Alexis Vazquez & Michelle Alvarez
Overview
Environmental racism can be found throughout the world. Innumerable cases of environmental injustices aimed at people of color in poverty ridden communities, holding minimal power, are indicative of the scale of this problem (Bullard, 1999; Hines, 2015; Pullido, 2000). Race/ethnicity is the primary predictor of experiencing such injustices. This is demonstrated by the substantial and disproportionate number of African-American children and communities exposed to lead poisoning (28.4%), in comparison to low-income white children (9.8%) (Bullard, 1999; Hines, 2015). In addition, Hines (2015) emphasizes that in the South (United States), African-Americans are 20% more likely to live four miles from industrial facilities releasing toxins; this number becomes greater as the distance from these facilities decreases, reaching 50% within a mile. These events, along with many others similar to them, led to the conducting of the first national study: Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States. This study was also the first to associate race and social class characteristics with the placement of toxic waste facilities (Pullido, 2000). This further led to joining of forces between different community based environmental justice movements that then led to the establishment of The First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit movement in 1991. This movement resulted in the expanding of environmental justice issues to include public health, worker safety, use of land, transportation, and others involving the places where we live, work, and play (Bullard, 1999; Pullido, 2000). The simple fact that over 50 states attended the summit (Bullard, 1999), including Mexico, Alaska, Puerto Rico, to name a few, should be revealing of the importance of this matter. Environmental racism refers to the concept that nonwhites are at an elevated risk of being exposed to environmental hazards (Mohai & Saha, 2015; Bullard, 1999; Hines, 2015). These hazards may range from air and water pollution, toxic waste, limited access to safe food, among other hazards. However, we explore environmental racism in relation to race/ethnicity, class, and sociopolitical reasons. Despite numerous data demonstrating that non whites are much more inclined to live and work in hazardous conditions, many argue that race and socioeconomic status is not correlated with this disparity (Bullard, 1999; Pullido, 2000). Researchers, however, have given numerous explanations as to why minorities tend to be located in such environments. Mohai & Saha (2015) identify economic, sociopolitical, and racial discrimination explanations for environmental racism. At the economic standpoint, industrial facilities are built and target communities of color and low socioeconomic status because land in these places are much more inexpensive compared to those in affluent communities (Mohai & Saha, 2015). Environmental racism also occurs due to socio political motivations. Minority communities usually lack access to resources and are often afraid to resist developments in their communities because of various reasons, such as fear of being deported or targeted in the future (Mohai & Saha, 2015). Also, because of their low socioeconomic status, their word does not carry much weight in a capitalistic society (Mohai & Saha, 2015). Furthermore, industrial facilities refrain from building their facilities in wealthy communities because they are more likely to oppose such sites. In turn, this would create a bad reputation for the company (Mohai & Saha, 2015). Lastly, racial discrimination further explains environmental racism. It is frequently argued that these toxic facilities were built first, and then low income minorities followed (Mohai & Saha, 2015). However, housing discrimination, such as racialized zoning and property laws, based on race and social class have been around since the early 1900s (Mohai & Saha, 2015). These laws were passed in order to segregate the poor from affluent communities by refusing to provide loans to minorities. This prevented the poor from being able to move to these rich neighborhoods and remain in locations infested by industrial facilities (Mohai & Saha, 2015).
