Protecting people’s health from environmental hazards, Maricela Mares-Alatorre and her family found out the hard way, is a never-ending fight. She was in high school in the late 1980s when her parents, both farmworkers, organized to help prevent the construction of a toxic waste incinerator in the landfill near Kettleman City, a tiny agricultural community […]
Category: Environmental Justice, Denied
The foisting of pollution on minority communities in America is racism, albeit a subtler type than has been in the news. With the launch of “Environmental Justice, Denied,” the Center for Public Integrity examines the siting of malodorous dumps and sewage plants near the homes of African-Americans, the spraying of toxic pesticides near schools attended by mostly Latino students, and other environmental problems that disproportionately affect communities of color.