ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM AND

NATIVE AMERICANS

The Stand at Standing Rock

By Diana Householder

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

What is environmental racism?

How does it happen?
Who is impacted?
What are the effects of environmental racism?

IS YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD A SILENT

KILLER?
The social justice issue of environmental racism has been a long
standing practice of institutionalized discrimination which is
according to Bullard (2002), actions or practices which are carried
out by members of dominant racial or ethnic groups.

According to Martin (2002) environmental racism also

exists when the plight of the subordinate group or culture
is ignored and/or pleas for help or relief are ignored.

THE LAND OF THE FREE

The United States of America is rooted in environmental racism specifically
white racism. This country was founded on the premise of free land which was
stolen from the Native Americans, then free labor from capturing and
enslaving Africans, who were transported to this country in chains. In a time
when only a free man, white men owning property, were entitled to vote.
Racism, annihilation and genocide from groups who felt that they were
superior to others is
what shaped this country economically and politically by exploitation of the
land and the people deemed inferior (Bullard, 2002).
Martin (2002) contends that the ecocentric
view in which Native Americans hold is often
trivialized by the Eurocentric worldview of many
Anglo-American policymakers ( p. 67).

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
There is a long history of the United States
government using force to imbed American
style politics, as well as the Anglo religious
sectors who tried to force their religious
viewpoints on these cultures deemed as
savages. (Daum, & Ishiwata, 2010)

Although discrimination exists throughout all of

Americas marginalized communities, a 2003 study
by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported
that native communities continue to rank at or
near the bottom of nearly every social, health, and
economic indicator (Daum, & Ishiwata, 2010, p.
848).
According to Martin (2002) Trivialization
of Native American rights in this country is
almost by design.

P H O T O S S P E A K LO U D E R T H A N
WORDS

Take a
good
look
around

You
might
Be
Surprised
At what
You find

LAWS & SOCIAL JUSTICE

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. says it all in
this one phrase Injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere.

WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING?

Native Americans declare that the earth and water
is sacred, all things are connected and To
contaminate Indian water is an act of war more
subtle yet no less deadly (Brook, 1998, p. 111).
Sadly, the United States government has a welldocumented and long history with its indigenous
peoples of seizing lands, forcing relocations and
exploitation of the powerless (Daum, & Ishiwata,
2010).

WHAT IS CLEAN WATER WORTH?

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), as well as state and
local government officials. ETP claims that the pipelines
are top of the line as they are manufactured with the
best materials which they claim will last for hundreds of
years. The national benefits of this crude oil pipeline is
the goal of increasing domestic crude oil production
which serves as a catalyst for greater energy
independence for the United States.
The North Dakota Bakken has increased significantly in
the production of crude oil, from 309,000 barrels a day
in 2010 to 1 million barrels a day in 2014 (ETP, 2015).

DOES THE U.S. CONTINUE TO DEPRIVE NATIVE

AMERICANS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND IS THERE
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM ON RESERVATIONS?
There have been 3,300 reports of pipeline breaks including the
2010 break in Marshall Michigan, as well as the pipeline near the
Mackinaw bridge in Lake Michigan which is currently over its fiftyyear life span and not being maintained as it should, I agree with
the position of the protestors. Pipelines have been proven to leak
thus they do pose a risk to our water supplies.
In my personal opinion and conclusion that when your only water
supply is threatened, as is the case for the reservation at Standing
Rock, and they are not being heard then there is a probability that
environmental discrimination and/or racism does exists.
You Decide.

The End

References

Brook, D. (1998). Environmental Genocide: Native Americans and Toxic Waste.The American Journal of Economics and
Sociology,57(1), 105-113. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3487423

Bullard, R. D. (2002). Confronting environmental racism in the twenty-first century. Global Dialogue,4(1), 34-48. Retrieved from
http://searchproquest.com/docview/211519773?accountid+28644
Daum, C. W., & Ishiwata, E. (2010). From the myth of formal equality to the politics of social justice: Race and the legal attack on
native entitlements.Law & Society
Review,44(3), 843-875. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/874023623?accountid=28644

Green, M. K. (1993). Images of Native Americans in advertising: Some moral issues. Journal of Business Ethics,12(4), 323.
Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/198079696?accountid=28644

Martin, M. C. (2002). Expanding the boundaries of environmental justice: native Americans and the south Lawrence trafficway
(1).Policy and Management Review,2(1),
62-85. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/236672491?accountid=28644

Energy Transfer Partners, L.P., (2015). http://www.daplpipelinefacts.com/ Retrieved November 26, 1016

United Nations. (2008). United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. March, 2008.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf/. Retrieved
November 24, 2016.

Worland, J. (2016, October 28). What to Know About the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests. Http://time.com/4548566/dakotaaccess-pipeline-standing-rock-sioux/. Retrieved
November 26, 2016.