Environmental Impacts on Marginalized Communities - Emma Schlosser

 Each and every one of are effected by the changing tides in our environment caused by...us! Rich and poor, everyone is subject to the dangerous conditions our world is becoming. But these repercussions are disproportionate in a lot of ways. Marginalized communities are effected much more than White communities. There are tangible, evidence based reasons as to why. Just to name some, redlining, urban renewal, and the history of real estate have all subject a disproportionate amount of Black and Brown communities to worse living conditions. During the time of redlining, because a community was deemed red aka not a good place to live, infrastructure began moving in and around these communities, ones that were 99% of the time Black spaces. There are plenty of areas in Newport News and Hampton that have been cross checked with historic redlining maps, signifying the effects it had on people in the present day. Environmentally, more paved roads and buildings means less green spaces. This can impact communities already at a disadvantage, exacerbating and causing health issues. Another example of this IN Newport News is the Shipyard. The smoke and off-gasses produced by them go right into Black and Brown communities, again, disproportionately effecting the people living there. During the time period of redlining (not that long ago-1930s-1960s), Black communities would not receive basic, state funded necessities like weekly trash pickup, fixing light posts to make neighborhoods safer, and even much slower response times for police officers. For decades now, our human funded global environmental crisis has unfairly and disproportionately effected people simply for a skin color. 

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