Environmental Racism and LA
This past week, we’ve entered a new chapter of our focus on environmental justice: air pollution. We have been reading various articles about different subsets of air pollution, where the terms NIMBY (not in my backyard) and YIMBY (yes in my backyard) have come up. Because high-impact projects affecting the environment have been discovered to be biased towards lower class, certain races, etc., the term has been used by advocates of environmental justice. These projects like a nuclear-powered generating station are placed near lower-income neighborhoods which are primarily minority. Thus these neighborhoods bear the full burden of the toxic waste and health-threatening effects; on the other hand, these projects create jobs and money.
We’ve also talked about the plane dumping fuel incident. Fuel is allowed to be dumped at a certain altitude and designated unpopulated areas. However, early January, a Delta airlines airplane dumped fuel over several schools while performing an emergency landing, and according to CNN, sixty people, the majority being children, were treated for skin irritation and breathing problems. I was interested to see if the circumstances behind this incident could have been a reflection of environmental racism or economic injustice. The school that was most affected was Park Avenue Elementary School which is about 16 miles from the Los Angeles airport. Researching more about the school, I found that the school is a little over 97% Hispanic, .4% White, and the rest being other minorities.
Here are some questions:
Do you think the Delta airlines incident had any relation to environmental racism? Why or why not? Do you think the pilot was aware of this area’s racial status that was primarily Hispanic?
Environmental Racism refers to racial discrimination dealing with environmental policy. Do you think that a high-end risky environmental decision can be solely due to race or does it also have to take into account other factors like economic status? If you say yes, can you think of any other factors besides economic status?
Can you think of any other recent examples of environmental racism?
Where do you think money and environmental justice lie in Los Angeles’s hierarchy of importance/priority?
Feel free to add any extra thoughts on the subject.
I am not sure that the fuel dumping incident can be blamed on environmental racism, however I do think we can blame environmental racism for the fact that the airport was built so close to a minority community thus putting them in harm's way when incidents like this happen. Similarly, I do not think the pilot made a conscious decision to dump fuel on that specific community, or at least I hope his actions were not racially motivated. However, as I started before, I do think environmental racism can be cited for creating this troublesome situation in the first place. I do think that at some level, most risky environmental policy can be linked to environmental racism. I think when considering outside factors, we should consider how those factors are further linked to race. You cited socio-economic status as a possible contributing factor. I think we then need to identify any connection between race and socio-economic status and evaluate whether that contributes to the problem. Furthermore, I think environmental justice is often an afterthought. I think money lies above environmental justice on LA’s priority list. I might even make the generalization that money is always at the top of the priority list for large institutions and governing bodies.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEnvironmental racism is definitely a bonafide issue in our society today. However, the fact remains that simply not enough evidence exists to convict the pilot of Delta Flight 89 of racism in the court of public opinion. An investigation is underway, and Delta has already been slapped with a hefty fine. In the midst of an airborne emergency, with scores of passengers on board, I think it is unlikely that the pilot determined which locations had higher percentages of Latinos and other minorities. Surely, he could differentiate between the schools and industrial sites and parks, for example. If anything, the pilot might be seen to have committed environmental child endangerment. Nonetheless, the plane was in the air for a mere total of 15 minutes and the pilot had no way of knowing that he would have to drop fuel in advance, so proving premeditation, malice, deliberation, or (malice) aforethought in a court of law would prove to be an ambitious and probably nearly impossible undertaking. I have yet to review public records on LA County environmental justice budgets, if they even exist, but I have spent loads of time reviewing records on environmental safety and hazardous materials mitigation. As far as there being a hierarchy, the Consolidated Fire Protection District of Los Angeles County, better known as LA County Fire, publicly states that when emergencies and disasters occur, priorities are as follows: people, animals, property, environment. In that order. That is, firefighters will only risk their lives to save property and environment if people and animals have all been rescued. I believe that I am almost entirely in agreement.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way of knowing exactly what changed mid-route that necessitated a fuel dump or if a fuel dump had always or was ever necessary. In any case, my guess is that the pilot did have an understanding of the socioeconomic geography of LA and knew the implications of showering an affluent versus a low-income area with a skin-irritant. This speculation is not as presumptuous though when we consider the increased vulnerability of a neighborhood 16 miles from an airport to one 50 miles away to any kind of related pollution, often less dramatic and more subtle than the fuel dumping incident.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like minority and low-income communities are similarly affected by environmental injustice - historically, proximity to working class jobs has constrained both populations, which often overlap, to ostracized neighborhoods. In Los Angeles, I don't think the two groups can be considered separately. Immigrants are probably another group disproportionately impacted by environmental injustice though again there is overlap. In all of these cases, it seems difficult to pin point environmental injustice as the key factor in lower life expectancy and more frequent illness as these populations face a host of imposed health risks as punishment for their racial or socioeconomic status.
