Continuing the Legacy of Environmental Justice in North Carolina
Did you know that North Carolina is considered the birthplace of the environmental justice movement when Black community members fought against cancer-causing PCB dumping in Warren County (also the birthplace of Ella Baker) in the late 70s and early 80s? The words "environmental racism" and "environmental justice" became part of the global social justice vocabulary as a result of this movement. Black working-class community members are at the forefront of many environmental justice struggles in North Carolina (and beyond) since then, including winning a multi-million dollar lawsuit against swine industry pollution that is causing sickness and deaths in Black, Brown, working-class people living around those areas. It is not surprising that polluting industries, trash landfills, and major highways causing particulate pollution are often located close to where Black and people of color communities live. Black-led movements have also shut down the Atlantic Coast gas P...