Environmental racism refers to the specific targeting of a minority community with industrial operations that use unsafe environmental procedures resulting in an unsafe environment for that community.
The number one predictor of where toxic sites will be located In the US is race. Three out of five African Americans in the United States live in communities with uncontrolled toxic waste sites. Three of the five largest commercial hazardous waste landfills in the US are located in predominantly African American and Latino communities.
There is twice the chance of people of color then being white to live in a community with commercial hazardous waste management facilities in it. Environmental racism happens throughout this country, along with the rest of the world. The US government is well aware of this injustice yet it continues.
Title: Environmental Racism: Old Wine in a New Bottle
Source Publication: Echoes, May 27, 2007
URL: http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/echoes/echoes-17-02.html
Author: Dr. Deborah M. Robinson
Faculty Evaluator: Dr. Elaine Wellin
Student Researcher: Marylou German
Sonoma State University