How Air Pollution Across America Reflects Racist Policy From the 1930s

[RealityNow]

quote

How Air Pollution Across America Reflects Racist Policy From the 1930s​

Urban neighborhoods that were redlined by federal officials in the 1930s tended to have higher levels of harmful air pollution eight decades later, a new study has found, adding to a body of evidence that reveals how racist policies in the past have contributed to inequalities across the United States today.

After the Great Depression, when the federal government graded neighborhoods in hundreds of cities for real estate investment, Black and immigrant areas were typically outlined in red on maps to denote risky places to lend. Racial discrimination in housing was outlawed in 1968. But the redlining maps entrenched discriminatory practices whose effects reverberate nearly a century later.

To this day, historically redlined neighborhoods are more likely to have high populations of Black, Latino and Asian residents than areas that were favorably assessed at the time.
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The new study’s lead author, Haley M. Lane, said she was surprised to find that the differences in air pollution exposure between redlined and better-rated districts were even larger than the well-documented disparities in exposure between people of color and white Americans.

“At the same time, there are so many other effects that are creating these disparities, and these delineations by redlining are just one,” said Lane, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

Researchers have unearthed patterns of all kinds since scholars digitized a large collection of redlining maps in 2016.

With less green space and more paved surfaces to absorb and radiate heat, historically redlined neighborhoods are 5 degrees hotter in summer, on average, than other areas. A 2019 study of eight California cities found that residents of redlined neighborhoods were twice as likely to visit emergency rooms for asthma.

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Joshua S. Apte, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Berkeley who worked on the study, said he had assumed the differences between neighborhoods would be more pronounced in certain regions, like the South. Instead, the patterns he and his colleagues found were remarkably consistent across the country.

“This history of racist planning is so deeply ingrained in American cities basically of any stripe, anywhere,” Apte said. “We went looking for this regional story, and it’s not there.”

The surveyors hired by the government in the 1930s gave each neighborhood one of four letter grades, from most to least desirable. And the new study found that “D” neighborhoods, the least desirable, decades later are generally more exposed to dirty air, and more of their residents live near highways, railroads and industrial pollution sources.

In part, this is because some areas graded “C” or “D” in the 1930s already hosted heavy industry and other sources of pollution. Over time, a lack of investment in these neighborhoods also made them attractive for new polluting projects, like interstate highways, that required cheap land.
end quote

Those who try to deny the extent that Racism was facilitated across America are in great denial of what exist in the long 100 yr history of Jim Crow Segregation.
I say, those deniers or racism also, ignore the fact that along with Race was Monetary Class Segregation with regards to poor white society, because in some areas where there are poor whites, they were also subjected to a higher level of toxicity in their areas than were the well to do and wealthy whites. Poor whites should recogonize, they were not exempt from the areas designations for toxicity.

 

[ttwtt78640]

quote

How Air Pollution Across America Reflects Racist Policy From the 1930s​

Urban neighborhoods that were redlined by federal officials in the 1930s tended to have higher levels of harmful air pollution eight decades later, a new study has found, adding to a body of evidence that reveals how racist policies in the past have contributed to inequalities across the United States today.

After the Great Depression, when the federal government graded neighborhoods in hundreds of cities for real estate investment, Black and immigrant areas were typically outlined in red on maps to denote risky places to lend. Racial discrimination in housing was outlawed in 1968. But the redlining maps entrenched discriminatory practices whose effects reverberate nearly a century later.

To this day, historically redlined neighborhoods are more likely to have high populations of Black, Latino and Asian residents than areas that were favorably assessed at the time.
-----
The new study’s lead author, Haley M. Lane, said she was surprised to find that the differences in air pollution exposure between redlined and better-rated districts were even larger than the well-documented disparities in exposure between people of color and white Americans.

“At the same time, there are so many other effects that are creating these disparities, and these delineations by redlining are just one,” said Lane, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

Researchers have unearthed patterns of all kinds since scholars digitized a large collection of redlining maps in 2016.

With less green space and more paved surfaces to absorb and radiate heat, historically redlined neighborhoods are 5 degrees hotter in summer, on average, than other areas. A 2019 study of eight California cities found that residents of redlined neighborhoods were twice as likely to visit emergency rooms for asthma.

-----
Joshua S. Apte, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Berkeley who worked on the study, said he had assumed the differences between neighborhoods would be more pronounced in certain regions, like the South. Instead, the patterns he and his colleagues found were remarkably consistent across the country.

“This history of racist planning is so deeply ingrained in American cities basically of any stripe, anywhere,” Apte said. “We went looking for this regional story, and it’s not there.”

The surveyors hired by the government in the 1930s gave each neighborhood one of four letter grades, from most to least desirable. And the new study found that “D” neighborhoods, the least desirable, decades later are generally more exposed to dirty air, and more of their residents live near highways, railroads and industrial pollution sources.

In part, this is because some areas graded “C” or “D” in the 1930s already hosted heavy industry and other sources of pollution. Over time, a lack of investment in these neighborhoods also made them attractive for new polluting projects, like interstate highways, that required cheap land.
end quote

Those who try to deny the extent that Racism was facilitated across America are in great denial of what exist in the long 100 yr history of Jim Crow Segregation.
I say, those deniers or racism also, ignore the fact that along with Race was Monetary Class Segregation with regards to poor white society, because in some areas where there are poor whites, they were also subjected to a higher level of toxicity in their areas than were the well to do and wealthy whites. Poor whites should recogonize, they were not exempt from the areas designations for toxicity.

Hmm… it seems that (urban?) poor folks (regardless of race) tend to live in areas where land (thus housing) is less expensive. Since poor folks lack political power, NIMBY policies continue to prevail.

