I'm Breathing Easy -- How 'Bout You?

Trey Smith

Tiny particles of air pollution contain more hazardous ingredients in non-white and low-income communities than in affluent white ones, a new study shows.

The greater the concentration of Hispanics, Asians, African Americans or poor residents in an area, the more likely that potentially dangerous compounds such as vanadium, nitrates and zinc are in the mix of fine particles they breathe.

Latinos had the highest exposures to the largest number of these ingredients, while whites generally had the lowest.
~ from People in Poor Neighborhoods Breathe More Hazardous Particles by Cheryl Katz ~

Another way that we can tell that racism is alive and well is illustrated by this study. Simply put, the majority class and race sees to it that environmental degradation doesn't happen in their neighborhoods or communities! They make sure to build and maintain their pollution-spewing factories and plants far away from where they live and play.

It always gets me that -- whenever there is a big debate over whether or not a polluting facility should be sited in a particular location -- the people who tend to scream the loudest in favor are the ones who live the furthest away from it! These people wax eloquently about the jobs it will create or the increased economic benefit to the community, while pooh-poohing any concerns about the health and well-being about the residents who will live in the nearest proximity to it.

When we get down to brass tacks, the company big wigs only care about one thing: making money. Most of the government officials seem to care only with trying to appease those who will make the money. Few seem to be concerned at all about the poor people of color whose lives will be impacted in a detrimental manner.

That, my friends, is a pervasive and insidious form of racism.