This summer I was taking a sociology class at the University of Oklahoma. The focus is race/ethnic minorities in America. Some of the articles that I have read have completely opened my eyes to how much we are still very prejudiced in America. It happens in very subtle ways, from personal prejudice all the way to global exploitation of developing countries. The article that I have recently read is by Robert D. Bullard called "Environmental Justice in the 21st Century: Race Still Matters". In this article Robert talks about the environment and how it greatly correlates with race. This is called, institutional racism, which describes any system of inequality based on race. The institution that this article focuses on is housing and waste. I will give you a few facts on the inequality housing and environments that race minorities such as Hispanic and African Americans experience in America. This information was collected by The Commission for Racial Justice's landmark Toxic Waste and Race study.
"(1) Three out of five African American's live in communities with abandoned toxic waste sites; (2) sixty percent of African Americans (15 million) live in communities with abandoned toxic waste sites; (3) three of the five largest commercial hazardous waste landfills are located in predominantly African American or Latino communities and accounts for 40 percent of the nation's total estimated landfill capacity; and (4) African Americas are heavily overrepresented in the population of cities with the largest number of abandoned toxic waste sites, which include Memphis, St. Louis, Houston, Cleveland, Chicago and Atlanta" (Bullard 190).
Is it a coincidence, that these two races live in high populations near dump sites? Actually no it's not. According to Bullard, environmental racism is a very real thing that is supported by all levels of authority in the United States. "Environmental racism is reinforced by government legal, economic, political, and military institutions"(Bullard 190). In another article I read by Douglas S. Massey, he speaks about residential segregation and how ethnic minorities are more likely to be given the run around when it comes to purchasing a home within White communities that tend to have better housing. A few examples are being told that a house has just been sold or rented, when in fact it hasn't; shown houses in predominately black or mixed areas, away from White neighborhoods; they may be quoted higher rent or selling prices than Whites; their phone number may be taken but no one ever calls them; they may have been treated discourteously or brusquely in hopes that they will not return. Whatever the reason, and their are many more. It leads blacks to poorer quality of housing near dump sites that have strategically placed themselves near ethnically mixed or minority communities. These dump sites have caused higher health problems in African-Americans compared to Whites, "In 1988, the Federal Agency for Toxic Substances Disease REgistry found that for families earning less than $6,00, 68 percent of African-America children had lead poisoning compared to 36 percent of white children" (Bullard 192). Asthma is another leading health problem in children of race, " The annual age-adjusted death rate from asthma increased
On a global level I was even more appalled at what I read in the article by Bullard. Bullard quotes a memorandum by Lawrence Summers, chief economist of the World Ban in 1991, that leaked and turned to an international scandal after Summer's wrote, " Dirty' Industries: Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of dirty industries to the LDC's (least developed countires)" (Bullard 193). Shipping waste from rich communities has been the solution in many cases.
My question is, who has turned a blind and prevented such methods from being illegal? Who do we hold responsible for letting this happen to nations that struggle day in and day out to get on their feet? The Basel Ban Amendment is an agreement by most countries in Europe not to export waste to developing countries, and agreement that America has not signed. The Electronic Takes Back Coalition, has a Q and A report that gives many answers on exporting in relation to laws and government that you can find at this website, http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wp-content/uploads/Q_and_A_on_Exporting_Issues. It gives account of Chinese and African cheap labor and communities that experience severe health risks and exploitation because of wast exportation.
It is disheartening to know that this is happening to people in our country and all across the globe. Especially in a nation that prides itself on equal treatment to all people. Where the American dream is a notion that only a select few are able to obtain. So wherever you find yourself in the world, it's important to choose a cause that hits your heart and compels you into action, big and/or small. Many of us do not follow the tug at our hearts that says "something should be done about this." It is life-giving to serve the weak and helpless, to pursue justice for those whose voice has been silenced. As a college student who is about to graduate in a year and be released into the real world, with knowledge and passion that I have been blessed with, I am looking for that cause. Serving others is essential to our emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. I dare you to begin with serving someone in need (at home, work, school, etc) for a month or longer; to put aside your needs and wants for the cause of others and experience a joy and love that's not found among fame, riches or success.
