Bullard, R.D. 1990. Dumping in

Bullard, R.D. 1990. Dumping in Dixie: Race, class, and environmental quality. Boulder, CO: Westview. According to R.D. Bullard's 1990 manifesto Dumping in Dixie: Race, class, and environmental quality, the American South is one of the most polluted areas of the country. This is despite the fact that the South has historically been an agrarian rather than industrial region. During the 1970s, industrial growth in the South increased at a very rapid rate, largely due to inexpensive available land and lax labor and environmental legislation.

The swift industrialization of the region caused many observers to speak of the 'New South' but many aspects of the 'Old South' remained, including stark class and racial divisions. Bullard suggests that because of the South's history, environmental racism reinforced other forms of social injustice. African-American and other nonwhite communities bore the brunt of the negative effects of economic expansion. Industrialization always results in costs for someone.

African-Americans and other individuals deemed to be lower class are always subject to more "environmental stressors" in their neighborhoods in the South because of their lack of political mobilization (Bullard 1990:1). Toxic material and other byproducts must be 'dumped' somewhere. In the south, because of the historical marginalization of certain communities, African-American communities suffered greater environmental consequences as a result. The South became a sacrifice zone "a sump" for the region's toxic waste (Bullard 1990: 97).

The attitude of the North was little better, given that it was taken for granted that the South was a kind of de facto Third World region, a "a backward land" with a colonial mentality (Bullard 1990: 97). Environmental discrimination was viewed as the least of its problems, even though it was linked to the transition from plantation system to industrialization -- the new South was simply using discrimination in a different fashion. Thus environmental racism is a byproduct of American social and historical injustices.

While all labor was oppressed to some degree in the 'New' South, African-Americans suffered an even greater burden. They also suffer a greater health and environmental consequences than their white counterparts, given the lack of concern for the plight of blacks in the region by state and local governments. Furthermore, as Bullard points out, African-Americans were traditionally less concerned about environmental issues, given the variety of other pressing social justice concerns they faced, particularly during the Civil Rights and post Civil Rights era.

Only in the 1990s, when he first published Dumping in Dixie, was community mobilization beginning. The early lack of community cohesion and outrage, states Bullard, has had lasting health consequences. While African-Americans have been discriminated against in the South, they have also suffered the consequences of toxic pollution released by companies that were under-regulated. When toxins are released into the environment, companies are far more apt to select areas that are unlikely to protest.

African-Americans often saw environmentalism as part of a middle-class agenda, even a way of stifling poorer communities' economic empowerment. The consequences of this attitude, Bullard states, were dire, as the companies expanding in the South used the desperation of poor whites and blacks to justify a lack of concern for the health and welfare of the environment. Furthermore the types of jobs created by the large firms based in the south were poorly paid and offered little opportunity for economic advancement.

African-Americans often failed to see the link between the fact that they had higher health costs than whites and lived in more environmentally-polluted areas. Environmental discrimination, states Bullard, is a critical component of larger acts of social and economic disenfranchisement. Furthermore, the sudden, intoxicating burst of economic expansion caused many to overlook the fact that the symptoms of underdevelopment that had plagued the South, such as a lack of access to education and an emphasis on lower skilled, dead-end jobs, were still present.

Despite job growth, the manufacturing jobs failed to substantially empower either blacks or whites of lower income status. The incomes and home values of areas near hazardous-waste processing facilities were substantially lower compared with those who were not near such areas. However, even amongst poor communities, the percentage of individuals who were of minority status was more likely to be exposed to toxins, the most "significant" factor even more determining exposure to toxic waste (Bullard 1990: 35).

Knowledge is power, stresses Bullard, and critically analyzing patterns of economic development is a vital component of improving resident's lives in the region. Poorer communities have less financial and legal resources to lobby against encroachments by large, powerful companies into their areas, hence companies gravitate "to disadvantaged areas" lacking economic and political capital (Bullard 1990: 37). These communities also have significantly less knowledge and time to research and identify risks than wealthier communities.

Yet Bullard ends his book on an optimistic note, stating that the 21st century will become an era in which people "stop asking the question 'Do minorities care about the environment?' The evidence is clear and irrefutable that white middle-class communities do not have a monopoly on environmental concern, nor are they the only groups moved to action when confronted with the threat of pollution" (Bullard 1990: 137). Since Bullard wrote his manifesto, the problems he has outlined have.