The oppression of people has long been profitable and gone unchecked by major legislative bodies (I guess this is beginning to shift as there are looser ties between corporations and government, or maybe that's naive). As long as that's the case, employers will continue to make their employees show up half an hour early and leave half an hour late, shave off a few dollars from each paycheck, insurance providers will steal and lie, power plants will release fumes that would be costly to purify. But instituting environmental justice, planting trees, designing parks, reimagining Los Angeles, will also require a lot of money. Not sure where that leaves us.
I don't know if I can say that environmental racism had a direct relation to Delta's dumping of jet fuel, but it certainly has an indirect relationship. For reasons we've discussed in class, the people who live around/near LAX are of lower economic status and primarily Hispanic. Whether the pilot knew this already or not, I don't think it was in his control in the moment nor in his conscious decision making to dump the fuel on that community. I do think it's a bit odd that the pilot apparently decided to dump fuel well past the "safe" areas designated to dump fuel, but I also don't know the entire story of what went down (other than the fuel haha I'm sorry). In terms of high-end risky environmental decisions, environmental racism, and socioeconomic status, I think it is difficult in Los Angeles to separate race and socioeconomic status. Unfortunately, our city has developed a standard of people of certain races belonging to a certain socioeconomic class significantly more prevalently than others. Therefore, I think the environmental decisions inherently must take into account socioeconomic status in addition to race. I think money is always of high importance, especially in LA. Environmental justice, on the other hand, is something that I think more and more people are trying to grow/emphasize the importance of, but it's just not there yet. I definitely think it's going to have to become a greater focus in LA (and everywhere) policymaking in the near future.
ReplyDeleteDo you think the Delta airlines incident had any relation to environmental racism? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteIm not sure the Delta airlines incident is directly related to environmental racism and more just straight up racism because I don’t think the pilots or delta or whoever made the decision to dump fuel valued the people compared to the other people they dumped on.
Do you think the pilot was aware of this area’s racial status that was primarily Hispanic?
I think the pilot was aware because of the stigma and pre conceived notions about the racial/ethnic makeup of the area them dumped on.
Where do you think money and environmental justice lie in Los Angeles’s hierarchy of importance/priority?
I think money and environmental justice in LA are pretty far apart. I think a lot of the money that goes to charity in LA often does not have a lot to do with solving LA problems like homelessness and environmental justice.
Feel free to add any extra thoughts on the subject
It is difficult to say whether the pilot of the Delta flight was racist or whether he was just another ignorant pawn in a racist and biased system. What the pilot probably knew was that he was dumping fuel on a lower income area (many of the areas surrounding airports tend to be lower income), but I doubt he was thinking about the fact that the neighborhood he was dumping fuel on was predominantly Latinx. Of course, dumping fuel on a bunch of children from lower income families is no better than dumping fuel on a bunch of Latinx children. The main issue here is one of socioeconomic discrimination which, as a result, also leads to racial discrimination. The pilot is definitely guilty of treating a lower socioeconomic group with little respect, but our society is responsible for putting so many minority groups in lower class situations. Systematic discrimination has always made it much harder for a person of color to find financial stability and success compared to a white person. American society has long valued white bodies over black and brown bodies which is incredibly unfortunate and terrible. Long story short, yes, this is an example of environmental racism. Is the pilot of the Delta flight the racist one? No, he's just ignorant and did not consider the fact that when targeting lower income neighborhoods with the fuel drop, he was also targeting a racial minority.
