Laura
Pulildo, author of the article, “Rethinking Environmental Racism,” argues that
what people consider racism to be is too narrow of a definition, which limits
and excludes certain acts of discrimination. In Pulildo’s definition of racism,
she includes the advantage of white privilege. It refers the privileges
received by whites for being white. Both versions of discrimination are
present: the white upper hand and the minority disadvantage. After laws changed
and there were no longer restrictions on housing, many whites were able to move
away from these impoverished neighborhoods to those that were more established,
safe, and more stable. They had the upper hand, as the rest of the population
were forced to make do with the minimum amount of money they had, and ended up
remaining in the same neighborhoods they were trying to get out of.
Pulildo,
Laura. “Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development
in Southern California.” Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Vol. 90. Taylor & Francis, Ltd, 2000. Pp. 12-40
Fantastic transition post after your Watts Riots reporting. It truly was criminal how minorities were economically suppressed to the point the were unable to escape the neighborhoods they had been relegated to. This post does a great job bringing up the white migration from inner-city neighborhoods to suburbia, as well as conveying the despair of of those left behind who must have felt powerless to change their living conditions. I also like that you are diving into the environmental aspect of racism and segregation.
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