Environmental racism affecting Memphis in this sense means: " socially marginalized racial minority communities subjected to disproportionate exposure to pollutants". A notable case of environmental racism the Flint Michigan crisis, where insufficient water treatment led to unhealthy living conditions for thousands of residents, many whom were black and many whom were poor had no access to clean running water. Often times environmental racism occurs in industrialized neighborhoods affecting poor people the most. This problem has afflicted Memphis in many ways, for the purpose of this post I will focus on cancer in Memphis.
Racial disparities in survival outcomes by breast tumor subtype among African American women (Vidal) and Relationship of racial composition and cancer risks from air toxics exposure in Memphis, Tennessee (Jia), do excellent jobs of addressing issues that are almost identical using different sects of intersectionality, one with race and gender the other with race and income. Vidal explained the statistics of breast cancer survival rates among African American women in Memphis. With research data collected from Methodist Health Care and West Clinic, the results showed that it AA women had poorer survival outcomes. While the report briefly mentioned the possible contributors to this, socioeconomic background and age among other things, it focused on biological differences. Jia focused more on poverty-stricken neighborhoods, which often times have nearby industrial facilities in dense spaces, resulting in high exposure to harmful air toxins. Instead of using as much scientific data, this report was more focused on economically disadvantaged areas and the negative effects of environmental racism.
Despite the promotion of so many health facilities in Memphis, especially the focus on cancer facilities, clearly many people in the city are suffering. Poor industrialized neighborhoods that suffer from this are often majority black communities, due to things like segregation. Reoccurrence of the government's blatant disregard for the health and life of the poor black community is extremely apparent.
Jia, C., James, W., & Kedia, S. (2014). Relationship of racial composition and cancer risks from air toxics exposure in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 11(8), 7713-24. Retrieved from http://relay.rhodes.edu:2048/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1558844677? accountid=13503
Vidal, G., Bursac, Z., Miranda‐Carboni, G., White‐Means, S., & Starlard‐Davenport, A. (2017). Racial disparities in survival outcomes by breast tumor subtype among African American women in Memphis, Tennessee. Cancer Medicine, 6(7), 1776–1786. http://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.1117
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I think this is a good topic that often goes unaddressed. Environmental racism seems to more difficult to alleviate due to the institutionalized racism of capitalism and health care. I believe it is important to shed light on issues such as these and continue to throw these complaints at government leaders. These problems cannot be easily fixed; therefore, I would like to know how can some do the work in fixing a problem as large and deeply ingrained as this?
ReplyDeleteThis is so important and something that is rarely talked about in political arenas where change could potentially occur through policy adoption to protect low-income regions, families, and neighborhood from being taken advantage of. TO add onto this issue, environmental abuses are some of the least seen (and least heard). For example, poor housing construction, noise pollution, air quality, and radiation exposure are some of the least visible issues facing Memphians. Home weathering is also a major issue. Most homes in impoverished communities drain the tenant's paychecks in heating and cooling because there is so little insulation in the walls and roofs of homes. This means that though homes appear affordable, as much as 30% of a family's income is put toward temperature regulation. This contributes to rates of poverty, poor health, and homelessness. This is a small issue that must be addressed in order to help stabilize the lives of people experiencing poverty.
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