ReplyDeleteNow more than ever, Los Angeles is placing a big emphasis on environmental justice. For example, most restaurants don't give out plastic straws unless asked, many Angelenos are becoming vegan, and more vegan restaurants are opening around the Los Angeles area. Unfortunately, I think it is much easier for middle to upper class families to go vegan as vegan options tend to be priced more highly than non-vegan options. For example, an impossible burger patty is always more expensive compared to a beef patty. Lower income families tend to have to eat at cheaper restaurants such as fast food chains. As I said previously, many lower income families in the Los Angeles area are not white because of systematic oppression. As a result, fast food chains target people of color which results in less "environmentally friendly" options and less healthy options. This is an example of environmental racism.
ReplyDeleteNot only do I think the incident involving Delta airlines is related to environmental racism, I think it is a prime illustration of environmental racism in Los Angeles. Not only do these citizens live near the airport, but they are also seen as a low-risk area to perform anything that could negatively impact our environment and people. I am almost certain the pilot knew exactly what he was doing because the story just makes no sense. Moreover, the recording of his reports to the tower suggests that he did it for no reason (although we know that it was necessary). I do not think an environmental decision is ever made solely based on race, yet the decisions they do make often tend to have the greatest impact on minority races. I think the people who make these decisions know they can take advantage of lower-income neighborhoods because they are less likely to complain and be listened to if they do complain. Los Angles has a lot of problems but I think making sure there is a Los Angeles for future generations is crucial.
The Delta incident definitely had something to do with environmental racism. We spoke in class about how air traffic is responsible for more air pollution than cars in LA, so I'm sure families and households below the routes in and out of LAX experience air pollutants at the highest concentrations in the area (that's without the fuel dumping). It is incredibly obvious in LA and I'm sure in other cities that low income and minority groups are forced into or only able to afford housing in less desirable areas (as a result of red lining, racism, white flight, etc.). The fact that fuel was literally dumped on school children shows the issues with LAX and environmental injustice in the area. The sad thing is, the general public will probably only talk about the liquid fuel being dumped and will not continue the conversation to thinking about the pollutants that already exist in the air and are disproportionately affecting minorities and those who are less economically well off. I do not know whether or not the pilot was aware of the racial make up of the area of the fuel dumping, but the fuel dumping did bring to light the environmental racism within Los Angeles in a highly publicized story.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't think environmental justice takes priority in LA spending. Many political figures discuss the environmental issues our society faces but not much attention is paid to environmental injustice and racism.
In all honesty, I'm not sure if the pilot was acting on racist biases when dumping fuel. I'm not a pilot and I don't know anything about being one, so I'm not even sure how much control he had over where / when he had to dump the fuel or if he even knew what he was over at the time of the fuel dump. Additionally, just because a pilot is flying into LA doesn't mean they are from the area or know the different makeups of different neighborhoods the way someone who has been living here for a while would. Maybe I'm just trying to assume the best of people. I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI think money has always been a high priority for Los Angeles as a city, and in terms of legislation I feel that those with money have more of a say in legislation and are the ones who are being accommodated the most. I've found that I'm rarely openly exposed to environmental injustice (and any remedies for that matter), so I can't say that they feel super high up on the priority list for many americans. I think issues regarding environmental justice should be more highly valued than they currently are, but because people with money tend to not be the victims of environmental injustice, it makes sense why these issues aren't in the spotlight as much.
