The Christian, as a follower of Jesus, does not have the option of racism. Jesus was no racist. He told His followers to love enemies--not to kill them. He sought to "draw all men" to Himself (John 12:32). "He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26).

 

Environmental Racism

Environmental racism is intentional or unintentional racial discrimination in the enforcement of environmental rules and regulations, the intentional or unintentional targeting of minority communities for the siting of polluting industries such as toxic waste disposal, or the exclusion of people of color from public and private boards, commissions, and regulatory bodies, as defined and coined by Reverend Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. Executive Director and CEO of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice in 1981.
Environmental justice is the movement to reverse environmental racism.

Contents 1 Background 1.1 In the United States 1.2 International 2 Hazards

 

Background

In the United States

Since the term "environmental racism" was coined in 1987, researchers have investigated why minorities are more likely than whites to reside in areas where there is more pollution. Some social scientists suggest that the historical processes of suburbanization and decentralization are instances of white privilege that have contributed to contemporary patterns of environmental racism.
In the United States, the wealth of a community is not nearly as good a predictor of hazardous-waste locations as the ethnic background of the residents, suggesting that the selection of sites for hazardous-waste disposal involves racism. Researcher James T. Hamilton studied American zip codes targeted for capacity expansion in plans by commercial hazardous waste facilities from 1987 to 1992. Locations for hazardous waste facilities had an average nonwhite population of 25 percent, versus 18 percent for those areas without net expansion. Hamilton suggests that differences in the probability that residents will raise a firm's expected location costs by engaging in successful collective action to oppose expansion offer the best explanation for which neighborhoods are targeted by polluting industries. Another study centered around Los Angeles in 1997 found that working-class communities of color are most affected by hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities.
United States organizations working for environmental justice include: Greenaction, Center for Health, Environment and Justice, and the Coalition Against Environmental Racism. In response to public concerns raised by these groups, the United States Environmental Protection Agency created the Office of Environmental Justice in 1992.
According to the EPA, "Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people...with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work."
On 11 February 1994 President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12898, which directed federal agencies to develop strategies to help federal agencies identify and address disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs, policies, and activities on minority and low-income populations. Clinton also intended the Order to provide minority and low-income communities with access to public information and opportunities for public participation in matters relating to human health or the environment.
A 2007 study by the University of Colorado at Boulder showed that although the average black or Hispanic resident of a major U.S. city lives in a more polluted part of town than the average white person, the levels of inequality vary widely between cities. The study found that black/white environmental inequality levels were highest in Orlando, Fla., Norfolk, Va., Louisville, Ky., and Portland, Ore., and weakest in Baltimore, Las Vegas, Boston and Nassau/Suffolk, N.Y.

International

Environmental racism also exists at an international scale. American corporations often continue to produce dangerous chemicals banned in the United States and export them to developing countries. Additionally, the developed world has shipped large amounts of toxic waste to developing countries for less-than-safe disposal. At a waste site in Giuyu, China, laborers with no protective clothing regularly burn plastics and circuit boards from old computers. They pour acid on electronic parts to extract silver and gold, and crush cathode ray tubes from computer monitors to remove other valuable metals, such as lead.

 

Hazards
According to the United States EPA, the six most prominent examples of environmental hazards include:

• Lead - There is a particularly high concentration of lead problems in low-income and culturally diverse populations, who live in the inner city where the public housing units were built before 1970.
  
• Waste Sites - Low income, and quite often culturally diverse populations, are more likely than other groups to live near landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste treatment facilities.
  
• Air Pollution - 57 percent of all whites, 65 percent of African Americans, and 80 percent of Hispanics live in communities that have failed to meet at least one of EPA's ambient air quality standards.
  
• Pesticides - Approximately 90 percent of the 2 million hired farm workers in the United States are people of color, including Chicano, Puerto Ricans, Caribbean blacks and African Americans. Through direct exposure to pesticides, farm workers and their families may face serious health risks. It has been estimated that as many as 313,000 farm workers in the U.S. may suffer from pesticide-related illnesses each year.
  
• Wastewater (City Sewers) - Many inner cities still have sewer systems that are not designed to handle storm overflow. As a result, raw sewage may be carried into local rivers and streams during storms, creating a health hazard.
  
• Wastewater - (Agricultural Runoff) - It is suspected that the increased use of commercial fertilizers and concentrations of animal wastes contribute to the degradation of receiving streams and rivers in rural areas, with communities that are often low income and culturally diverse.

 

 

SEE ALSO:	Anti- racism | Big brother in racism | Immigration  | Islam in France  | Obama- my lesson  | Racism in Medicine  | Tech racism cited | The passing of the Great Race | The story of Britain and America  | The white Men's Burden     | White Supremacy |
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Created by:	Salauddine Mohammed Faruque on July 25,2007, last updated on 20.07.2008