What is Environmental Racism?
Environmental racism refers to the many ways that communities of color—in the United States, Black communities in particular—face greater harms from environmental factors. This is reflected in the location of industrial sites, proximity to power plants, factories and transportation that lead to higher exposure to emissions from sources of pollution, like coal exhaust, cars and trucks.
The southeast suburban community is already subjected to disproportionate levels of pollution in predominantly minority populations and/or low-income populations. Construction of this nature further exacerbates the environmental injustice.
Southland, represent!
The south suburbs bear an unequal burden of the growing e-commerce industry. These warehouses will service all of Chicagoland, but the environmental cost is only borne by those in the areas where warehouses and fulfillment centers are being built.
The south suburbs have a larger minority population than the western and northern suburbs:
Homewood – 44% Black
Hazel Crest – 87% Black
East Hazel Crest – 53% Black
Flossmoor – 62% Black
Markham – 79% Black
Country Club Hills – 89% Black
We can’t breath.
A report by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Asthma Disparities in America, found that the burden of asthma in the United States falls disproportionately on Black, Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native people.
Especially relevant to the racial demographics in the South suburbs, they found:
African-American children have the highest prevalence of asthma;
African-Americans in the U.S. die from asthma at a higher rate than people of other races or ethnicities;
African-Americans are three times more likely to die from asthma, especially African-American women, than any other group;
African-Americans are three times more likely to stay in the hospital from asthma;
And, about 13.4 percent of African-American children have asthma, compared to about 7.4 percent of white children with asthma.
This development is environmental racism.
With the scientific proof of linkages between PM 2.5 exposure and respiratory illness, it is unconscionable for the Village of Homewood to allow this project.
Developing another trucking center that brings more diesel emissions to a predominantly African American community is a racist act.
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