveal whether or not environmental racism has occurred in any given instance. this might be an unimportant distinction but for the fact that some argue that civil right laws be applied to pollution events and related regulatory violations.

Environmental ethics has widely circled around human interactions with biotic ecosystems. Little voice has been given to city residents who are overexposed to environmental hazards. It is a subject rarely touched upon by mainstream environmentalist. Though conservation efforts receive much media attention and advocacy, environmental pollution in urban areas inhabited by minorities and the impoverished receive less attention despite it clearly being a grave injustice. It fact, it can be argued that minority and impoverished neighborhoods are deliberately targeted by corporations and governmental agencies because of the inherit vulnerability of the inhabitants. It is no secret that the impoverished in this country frequently live in areas characterized

Is it racism or economics which hinders many African American communities from progressing economically in the 21st Century? This research proposal will address this question by examining the social and psychological impact caused by racism and the economic impact it’s had on the African American community. This proposal will further investigate whether the emotional scars of slavery continue to hamper African American progress or if racism is actually the cause.

When one discusses acts of racism, slander or the stereotyping of a group of people may come to mind. However, the concept of environmental racism is rarely considered. This form of racism positions dominant environmental framing as racially driven, in which people of color (i.e. minorities) are affected disproportionately by poor environmental practices. Communities of color throughout the United States have become the dumping grounds for our nation’s waste disposal, as well as home to agricultural and/or manufacturing industries that pollute the land. Government regulations and cultural practices have all contributed to environmental racism. The government’s policies have also negatively impacted low income groups as well as people of

Firstly, environmental racism is referring effect on industrial pollution on lower income group and working community with color. Environmental racism brings social inequality to the minority people, excludes them from the community and any exclusion is an act of racism (Pulido, 2010, p.538). Moreover, environmental racism can be most detrimental to the specific group of people. The harmfulness of environmental racism exists in the relationship between community residents and environment. In the case of water crisis in Flint, the serious situation is caused by industry pollution and government inaction. The emergency manager aimed to save five million, changed the extracted water from Detroit system to Flint river (Ruth, 2017). Flint car brand general motor poured out the industrial toxic rubbish into flint river. Furthermore, Flint river used half a century sematic system. It means the water sources from the Flint river is not safe. Therefore, Government add the chlorine gas in Flint river to eliminate water bacteria. The new chemical byproduct THEM caused deadly outbreak. The Flint government did not handle urban metabolism well. On the one hand, the vehicle company pour the rubbish to the river and damage the natural environment. On the other hand, Lead poisoned water harm to people’s health. Local residence drink poisoned water will feel bone pain, muscle pain and fatigue. Moreover, children drink poisoned water will permanent damage intelligence and immune system (Ruth, 2017). Children always get sick and cannot go to school normally. Since Local residence does not have clean water to drink, and severely affecting their normal life. On the one hand, scale is the important tool to analyze the environmental racism. In 2000, Pulido demonstrates that Environmental racism should concern the various scale in “the

Throughout this course we have learned about many things, one in particular would be Racism. We have learned about many different types of racism along with examples of racism. Before I go into specific examples of racism that I have learn about in this class, I will first define and explain the differences between racism, prejudice or also known as bias, discrimination, race, and racist so there 's a clear understanding of why I picked the specific examples. The definition of racism that we learned in class would be an “Institutionalized system with disproportionate unjust outcomes for a particular race”. Prejudice or also known as bias was defined as “A negative feeling, opinion, or attitude toward a certain category or people” this would be an feeling with no action acted upon, where discrimination is defined as “Action or inaction toward a category of people” which would be acting on the negative feelings or opinions of a certain group. The definition for race is a “Social construct, but a lived reality” while a racist is “Discrimination based on the category of race”. (Disadvantage privilege notes, 2016)

The placement of companies deleterious to the environment and well-being of humans is something that prosperous communities are not quite familiar with; in contrast, it is something well-known to less affluent communities. The imbalance of classification shows a lack of environmental justice in low-income and minority communities. According to the EPA, or Environmental Protection Agency, “environmental justice is the fair treatment… 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,” (EPA, n.d.). However, the environmental justice, the EPA mentions is not prevalent in communities of color, but rather its counterpart is: environmental injustice. Environmental injustice, or environmental racism, being the excessive placing of perilous waste and contaminating polluters near communities of color (Cha, 2016). Although often overlooked, environmental racism is an extensive problem that negatively affects minority communities in Southeast Los Angeles.

This makes me qualified to do this research paper. Additionally, I am able to contact experts on the issue who can offer their opinion and knowledge on the issue. The sources used in this paper will be from Academic Search Premier. Academic Search Premier has a plethora of resources I can use for my empirical paper. The sources (articles) I will use will be peer reviewed and they will from the year 2007 and onward. I will try to steer clear of articles that are older than this because the data may not reflect the current situation. Therefore, the data will be more recent. The first source I will be using is a peer review article by Hines. The article talks specifically about the statics in Emelle Alabama and the detrimental effects of hazardous waste dumping in the county. The second article will be by Hurley who looks at the environmental racism history of America and how that affects minorities now. The third article is by Mcdoll who gives the background on how minorities are mistreated and treated unfairly when it comes to choosing where noxious waste facilities