Consequences of Environmental Racism
Environmental racism and injustice has distressing consequences on both the communities exposed to hazardous conditions and the environment. Events like Flint, Michigan, where the tap water was contaminated with lead, seem to fall short in infuriating the public to the point of demanding change for those who cannot or will not speak up. There are prolific cases involving similar issues: the water contamination in Indigenous reservations in New Mexico, the massive E-waste disposal site in Ghana, or the textile production facilities in Bangladesh, just to name a few. All of these pose adverse health effects, yet there seems to be no sense of urgency in addressing the problem. As mentioned, environmental racism can take different forms: toxic waste facilities, incinerators, air and water pollution, lack of access to safe food, and the list goes on. We will focus on air pollution, since our site is Wilmington and is plagued with oil refineries and incinerators. According to Gilderblood, Squires, Riggs, & Capek (2017), these facilities lead to the premature death of humans and have lasting effects on the environment. Pollution emanating from these toxic sites, played a pivotal role in the premature deaths of 7 million individuals in 2010 (Gilderblood et al., 2017). Furthermore, air pollution is estimated to be the leading cause of premature deaths by 2050 (Gilderblood et al., 2017). Air pollution also contributes to global warming, which in turn, kills other species by rising temperatures and droughts (Gilderblood et al., 2017). Studies have also found a connection between polluting sites and headaches, cancer, birth defects, and childhood leukemia (Hines, 2015).
Profile of Wilmington, CA
Wilmington, California is a neighborhood city pertaining to Los Angeles City neighbored by cities like Carson, Long Beach, and San Pedro. The port city is surrounded on the waterfront by the Port of Los Angeles and all around by various refineries. Of the nearly sixty thousand residents living in Wilmington, the overwhelmingly majority (86.6%) are Latino with a high amount being foreign born immigrants. The average annual income for a household is of $20,000 or less. A high percentage of the residents also have less than a high school education, the only higher than average statistic happens to unfortunately be the crime rate being, on average, higher than its neighboring cities of San Pedro and Harbor City (Los Angeles Time). Furthermore, Wilmington has the misfortune to be one of the most polluted cities in the nation, with “one of the highest cancer rates in Southern California and some of the state’s highest rates of asthma” (Kirk, 2018). These statistics are no coincidence, the issue of environmental injustice and racism was previously explained, which is a big factor in the demographics, In addition, the high rates of health concerns within the population also is no accident as there are various polluting sources littered throughout the area, which will be discussed later in the study, which put residents at much higher risks of attaining these chronic health illnesses.
Environmental Justice Assessment
Interview with CBE
Initially we were expecting to interview the Coalition for a Safe Environment (CFASE); however, after our efforts to contact the organization were not responded to, we sought to interview the Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). I schedule a phone interview with Bahram Fazeli (Director of Research and Policy). The following are the questions asked, followed by his responses. To begin with, I asked him how long he had been working for CBE. He stated that he had worked for them, for about 18 years. My next question was: what can we do to bring about change? Fazeli answered that there are five ways to bring about change: community organizing, legal strategy, research, communications and Media, and through electoral decisions. He described community organizing as engaging the community in meetings, school groups, and other approaches that inform and raise awareness within the community. Legal strategy refers to CBE’s agreements with plants and refineries to use equipment with the least toxin release outcomes. It also involves fighting these companies through lawsuits. He also emphasized the need to conduct research into the chemicals being expelled and the communities in proximity to these plants. He also shared that the media is a phenomenal tool in spreading awareness, not just for the immediate community, but for others as well. Lastly, Fazeli stressed that voters must educate themselves before voting for individuals to make sure that their priorities are being considered.
My next question was, what are CBE’s greatest victories? He replied that they accomplished four huge victories in recent years. The first is a lawsuit concerning the Air District and Chevron. In this case, the Air District permitted Chevron to build a refinery, leading to the increased pollution, despite have being denied in 2009 and 2010 by the court. However, they settled with the requirement that Air District reevaluate the permit given to Chevron. Next, he discussed their success in combating the development of a power plant in the City of Vernon in a predominantly minority, low income community. He stated that if they had been built, it would have resulted in higher death rates per year. Fazeli further mentioned that the same litigation involving the power plant in the City of Vernon was key to bring a halt to future power plants that AQMD (Air Quality Management District), who is responsible for preventing further air pollution, would have approved due to their failure to assess the full harm by these plants. Finally, he discussed their litigation with South Coast Air Quality Management (AQMD) once again. This time, AQMD had presented ConocoPhillips Oil Refinery with a permit to produce a diesel product of low grade and sulfur. The carrying out of this project would have caused insurmountable pollution in proximity to Wilmington. The Courts agreed with CBE and prevented high concentrations of Nitrous Oxide emissions from being discharged. The project was dismissed.
