Status Updates From Polluted Promises: Environm...

Attempts to make sense of these conditions have led to blame-the-victim stereotypes, which posit that if separate races do not actually exist, then the reasons for social inequalities lie in people’s behaviors, attitudes, and culture. In this view, equal opportunity must be there for the taking, and if people don’t realize it, it is their own fault.

Further, when it comes to environmental hazards of almost any sort, minorities receive a ‘double whammy’; they are exposed to greater risk and also have less access to health and medical facilities.

The lackadaisical environmental regulations used by southern states (particularly Georgia) to lure industry have positioned Augusta’s black citizens on the front lines of toxic hazards.