Sources
Image 1: Recent findings by EJRC indicate that minority communities are receiving most of the landfill-directed waste oil from the BP Oil disaster.
http://environmentaljusticeblog.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html
Image 2: A Dutch multinational company, Trafigura, dumped about 500 tons of waste, and it lead to at least 16 deaths and more than 100,000 other victims needing medical treatment.
http://www.enviroblog.org/2008/08/taking-advantage-of-the-disadvantaged.html
Image 3: March 8, 2005 Guiyu, Guangdong, China. A child sitting on a pile of wires and electronic waste. Photo by Greenpeace/Natalie Behing
http://elawspotlight.wordpress.com/tag/e-waste/
"(1) Three out of five African American's live in communities with abandoned toxic waste sites; (2) sixty percent of African Americans (15 million) live in communities with abandoned toxic waste sites; (3) three of the five largest commercial hazardous waste landfills are located in predominantly African American or Latino communities and accounts for 40 percent of the nation's total estimated landfill capacity; and (4) African Americas are heavily overrepresented in the population of cities with the largest number of abandoned toxic waste sites, which include Memphis, St. Louis, Houston, Cleveland, Chicago and Atlanta" (Bullard 190).
Is it a coincidence, that these two races live in high populations near dump sites? Actually no it's not. According to Bullard, environmental racism is a very real thing that is supported by all levels of authority in the United States. "Environmental racism is reinforced by government legal, economic, political, and military institutions"(Bullard 190). In another article I read by Douglas S. Massey, he speaks about residential segregation and how ethnic minorities are more likely to be given the run around when it comes to purchasing a home within White communities that tend to have better housing. A few examples are being told that a house has just been sold or rented, when in fact it hasn't; shown houses in predominately black or mixed areas, away from White neighborhoods; they may be quoted higher rent or selling prices than Whites; their phone number may be taken but no one ever calls them; they may have been treated discourteously or brusquely in hopes that they will not return. Whatever the reason, and their are many more. It leads blacks to poorer quality of housing near dump sites that have strategically placed themselves near ethnically mixed or minority communities. These dump sites have caused higher health problems in African-Americans compared to Whites, "In 1988, the Federal Agency for Toxic Substances Disease REgistry found that for families earning less than $6,00, 68 percent of African-America children had lead poisoning compared to 36 percent of white children" (Bullard 192). Asthma is another leading health problem in children of race, " The annual age-adjusted death rate from asthma increased
On a global level I was even more appalled at what I read in the article by Bullard. Bullard quotes a memorandum by Lawrence Summers, chief economist of the World Ban in 1991, that leaked and turned to an international scandal after Summer's wrote, " Dirty' Industries: Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of dirty industries to the LDC's (least developed countires)" (Bullard 193). Shipping waste from rich communities has been the solution in many cases.
My question is, who has turned a blind and prevented such methods from being illegal? Who do we hold responsible for letting this happen to nations that struggle day in and day out to get on their feet? The Basel Ban Amendment is an agreement by most countries in Europe not to export waste to developing countries, and agreement that America has not signed. The Electronic Takes Back Coalition, has a Q and A report that gives many answers on exporting in relation to laws and government that you can find at this website, http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wp-content/uploads/Q_and_A_on_Exporting_Issues. It gives account of Chinese and African cheap labor and communities that experience severe health risks and exploitation because of wast exportation.
It is disheartening to know that this is happening to people in our country and all across the globe. Especially in a nation that prides itself on equal treatment to all people. Where the American dream is a notion that only a select few are able to obtain. So wherever you find yourself in the world, it's important to choose a cause that hits your heart and compels you into action, big and/or small. Many of us do not follow the tug at our hearts that says "something should be done about this." It is life-giving to serve the weak and helpless, to pursue justice for those whose voice has been silenced. As a college student who is about to graduate in a year and be released into the real world, with knowledge and passion that I have been blessed with, I am looking for that cause. Serving others is essential to our emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. I dare you to begin with serving someone in need (at home, work, school, etc) for a month or longer; to put aside your needs and wants for the cause of others and experience a joy and love that's not found among fame, riches or success.Sources
Image 1: Recent findings by EJRC indicate that minority communities are receiving most of the landfill-directed waste oil from the BP Oil disaster.
http://environmentaljusticeblog.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html
Image 2: A Dutch multinational company, Trafigura, dumped about 500 tons of waste, and it lead to at least 16 deaths and more than 100,000 other victims needing medical treatment.
http://www.enviroblog.org/2008/08/taking-advantage-of-the-disadvantaged.html
Image 3: March 8, 2005 Guiyu, Guangdong, China. A child sitting on a pile of wires and electronic waste. Photo by Greenpeace/Natalie Behing
http://elawspotlight.wordpress.com/tag/e-waste/
Bullard, Robert D. "Environmental Justice in the 21st
Century: Race Still Matters." Rethinking the Color
Line. 5th ed.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 184-94. Print.
Massey,
Doulas S. "Residential Segregation and Neighbordooh Conditions in U.S.
Metropolitian Areas.
"Rethinking the Color Line. 5th ed. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 158-75. Print. 
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