To conclude, I asked what their mission at CBE was. He responded that their mission was to empower communities of color and low income to stand up for their basic rights and demand the same treatment as White, affluent individuals: to have healthy and green communities. They hope to reach a stage where all individuals, poor and rich, are able to breathe clean air and access clean drinking water in their communities, work, school, and other institutions.
Interviewing Community Members
To much better understand the environmental racism and injustice occurring in the Wilmington communities we decided to seek out resident and ask them about how aware they were about the pollution and contamination in their neighborhood. After that initial question we and depending on their answer to the initial question we further asked the residents about themselves, in turn forming a short profile about them by asking how long they have lived in Wilmington, if they had any adverse health effects from the pollution or if they anybody that suffered from health problems (respiratory, cancer, etc.). The interview was not rigid, but instead flowed freely in the direction the interviewee would provide us. We managed to capture the attention of two residents, just living a couple houses away from each other in the same neighborhood, these two residents were completely opposite each other on their knowledge, age, language, gender, ad provided very insightful and informative interviews.
We caught one resident as she was leaving her home, and although she seemed to be in hurry she was generous enough to offer her a couple minutes of her time. This resident preferred to remain anonymous; she presented herself as a long time resident of the community, having lived over thirty years in the community. She was an elderly Latina woman, who spoke Spanish as her dominant language, so our bilingual skills were crucial while researching in this community. Since the interviewee preferred to remain anonymous, I will refer to her as Mrs. W just to make matters simpler. The first question asked to Mrs. W was testing her knowledge and awareness about the hazards from nearby polluting industries like refineries, the Port of Los Angeles, and constant trucking traffic. She responded with much knowledge about the situation herself and her fellow neighbors find themselves in. Mrs. W was extremely aware about all the hazards and pollutants that come from the neighboring refineries, and although she believes that in the area she lives the effects are not to noticeable, she believes that she ventures onto major cross streets, the hazards are much more evident than from her home. Next, Mrs. W responded to the whether she has any family or knows anybody that resides in her community that suffers from chronic health conditions, which she responded no to, however she did mention that she has a grandchild with asthma, which could be “cumulative impact” from the unhealthy air exposure that kids playing, learning, and living in this community are burdened to experience (Romero, 2018). To conclude this interview, we asked Mrs. W about her feelings regarding the environmental inequality experienced here versus in other more affluent, with a higher rate of white population. With disappointment in her face, she agreed and replied that she definitely believes that because of the marginalized demographics of Wilmington, their voices are less heard or practically nonexistent. She used the city of Torrance, California as a comparison as she exclaimed that people in living in Torrance where there is a local refinery are considered more important than the voices of Wilmington due solely to the demographic influence of that community.
The second resident we interviewed allowed us a more in depth interview as he was in no rush to be anymore. Andy was much younger latino male, around early 20s. Andy had only moved to Wilmington from North Long Beach recently and has only been living in Wilmington for approximately one year. Andy was also aware of the adverse environmental impact in the Wilmington community he says that there is so much more congestion here than there was in his Long Beach neighborhood and that all that traffic causes tremendous amount of air pollution. When asked why he moved from Long Beach to Wilmington, his reason was a common case of the living expenses being too high and unaffordable for a working class man like himself. After discussing his knowledge about the environmental hazards of his new neighborhood, I introduced him to the topic of environmental racism which he was not aware of. He asked us to elaborate on what environmental racism was, and we explained to him that environmental racism was basically the process of marginalized communities, where people are either non white, poor, migrants, etc, being exposed to toxins in their air, water, food and everyday living, solely because of the social category they pertain to. After giving him that explanation, Andy seemed as if he suddenly was struck by a train of brand new information. After hearing this new information, Andy replied with a “you got me thinking”, then he mentioned that he has a newborn baby home, which after hearing this information has him worried for the well being of his child. Unfortunately, on that somber note we concluded our interview with Andy and parted ways.
