12- Are People of Minority Groups Living in Worse Conditions?
Specifically, the minority groups which I am talking about in the title are people of color and of low socioeconomic status. It is observed that often times that people of these minority groups are living in environments which are either dangerous or have potential hazards. There are two major examples which immediately come to mind when thinking of environmental racism, hurricane Katrina and the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. In both of these situations the people who are being negatively affected are largely, but not exclusively, black Americans and people of low socioeconomic status. Obviously, individuals who are wealthy are going to be living in environments with nicer and more luxurious conditions. However, is it fair to let people who are less wealthy to live in conditions that are deemed unsafe just because they have little money or are a certain race? The immediate answer should be no, but it is a reality that does exist and according to Introduction to sociology, “…African American children are five times more likely to have lead poisoning (the leading environmental health threat for children) than their Caucasian counterparts” (Griffiths et al.). This is due to locations in unwealthy environments often times having playgrounds which have lead paint in them. Also, there is a highly disproportionate number of African American to white American individuals who are living in these unfit environments in the United States. I think that this is definitely a type of racism that is not as heavily addressed as it should be and that in the future the government and states should take a better initiative at creating and keeping safe and healthy environments for people of all backgrounds and economic status.








