Communities of color face disproportionate rates of natural disaster and environmental harm. Staff writer Vann R. Newkirk II argues that discrimination in public planning is to blame. "Pollution and the risk of disaster are assigned to black and brown communities through generations of discrimination and political neglect," says Newkirk II.
Tearing down the Viaduct, and forcing minority and impoverished residents to walk along a polluted, dangerous route is a form of environmental racism.