Human beings are complex creatures.

They are capable of unparalleled greatness, yet they are also not above unfathomable cruelties. Racism is one of those unfathomable cruelties, and even though it is not nearly as blatant or as pervasive as it was several decades ago, its ghost is proving to be awfully difficult to exorcise. It continues to exist, despite some vehement denials. Only this time, the perpetrators are more cautious, and their attacks are more subtle. ome even hide behind elo!uent prose and verbal meanderings. It"s archaic. It"s immoral. #ut it"s still here, and it"s causing trouble. $nd apparently not %ust in social and political circles & it has become a fixture in environmental sphere as well. 'nvironmental racism is a relatively new concept, and therein lies its advantage. (any people don"t know enough about it to recogni)e its dangers, and therefore protect themselves against these dangers. This paper aims to help remedy that. It hopes to put together the necessary information about environmental racism, if only to make people reali)e exactly what we"re up against. It focuses on the $merican situation, mainly because the * government is the root of all this evil. #ut it certainly does not overlook the damage brought by the * bases in +hilippine territory. However, that is the sub%ect of a more comprehensive paper. 'nvironmental racism is racial discrimination in race,based differential 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- and the exclusion of people of color from public and private boards, commissions, and regulatory bodies.. This practice is generally associated with the

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*nited tates, where most practices of a waste disposal scheme according to skin color can be found. ;ot at all surprising given its less than stellar record where race is concerned. 'nvironmental racism isn<t considered racist in terms of conscious exploitation, but rather as another manifestation of the latent tendency by the white, centered powered structure in $merica to protect itself at the cost to minorities5.
tudies have shown that not all individuals are e!ually exposed to pollution. 3or example, worldwide toxic,waste sites are more prevalent in poorer communities. In the *nited tates the single most important factor in predicting the location of ha)ardous, waste sites is the ethnic composition of a neighborhood. Three of the five largest commercial ha)ardous,waste landfills in $merica are in predominantly black or Hispanic neighborhoods, and three out of every five black or Hispanic $mericans live in the vicinity of an uncontrolled toxic,waste site. The wealth of a community is not nearly as good a predictor of ha)ardous,waste locations as the ethnic background of the residents, suggesting that the selection of sites for ha)ardous,waste disposal involves racism =

This is more than immoral- it is heinous. 1orse, it is actually reminiscent of Hitler"s genocide. The way one sees it, the *nited tates government actually believes that non,whites can stand to live in places that also double as dumping grounds for ha)ardous wastes. (aybe it subscribes to the notion that those not belonging to the $ryan race have better tolerance for toxic materials. Or maybe it %ust simply believes that blacks and Hispanics are merely second,class citi)ens, so what do they matter in the grand scheme of things> ?et them all be sacrificial lambs to the altar of capitalism and good riddance, right> (akes one wonder exactly what kind of creatures lead the world"s only surviving superpower. #ut that"s not the worst of it. The *nited tates government actually has the gall to extend its clout overseas, in countries which it undoubtedly considers
5

Timothy exton, /'nvironmental Racism2 @an the +rocess be *ndone>0 4$ssociated @ontent, Inc., 56678. $vailable at2 http299www.associatedcontent.com9article9..A7BC9environmental:racism:can:the:process.html = (ichael Dimmerman, E'nvironment.E (icrosoftF 'ncartaF 5667 GHIHJ. 4Redmond, 1$2 (icrosoft @orporation, 566A8.

insignificant relative to the noble pursuit of power and wealth. Though not mentioned in the following excerpt, studies show that the +hilippines is also one of the unsuspecting victims.
'nvironmental racism takes international forms as well. $merican corporations often continue to produce dangerous, *. .,banned chemicals and ship them to developing countries. $dditionally, the developed world has shipped large amounts of toxic waste to developing countries for less,than,safe disposal. 3or instance, experts estimate that K6 to C6 percent of electronic waste produced in the *nited tates, including computer parts, is shipped to waste sites in developing countries, such as @hina and India. $t a waste site in Liuyu, @hina, 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 they smash cathode ray tubes from computer monitors to remove lead. These activities so pollute the groundwater beneath the site that drinking water is trucked in to the area from a town 5M km 4.C mi8 awayB.