I do think that the incident in January of the Delta Airlines flight dumping jet fuel on a majority-Hispanic/Latinx elementary school is an example of environmental racism. Race definitely played a role in this decision to release an objectively dangerous, toxic substance from the sky onto the ground below. Obviously, this next thing I am going to say is purely speculative (given the fact that I am not the pilot in the situation at hand), but I find it really hard to believe that the pilot of this flight would do what he did and dump fuel onto the ground below if he knew that he would be dumping jet fuel on an affluent neighborhood with large houses and/or majority-white schools. To me, the most horrific part about this fuel dumping incident is the fact that human lives (mainly the lives of the Hispanic/Latinx school children) were viewed as less important and worth protecting less. It doesn’t even matter what the “than” is in this situation (less important than …, worth protecting less than …), all that matters in my opinion is that a group of people’s safety was violated for reasons regarding race.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure if this is really an example of environmental racism, but something that I think is really worth exploring in our continuing conversations about Los Angeles is the racial/ethnic layout of the city (and county?) in regards to geography/location. In other words, are there concrete reasons/explanations for why certain racial/ethnic groups live in certain parts of the city? We certainly have talked about this pattern in terms of gentrification and South LA’s predominantly minority resident population, but are the physical locations in LA that are home to majority-minority/POC populations “less desirable” geographically-speaking? When I think of predominantly white/caucasian neighborhoods/areas/cities in LA I think of Pasadena, La Cañada, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Hancock Park, and The Valley (just to name a few). Are these neighborhoods/areas/cities geographically favorable as compared to predominantly minority/POC neighborhoods/areas/cities (like Watts, Compton, Boyle Heights, etc.)?
Personally, I do think that the delta airlines incident was an example of environmental racism. The pilot had multiple opportunities to drop the jet fuel into the ocean and into safe zones yet he decided to drop it on top of a predominantly hispanic society. Along with this, I do think that the pilot realized that if he dropped the jet fuel over a white neighborhood such as Brentwood, he/she would have gotten in far more trouble. Knowing this, these are the reasons I believe the pilot did what he did. Adding onto this topic, I believe that money is Los Angeles’s highest priority and that it ranks much higher than environmental justice. While I do believe that Los Angeles is more progressive than most areas in terms of what it has done for the environmental justice movement, I still think that money is a bigger factor and due to this, Los Angeles will never be as eco-friendly as we need it to be unless it is profitable for the city.
ReplyDeleteLike others, I think the delta airlines is an example of environmental racism. I don't think it was a coincidence that the fuel was dropped into a primarily hispanic community, as the reaction was far smaller than it would have been if the fuel had been dropped on an affluent white community. Since Los Angeles is such an aesthetically-minded city, I think money has an incredible amount of importance. Sometimes people tend to favor the wealthier and treat them as superiors compared to poorer people, which could be a reason why the fuel wasn't dumped in a rich neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI think that the recent incident of a Delta Airlines plane dumping fuel on a low income neighborhood near LAX may have not been intentional racism, however could have been prevented, and I highly doubt an incident like this would ever occur in a more wealthy, white area. It shocks me that the pilot was asked so many times while over the ocean if he needed to dump fuel, but decided to do it over a Latino area and dumped the fuel on kids. I also kept in mind that Delta has a history of "racism." For example, a Youtuber Adam Saleh, who is Yemeni and pretty distinctly Muslim by his looks and beard, was on a Delta Airline flight and got kicked off the plane just for speaking in Arabic. I think that these airline companies such as Delta should treat everyone equally, whether it's people on or below their planes.
ReplyDeleteBut I think the real issue relating to enviornmental justice here is the fact that the "colored" and low income neighborhoods are placed near airports where risks like these are prevalant. I think there needs to be more justice and equality in terms of where neighborhoods are located, as it is not just a coincidence.