Toxic Cities: Neoliberalism and Environmental Racism in Flint and Detroit Michigan

Abstract

The consequences of neoliberal colorblind policies concerning environmental justice in Michigan are explored using critical race theorist Alan Freeman’s victim and perpetrator perspectives on legal decision-making. The victim perspective allows evidence of disparate impact to be proof of unequal protection under the law. The dominant perpetrator perspective requires proof of the intent to discriminate for a racial discrimination claim to be valid. Michigan’s environmental legal history is examined through the lens of these two perspectives, tracing how Michigan as a state, with the aid of the federal government, has institutionalized a racialized caste system of ‘worthiness’ for environmental protection through strict adherence to the perpetrator perspective. Specific attention is paid to the water crisis in Flint and a Marathon Oil refinery in Detroit. The injustices occurring at these locations are less the result of racist individuals than the product of decades of neoliberal colorblind policymaking supported and upheld in our court rooms.

Families’ Financial Stress & Well-Being: The Importance of the Economy and Economic Environments

“…The market forces of neoliberal capitalism are rendered invisible. This perspective deemphasizes or ignores macroeconomic trends from a capitalist system that raises the stakes on individuals and families and contributes to their financial stress, such as reduced collective bargaining power (Jacobs and Myers 2014 ; Western and Rosenfeld 2011 ) and low and stagnant wages in the labor market (Mishel et al 2012 ); widening income and wealth inequality (Kim and Sakamoto 2008 ; Piketty 2014 ); subprime financial products promoted by banks and lenders (Baradaran 2017 ); gentrification and rising housing costs (Maharawal 2017 ; Moore 2009 ); and environmental hazards like air pollution and lead-tainted water (Benz 2019 ; Mohai et al 2009 ; Pulido 2016 ). Moreover, given that the published literature often attempts to understand differences in financial stress by race, class, and gender, a lack of consideration to the economy and economic environments may unwittingly advance harmful stereotypes by placing blame on families for their lived experiences with systemic racism, classism, and sexism (Hamilton and Darity 2017 ; Walsdorf et al 2020 ).…”

What is the environment in environmental health research? Perspectives from the ethics of science

“…The recent case of lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan demonstrates that lead hazards in drinking water also persist due to lead in plumbing infrastructure, particularly if water is corrosive or untreated. The egregiously slow and inadequate response of governmental authorities to the lead-contaminated drinking water in majority-African American Flint-including outright denial of the problem early on-was also widely interpreted as an instance of environmental racism (Benz, 2017). The broader society's refusal to comprehensively deal with the legacy of lead hazards in old housing stock, plumbing, and soil by actions that would prevent exposure before poisoning occurs (Markowitz and Rosner [2013, 1] call this "a legacy of neglect"), and the resulting inequalities in chronic, low-level exposure to this neurotoxin by race and class, raise similar charges of environmental injustice and environmental racism (Benfer, 2017;Bullard, 1999;Markowitz & Rosner, 2013;Rosner & Markowitz, 2016;Shrader-Frechette, 2002).…”

Opportunities to “Make Macro Matter” through the Grand Challenges for Social Work

“…Typically, childhood lead poisoning is seen as an individual problem and treatment focuses on children who have been exposed and individual sources of exposure, like their homes (Leech, Adams, Weathers, Staten, & Filippelli, 2016). Recent events including the Flint Water Crisis, have drawn scholarly and media attention to structural causes of inequality in lead exposure including race, place, and discriminatory housing practices (Benz, 2019).…”