To be fair, this deplorable practice has not been taken sitting down by environment activists who obviously could not stomach such blatant disregard for the human dignity irrespective of race. Thus the birth of the environmental %ustice movement whose members include organi)ations such as Lreenaction, @enter for Health, 'nvironment and Nustice, and The @oalition $gainst 'nvironmental Racism. The creation of the Office of 'nvironmental Nustice in .MM5 is proof of their collective efforts. (ichael Heiman of Hickinson @ollege cataloged the successes of the movement over the years.
3ew would deny that the anti,discrimination effort, often referred to as the !uest for environmental e!uity, has served to put the issue of environmental %ustice on the map and garner public attention. However, many grassroots leaders in rural white communities, also targeted for waste repositories, argue that the environmental %ustice movement itself is broader. This would move beyond the procedural and distributional e!uity sought by civil rights activists in the anti, environmental discrimination struggle to embrace a more general anti,toxins effort concerned with the clean,up of abandoned waste sites, and now with the actual production and use of ha)ardous chemicals. The broader anti,toxins effort first caught public attention with the ?ove @anal 4;iagara 3alls, ;ew Oork8, tringfellow 4Riverside, @alifornia8, and Times #each 4(issouri8 sites in the late .M76s, specifically when ha)ardous synthetic byproducts first associated with the econd 1orld 1ar effort and post,war industrial expansion, began to bubble to the surface causing delayed public health impacts. 1idespread public attention was also furthered through the public participation provisions of the ;ational 'nvironmental +olicy $ct 4.M768, and via better access to industrial release information under the federal @lean $ir and 1ater acts 4.M76 and .M758, the Resource @onservation and Recovery $ct 4.M7A8, and eventually through
B

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the @ommunity Right,to, Pnow $ct 4 $R$ Title III8 setting up the federal Toxic Release Inventory 4TRI8 re!uiring storage and emission information from ma%or manufacturers 4.MCA8K.

The movement is definitely a godsend, a success even, given the circumstances. #ut it hasn"t a prayer of nipping this whole thing in the bud if the government is dead,set on using its considerable political muscle to continue the oppression which has been making everything easy for them. It certainly does not help that the victims have very little voice in the system, or worse, very little knowledge of the dangers their government is sub%ecting them to. 1hat good are laws and regulations with these odds> The chances of achieving proper implementation are frustratingly slim. In a nutshell, environmental racism is like Hitler"s genocide in small doses. Hiding beneath the veneer of a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. $nd unless the system crashes and burns tomorrow, it"s going to stay for a long time.

#ibliography
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(ichael P. Heiman, /Race, 1aste, and @lass2 ;ew +erspectives on 'nvironmental Nustice.0 4$ntipode 5C458, .MMA

/'nvironmental Racism.01ikipedia2 The 3ree 'ncyclopedia. *nited tates2 1ikimedia 3oundation, Inc., 5667. $vailable at2 http299en.wikipedia.org9wiki9'nvironmental:racism Heiman, (ichael P. /Race, 1aste, and @lass2 ;ew +erspectives on 'nvironmental Nustice.0 $ntipode 5C458, .MMA exton, Timothy. /'nvironmental Racism2 @an the +rocess be *ndone>0 $ssociated @ontent, Inc., 5667. $vailable at2 http299www.associatedcontent.com9article9..A7BC9environmental:racism:can:the :process.html Dimmerman, (ichael. E'nvironment.E (icrosoftF 'ncartaF 5667 GHIHJ. Redmond, 1$2 (icrosoft @orporation, 566A.

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