For years minority, low-income, and tribal communities in the United States have borne a disproportionate burden of environmental pollution and hazards due to environmental racism. These at-risk communities, especially those of Black Americans, were targeted overwhelmingly for the placement of both toxic and hazardous waste sites as well as for factories that produce industrial pollutants due to segregation and discrimination. These communities were also easy targets because they lacked the power and resources to fight back. America’s penchant for mass incarceration further exacerbated Black Americans’ disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards by locating almost 600 prisons near ‘superfund’ sites. ‘Superfund’ sites are areas deemed by the government to be so toxic that they require a long-term response.
Jackson, Mississippi. Flint, Michigan. Pahokee, Florida. Lowndes County, Alabama. Cancer Alley, Louisiana. These places and many more have something in common. Besides pollution and toxic hazards, there are other environmental that predominately Black American communities are forced to bear disproportionally as well, such as contaminated water, poor sanitation, sugarcane ash, and high exposure to carbon dioxide emissions and lead. Exposure to such conditions can cause chronic health problems that begin at younger ages than with whites, including different types of cancer and respiratory illnesses such as asthma. These conditions also put the victims at risk for parasitic infections like hookworms and mental defects.