 

[BirdinHand]

I’d guess that gentrification plays a larger role in the most recent decades than the old redlining.

How many “revitalized” neighborhoods in cities are now occupied by wealthy people moving in and forcing the prior residents out? And forcing them into worse neighborhoods?

Redlining isn’t the issue anymore, it is gentrification.

 

[RealityNow]

I’d guess that gentrification plays a larger role in the most recent decades than the old redlining.

How many “revitalized” neighborhoods in cities are now occupied by wealthy people moving in and forcing the prior residents out? And forcing them into worse neighborhoods?

Redlining isn’t the issue anymore, it is gentrification.

Gentrification.. likely will increase to an intensified level. I saw it first hand in areas in the early 2000's... People no longer wanted to drive from the distant suburbs and the more "inner cities began to bring back new era business models into cities", many of the areas that are occupied by "poor people", (black, white and other) are being priced out. Homes are being bought, torn down and more expensive homes built, apartment complex being renovated or rebuilt with more expensive units, and commercial property being redeveloped. With that become MPC (Metropolitican Planning Centers, re assessing land use standards, to dis-allow toxic elements, be it noise producing factory and other forms that are toxic to the newly gentrified areas.

The land where many poor people are being shuttle to, some are surrounded by various business and industry that generate toxicity, cement and asphalt cover more ground spaces, and various other things that the working poor can't afford to fight against, so they succumb to these things in order to have rents and purchases they can afford.

When Banks leave an area, the area will see massive decline to follow, but when banks move back into areas, growth will follow.

The history of Redlining is a nasty history!

So much was created based on Racism and when it came to poor whites, it was Monetary Class Discrimination and prejudical crafted policies.

Any people today, can go to segments of the city, and look at the type areas that have swimming pools and tennis courts and a fully functioning Gym at the public parks, and go to very poor areas, whether they are black or whites and look at the drastic differences. only outside basket ball with chain nets, Tennis courts if they exist has metal net's, there may and may not be freshly painted lines around either court. the parking lots is deterioated and many attributes are lacking. including park security is lacking.

Freeways and Train Tracks seperate communities in working poor areas, both which bring its own set of issues, drilling for gas and oil, but rarely if ever do you see these type of drilling in upper well to do and wealthy areas. It there is any drilling, its done via "slant drilling" to ensure to keep any apparatuses from view.

Even Cell Towers in many well to do areas, have fake decreative ornament that make it look as much like some evergreen type of tree as possible.

It took years for people to get freeway "sound barriers installed in some areas". I've seen communities fight to get limited hours for air traffice that is close to airports due the housing in the flight path.
Then you have people who live in close proximity to the High Power areas transmission power lines.

The matter of Race and Monetary Class Stigma's... many things that were created under the old systems when Jim Crow Ideology influenced so much, even far and beyond just the south, because racism and monetary class prejudices does not just exist in the South it exist across the nations and still in some state it is far lessor of a concern to the people who can make decisions to change it.

It's like Voting Stations, there is absolutely no well to do and wealthy areas that has the constraints and limitation on voting locations, as there is in poor black areas, even in some rural and small town areas where there is predominantly white people, there is more accessibility to access the convience to cast a vote.

 

[RealityNow]

Fact is, People will continue to uncover the things that racism and monetary class divisions of poor whites caused and created. The poor whites in some areas who purse learning are learning that Jim Crow was not just about segregating blacks from whites, it included segregating poor whites from middle class and upper middle class whites.
It even includes the type of access to Grocery Stores, Pharmacies and other things that are critical to the needs of people.

Now that demographic can be more intermixed... the new form of segregationist ideology focuses on "monetary class segregation".... in some areas everything leaves for the suburbs when those suburbs has the moderate to higher income earners living there. We've seen very nice and eloborate Hospitals closed and moveed; and entirely new hospitals built in areas that have moderate to higher income earning living near. It gets even more strange, Churches that once had active community centers have either closed it or it is so limited in function, it is no longer an attractions for working poor and poor people to have accessible, Industry no longer concerns itself with ensuring to contribute to these community centers, they direct their investment to the New Areas, which are purposefully far from the convenience for poor an working poor people to access.

America has vast work to do to break down the Racism based policies and the Monetary Class Segregationist policies... and that requires working poor whites and poor whites to joine with minorities who are and have been addressing these inequities for decades.
It's unfortunate but proven fact is: It often takes a great deal of time for working poor and poor whites to come to these realizations.
they get caught up in the old mentality of those who cling to Jim Crow Ideology, who fight against anything that black people fight for, and many working poor and poor whites don't come to the realization, that what blacks are fighting for can, will and does benefit working poor and poor whites.. inclusively in what blacks are fighting for.

Well to do and wealthy white kids got a slap on the wrist and maybe if they got jail time, it was for days and weeks and generally it would be probation or community services, without being labeled "A Felon".
Where blacks people got years and decades and for sure labels as Felons, and poor whites generally got months and years and the possibility of labeled as Felons, and some maybe even suspended sentences, and classified as misdemeanors.

When "BLM" (Black Lives Matters, stood up to address "Police Violences", in areas that were historically racist in composure, such as Portland and Seattle, the realizations came to the working poor whites and poor whites to face the fact they too were being beat, mistrated and even harmed and killed by police conduct and ideological policies that would beat down poor whites.
Those people awakened to the need for "police conduct and process reforms". They did not march and protest just to try and stop the polices brutality against blacks, they knew if the policy and ideology change would diminish and stop the brutality against blacks, it would also translate into those same policies helping working poor and poor whites from police brutality.