Enviromental racism

In 1940, the development of environmental racism in Richmond was deeply rooted in the historically impacts of WWII. Environmental racism is when people in poor communities are being mistreated because of their ethnic race or depending on their income. This problem of environmental racism is affecting all types of people, but its main target has been African Americans because they are mostly the people with low income. This is unfair and is happening all over the world, but if we stick together it is a problem can get fixed.

Back when factories and oil refineries where first being built, was when this idea of environmental justice was being introduced. But to pin point that moment I have an example, back in 1940 when Chevron first opened their refinery in Richmond this made the air quality significantly bad in a little period of time. The African American population alone, increased from 270 people in 1940 to 10,438 people in 1943. This isn’t a coincidence, they did this on purpose. They moved all the low income Africa Americans to where the air quality is bad. They didn’t have enough money to make a different decision. The people with the money wouldn’t move to a place where the air quality is bad so the corporation knows what they were doing to the air and the neighborhoods around it. They knew that since no one with the money would live by the oil refinery, they could sell it to the low income communities.

Jade Harper my fellow classmate has this same problem. She lives in Richmond next to Chevron’s oil refinery and she said “the water is nasty and it’s not clear, it’s a cloudy color” the oil refinery is getting into their community water. She also said “The air is gassy and sometimes hard to breathe in”. Jade also is a victim of asthma, Jade says she wasn’t born with asthma but when she moved to Richmond at the age of two she starting receiving asthma attacks a year later.