Environmental Racism and the idea of NIMBY

After reading the chapters on African-Americans and Hispanic Americans, both addressed the idea that the environment plays in the lives of these two groups. Marger wrote about urban concentration of different ethnic groups because of Red-Lining and the way in which this leads to inadequate schools and housing. Another important component of this is the physical environment, i.e. pollution. In my Civil Rights class, we learned that 75% of industrial institutions that don't comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's standards for toxic output and pollution are located in urban areas whose residents are disproportionately Black or Hispanic. This is because these groups generally don't hold political power in their respective areas, such as in the city and state legislature. This means for them that those in power look to protect their areas from these kind of environmental dangers while letting others fall off the way-side. I was stunned to learn that this is allowed; however, I can't say I was shocked. Those who allow this to go on operate according to the "Not In My Backyard" or NIMBY mentality, meaning that as long as something to the effect of Love Canal doesn't exist in their immediate area, it can exist. The implications and effects of these operations have far-reaching ripples and directly affect the physical health of non-Whites living in urban areas.