Romero, E. D. (2022, July 5). For these Black Bayview-Hunters Point residents, reparations include safeguarding against rising, toxic contamination. KQED. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://www.kqed.org/science/1979614/for-these-black-bayview-hunters-point-residents-reparations-include-safeguarding-against-rising-toxic-contamination

Bayview-Hunters Point in San Francisco is one example of a Californian community of color facing polluted places—in this case, a shipyard—in their community. In the state, communities of color are more than five times more likely than the population as a whole to be within half a mile of one of these hazardous polluting sites. The article focuses on Arieann Harrison, an activist whose own family has faced health issues as a result of living so close to a dangerously polluting source, and who has led cleanup and reform efforts. Many Bay Area environmental activists of color, like Harrison, have advocated for reparations for certain racial minorities, in part because of the disproportionate pollution they face. They argue that previous racist housing policies have forced people of color into certain parts of San Francisco—and California writ-large—and caused these pollution disparities.

As environmentalists look towards conservation and cleanup efforts, I think it’s critical to emphasize the disproportionate harm communities like this one in Bayview-Hunters Point have faced. This article does a powerful and heartbreaking job humanizing communities’ struggles with pollution and the lives it has taken. This relates to environmental science as it explores the relationship between human development, pollution, and health issues. It also speaks to the interdisciplinary nature of environmental science: the way that different communities are affected by pollution is as much a question of history and political affairs as it is a question of science. For example, the article talks about how historical racist housing policies, such as redlining, impact where people live today, and have forced people of color into places that are now next to major pollutants or toxic abandoned sites. I’m curious to learn more about the trends with redlined communities and pollution, especially because this seems like one of the less talked about impacts of our racist history.