Both these interviews provided us with a plethora of useful, insightful information straight from the community itself. Each testimony was unique and itself and demonstrated that the community members are well aware of the hazardous conditions they live in, but are held back through environmental segregation and lack of environmental privilege backed by government, legal, economic, and political institutions (Bullard, 2001).
Visiting Wilmington
Field Notes:
It becomes extremely noticeable that the quality of life decrease as one travels west, away from the hipster coffee shops and vegan restaurants of southeast Long Beach. Traveling over the bridges towards Wilmington can almost be described as the bridges to environmental racism. I pass over three bridges on the way to Long Beach from Wilmington and as I pass over each bridge, more and more refineries appear as if out of thin air on either side of me. I roll down the window of my car, and the stench of fumes from raw petroleum being processed and auto dismantling centers flow into the car. The smell is unbearable as I can feel it burning the interior of my nasal cavity. As Michelle and I meet, we begin to explore the neighborhoods of Wilmington from Pacific Coast Hwy, around Wilmington Avenue, and to Anaheim Street. As we ventured into the surrounding residential areas, which some were fairly nice and not too run down, but the stench of the overlooking air polluting refineries was ever so present. The first observation made was the amount traffic continuously flowing through streets of Anaheim Street, PCH, and Wilmington Avenue. Walking down PCH, turning left into a residential street, we encounter a school and it just so happens that a semi-truck passed right in front of the school while the kids were outside during Recess. Although, we only observed one truck pass in front of the school, a multitude of carbon monoxide spilling behemoths drive by just a few feet away from the school on the main street every few seconds nonstop. As we moved away from PCH through Wilmington Avenue towards the Anaheim street, the neighborhoods became more littered and unkept, the smell grew stronger with a backdrop of the Port of Los Angeles on one side of the street and a protruding refinery exhausting a toxic cloud of contamination into the atmosphere. As we exit the residential neighborhood toward Anaheim Street and Wilmington Ave, we are met with a ruckus of cars and trucks roaring up down the road emitting tons of carbon monoxide.
The field notes and observations made from our day of research in “one of L.A.’s most polluted neighborhoods” (Kirk, 2018) matches up with the statistics presented by research articles as well as the testimonies given to us by the residents interviewed, after these observations it was clear what the largest contributors of pollution to this community are the multiple refineries and oil operations scattered throughout the neighborhoods; the neighboring Port of Los Angeles; and trucking emission from diesel emitting trucks using the Wilmington streets as a daily route (Taking a stand against environmental justice, 2018). Before visiting the site of Wilmington, we were aware of the alleged causes of this environmental injustice and racism, and it was not difficult at all to locate identify these polluting sources all in one corner of a street.
The three images shown below were taken during our site visit which, from top to bottom, depict the three top sources of pollution in the Wilmington neighborhood. The first picture depicts one of the refineries throughout the community, the second exhibits the heavy amount of trucks that travel through Wilmington, and the third showcases a the Port of Los Angeles looming in back of residential area of Wilmington.
Environmental Racism & Poverty
As per our field investigation and the literature, residents of Wilmington move here due to the unbeatable home prices. Further, job opportunities are also reasons why people move to areas such as Wilmington. For those who are undocumented and seek a job where there employer is not strict about their citizenship, jobs in these refineries or plants can prove to be ideal. Therefore, corporations do profit because they can get away with paying their minority workers less, especially if undocumented. Also housing laws are in place to keep the poor out of affluent communities. By denying the poor loans, they are unable to escape the toxic pollution within their communities (Bullard, 1999; Hines, 2015). Additionally, Poor, minorities largely make up the City of Wilmington, since people with their demographics are affected at a much greater scale. Again, this population is also at risk of being exposed to hazardous conditions in the workplace (Schoenfish-Keita & Johnson, 2010). Workers in low income communities face grave risk of acquiring “cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, unintentional injuries, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, chronic lower respiratory disease, nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis, and septicemia” (Schoenfish-Keita & Johnson, 2010, p. 2). They are also at substantial risk of dying in the workplace due to unsafe practices and conditions within the workplace (Schoenfish-Keita & Johnson, 2010).
