Dumping In Dixie: Race, Class, And Environmental Quality, Third Edition

by Bullard, Robert D.

• ISBN13: 9780813367927
• ISBN10: 0813367921
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-03-24
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

To be poor, working-class, or a person of color in the United States often means bearing a disproportionate share of the country's environmental problems. Starting with the premise that all Americans have a basic right to live in a healthy environment,Dumping in Dixiechronicles the efforts of five African American communities, empowered by the civil rights movement, to link environmentalism with issues of social justice. In the third edition, Bullard speaks to us from the front lines of the environmental justice movement about new developments in environmental racism, different organizing strategies, and success stories in the struggle for environmental equity.

Author Biography

Robert D. Bullard is a sociologist and long-time civil rights and environmental justice activist. He is professor of sociology at Clark Atlanta University, and also serves as director of the university’s Environmental Justice Resource Center.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Illustrations	ix
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xix
List of Acronyms	xxi
Environmentalism and Social Justice	1	(20)
Race Versus Class in Spatial Location	5	(4)
The Theoretical Basis of Environmental Conflict	9	(2)
Translating Concern into Action	11	(3)
Environmentalism and Civil Rights	14	(3)
A Note on the Research Approach	17	(4)
Race, Class, and the Politics of Place	21	(16)
Consequences of Uneven Development	23	(3)
Endangered Environs	26	(3)
Growing Black Militancy	29	(3)
Waste-Facility Siting Disparities	32	(5)
Dispute Resolution and Toxics: Case Studies	37	(38)
Defining and Defending Against a Threat	37	(3)
Houston's Northwood Manor Neighborhood	40	(5)
West Dallas (Texas)	45	(6)
Institute (West Virginia)	51	(4)
Alsen (Louisiana)	55	(4)
Emelle-Sumter County (Alabama)	59	(4)
Summary of Disputes and Resolutions	63	(12)
The Environmental Justice Movement: Survey Results	75	(22)
Rating of Environmental Problems	76	(5)
Siting Conflict and the Question of Equity	81	(3)
Economic Versus Environmental Trade-Offs	84	(5)
Environmental Activism	89	(8)
Environmental Racism Revisited	97	(16)
The Role of Racism	97	(2)
Unequal Protection	99	(3)
Environmental Apartheid	102	(1)
Louisiana as ``Paradise'' Lost	103	(7)
From American Dream to Nightmare	110	(3)
Environmental Justice as a Working Model	113	(24)
Waiting for Government Action	113	(3)
Impetus for Changing the System	116	(1)
Executive Order 12898	117	(2)
Remedying Past Inequities	119	(2)
A Model Environmental Justice Framework	121	(4)
Winning at the Grass Roots	125	(4)
Relocation from ``Mount Dioxin,''	129	(1)
Citizens Against Nuclear Trash Chalk Up Major Victory	130	(2)
Corporate Welfare and Environmental Racism: The Case of Shintech	132	(3)
Conclusion	135	(2)
Action Strategies for the Twenty-First Century	137	(24)
Lessons Learned	137	(6)
Mobilizing the Grass Roots	143	(2)
Toward the Politics of Inclusion	145	(13)
Conclusion	158	(3)
Notes	161	(20)
Selected Bibliography	181	(16)
Appendix: Resources and Contacts	197	(28)
Index	225