The water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi isn’t an isolated incident — it’s a symptom of something much larger.
A month after a flood overwhelmed the main water treatment plant in Jackson, Mississippi, the water crisis is only beginning to fade. The boil notice for residents was finally lifted this week, after 40 long days, and residents will hopefully be able to safely drink water from their faucets now. In the wake of such a profound crisis, many have been reminded of what happened in Flint, Michigan several years ago. Both incidents raise a necessary and sobering question: Why does this keep happening?
There’s a reason why communities of color are increasingly facing issues related to pollution and water contamination these days. (And yes, these issues are directly connected to climate change, which means the problem is only going to get worse in the years to come.) For environmental justice experts, the water crisis in Jackson is best understood as yet another incident of environmental racism. But what does that term mean, exactly?
Here’s a breakdown of what environmental racism is, and why it’s happening more frequently, along with some expert insight on the topic from an educator who lays out what’s at stake.
What is environmental racism, anyways?
The phrase “environmental racism” might cause your ears to prick up at first. After all, how can Mother Nature be racist?
“The environment is not racist, but the air we breathe and the water we drink are affected by racist policies,” explains Marie Beecham, an educator and social-justice activist. “Even when income is held constant, people of color are most affected by environmental hazards.”
Recent studies have proven this to be true across a number of horrifying metrics: For example, Black people are 75% more likely than white people to live in “fence-line communities,” which are communities in close proximity to the type of commercial facilities that produce odor, noise, traffic, or emissions. Similarly, Hispanic communities experience chlorine exposure (which can degrade cardiac function) at double the rates of white people.
The devastating stats around environmental racism go on and on and on. People of color are more likely to die from environmental causes, for example, and more than 50% of those who live close to hazardous waste materials are people of color. Black children are three times as likely to have lead poisoning as white children, and twice as likely to be hospitalized for asthma.
In other words, environmental racism is nowhere near as abstract an issue as you might think — and it’s not a theory so much as a rapidly increasing phenomenon. And as the effects of climate change increase, it’s essential that we acknowledge the connection between a lack of economic/social privilege and growing up in an environment that poses a very real threat to your health.
Why is water contamination so common in communities of color?
Water contamination in particular has been an ongoing symptom of environmental racism for decades. According to American Progress, low-income communities of color frequently have trouble accessing clean water sources. But why?
The issue is complex, and sits at the intersection of housing discrimination and generalized racism. Put simply: Communities of color are often relegated to living in areas where wealthier white people don’t want to live. That includes neighborhoods near highways, power plants, sewage plants, or other toxic-waste plants and facilities.
“Because of historical policies like redlining,” Beecham explains, “communities are still racially segregated in the United States today. Poor communities of color have been pushed to places that are physically closest to environmental hazards and most susceptible to climate-related disasters. They lack the resources and infrastructure to deal with the effects of the climate crisis.”
That last sentence is perhaps the most important one — because the challenge isn’t just that these communities face urgent issues like contaminated water supplies. It’s that even when these concerns are raised, government agencies tend to respond slower, and provide less funding and disaster aid, when these communities are predominantly made up of people of color than when a similar issue is experienced in a white community.
How to help combat environmental racism as it becomes an ever-increasing issue
It’s easy to view the water crisis in Jackson as an isolated incident, something entirely separate from what happened in Flint several years ago. But the first step in engaging with environmental racism, Beecham says, is busting that myth of “isolated incidents” wide open.
“There is a long history of communities of color being disproportionately impacted by the effects of the climate crisis,” Beecham points out. “At some point, we have to see that a series of similar, tragic events are connected.”
The challenge with a topic like environmental racism is that it can be as immediately overwhelming as climate change itself. It’s easy to feel like you can’t do anything about either of these issues, even if you do recognize that a pattern is taking place — but that’s not entirely true.
“There are two main ways to get involved,” Beecham suggests. “Awareness and action. Becoming more aware of the nuances surrounding an issue like environmental racism is a great place to start. And the good news for people wanting to learn more is that there is a decades-long body of work on environmental racism, so there’s plenty of factual information available.”
Beecham offers two resources to get started: You can look into the work of Dr. Robert Bullard, known as the “father of environmental justice,” and you can support the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit working to “ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.” (You can also check out Beecham’s work on Instagram and Patreon.) And educating yourself on how your city and state’s politicians address — or fail to address — issues like environmental racism can help you make informed decisions about who to support in local elections.
Says Beecham, acknowledging the factors at play here is how collective action starts. “A random accident can be met with a shrug of the shoulders, but a pattern makes us take responsibility and action,” she explains. “That’s why it’s crucial we recognize the patterns of environmental racism.”