Resistance to Environmental Injustice
Through all the bleakness that has been discussed throughout this case study on Wilmington, California and the environmental injustices its residents are living; there is a gleam of hope to be found in the community activist fighting against the injustices. Grassroots organizations like the one we discussed, CBE, are fighting to get the community involved and aware of the hazards they live in and how to better protect themselves with knowledge through engaging residents through community meetings and workshops. A good amount of community organizers are young people, who have lived their childhood in Wilmington and want to fight to make a change for the future of their home. A popular movement among the young community activist is that of becoming a more greener neighborhood by “advanc[ing] renewable energy” to show the young resident that there are “greener” ways to make money rather than succumbing to the polluting corporate behemoth (Kirk, 2018). A major part to advancing this activism is through knowledgeable community engagement with political figures of influence. Community members are attempting to put pressure on council members and to have them address the needs of the community rather than focusing of keeping industry at ease (Madrigal & Romero, 2011). Community activists’ main card at the moment is to press industries into converting to electric energy to get closer to the goal of zero emissions and environmental groups will settle for nothing less (Romero, 2018).
Take Action Plan
Community members and activists in Wilmington are headed in the direction already when it comes to pushing for change in their community, they are knowledgeable about the toxicity they live in and know who their local politicians are and what to demand from them, which has seen a slow amount of improvements to their quality of life (Romero, 2011). However, Wilmington is still one of the highest polluted cities in the nation, and when compared to wealthier, whiter communities; the measures taken to protect those living in the more affluent areas are appalling. (Kirk, 2018). To affect a change on a massive scale, revolutionary actions must take place, the system is fixed against marginalized communities like Wilmington, because polluting industries expect these communities to suffer and conform in silence. In order to take effective action, there can be no more working hand in hand with the state and no more compromises that will continue to hurt the people. Pellow (2016) argues that the state is large contributor to the environmental injustice that is perpetuated in communities such as Wilmington, and for environmental justice to fully be resolved activists must look beyond cooperation with the state. The lack of action to act on environmental issues affecting marginalized communities from the state stems from the greed to keep business running with those polluting industries (Pulido, 2016). Although, it is true that polluting industries to provide jobs, people must become aware that there is a possibility to work “greener” jobs and they must consider their own well being over money. As environmental activist, Brandon Molina, it should be “people over profit, not profit over people”. The community realization that all these dirty jobs can be replaced with cleaner industries is the first step to affecting change, the community must be informed before they can pressure local and state politicians to rally for a change.To reiterate, getting to the root of the problem must go beyond the state. Because it is wealthy White people who make the laws, it cannot be left up to them to solve a problem that would no longer benefit them (Bullard, 1999). Instead, Bullard (1999) argues that it is people of color and low socio economic status that must continue to build and strengthen grassroots activist groups and take control of the situation.
References
Bullard, R. (1999). Dismantling Environmental Racism in the USA. Local Environment, 4(1), 5-19.
This article explained how people of color are at a higher risk of being exposed to toxins in their community. Bullard also explains grassroots activists attempt in producing a more just environment for people of color. Lastly, he provides possible solutions to fully address the issue of environmental racism. He emphasizes that communities must unite and empower one another in order to create change by pressuring the government.
Gilderbloom, J., Squires, G., Riggs, W., & Čapek, S. (2017). Think globally, act locally: Neighbourhood pollution and the future of the earth. Local Environment, 22(7), 894-899.
This article raises concerns about the true effect of environmental racism and pollution both on the health of individuals and that of the environment. They stress that the effects include premature deaths and the extinction of different species. They go as far as questioning whether humans could overcome global warming.
Hines, R. (2015). The Price of Pollution: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Mossville, Louisiana. Western Journal of Black Studies, 39(3), 198-208.
