ENVIRONMENTAL racism in Dallas

Geographical segregation, environmental racism, and economic disparity have historically devastated BIPOC communities in Dallas at exponential levels furthering the deep gap in access and opportunity. Despite the cities’ economic growth, black and brown communities have been dilapidated, extorted, and vulnerable to environmental contamination caused by segregationist policies that have increased health and safety-related risks, such as respiratory disease and poisoning, among BIPOC residents. Recent research shows that BIPOC residents-communities in Dallas breathe significantly more polluted air in comparison to white residents due to the overlap of permitted pollutants in BIPOC neighborhoods and the lasting impacts of redlining by white leaders, which has shown both a reduced life expectancy and death via exposure. BIPOC communities continue to fight environmental racism spanning from the early 1920s through more recent racist environmental injustices such as the toxic dumping of “Shingle Mountain”.  Black and brown communities in Dallas deserve to breathe.