Hines focuses on the disparate conditions that African-American communities face, particularly in the South, and how environmental racism plays into it. She mentions multiple events in which people of color have either been exposed to lead contaminants or other toxic waste dumps, resulting in their developing of health conditions.
Mohai, P., & Saha, R. (2015). Which came first, people or pollution? A review of theory and evidence from longitudinal environmental justice studies. Environmental Research Letters, 10(12), 1-9.
Mohai and Saha provide three particular explanations for environmental racism from part of corporations: discrimination based on race, sociopolitical, and social class/SES.
Pulido, L. (2000). Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development in Southern California. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 90(1), 12-40.
Pullido argues that environmental racism is rooted from white privilege. She also supports the idea that minorities are at an inclined disadvantage of being located in heavily polluted neighborhoods. She also mentions some history to environmental racism.
Shoenfish-Keita, J., & Johnson, G. S. (2010). Environmental justice and health: An analysis of persons of color injured at the workplace. Race, Gender & Class, 17(1), 270-304. Retrieved from http://csulb.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.csulb.idm.oclc.org/docview/312301189?accountid=10351
Shoenfish-Keita discusses the health and safety concerns faced by minority workers, especially African-American workers. She also identifies transportation as a key factor in their injuries. Lastly, she reveals that these minorities are at high risk of death in the workplace.
Bullard, R. D. (2001). Environmental Justice in the 21st Century: Race Still Matters. Phylon (1960-),49(3/4), 151. doi:10.2307/3132626
This article was used for Bullard’s discussion of environmental injustice in terms of racism and how people of color are discriminated against in terms of environmental disadvantage. Bullards makes the strong claim that these issued are backed by state institutions.
Investigation finds LA Harbor-area smog challenges grow as new health threats emerge. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wilmingtonwire.com/investigation-finds-la-harbor-area-smog-challenges-grow-as-new-health-threats-emerge/
This article provided an abundant amount of insight and useful information on the issues being experienced at hand by the Wilmington community and how residents feel about such issues.
Kirk, M., Kirk, M., & CityLab. (2018, June 12). In One of L.A.’s Most Polluted Neighborhoods, Youthful Activists Step Up. Retrieved from https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/05/the-kids-trying-to-green-one-of-las-most-polluted-neighborhoods/559640/
This article discussed the new generation of environmental justice activists and their motives and methods leading this fight for the future of their city.
Pearson. (2018, May 07). Taking a Stand Against Environmental Injustice. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMJNqKbtC-Q
This short film explains environmental injustice and racism through the eye of Wilmington. It also showcases the fight local environmental activists have at hand.
Pellow, D. N. (2018). What is critical environmental justice?Cambridge: Politiy.
The information relevant for this case study taken from this book was Pellow’s ideas on separating from traditional ways for allying with the state in the fight against environmental injustice.
Pulido, L. (2016). Geographies of race and ethnicity II. Progress in Human Geography,41(4), 524-533. doi:10.1177/0309132516646495
Pulido makes the argument that environmental racism is a form of state sanctioned violence perpetrated by the state by lack of action taken to address the environmental issues at hand.
Turner, R. (2016). The Slow Poisoning of Black Bodies: A Lesson in Environmental Racism and Hidden Violence. Meridians,15(1), 189. doi:10.2979/meridians.15.1.10
This article discussed the poisoning of people of color in marginalized communities in terms of environmental racism through issues such water contamination, and how it can viewed as a slow form of violence.
Wilmington. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/wilmington/
This website was used to gather demographics on Wilmington such as population, race, poverty rate, and crime rate.
Madrigal, K., & Romero, A. (2011, Oct). What wilmington needs in a city councilperson. Random Lengths Retrieved from http://csulb.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.csulb.idm.oclc.org/docview/905242281?accountid=10351
This article gave a brief of what residents of Wilmington need, want, and expect from their local politicians and their impatience with lax action being taken to address important issues to the community.
CSULB Environmental Sociology 