Racial Segregation
This “class pattern” is also complemented by a “race pattern” that influences the
unequal distribution of environmental risk. In the United States, the dynamic of
racism has created a substantial differentiation in both occupational characteristics
and community of residence between white and nonwhite populations. Persistent
discrimination in educational opportunities and employment has restricted nonwhites
to lower SES (45) and thus limits these populations’ access to residence in
more affluent communities. In addition to lower SES, people of color—especially
African Americans—are restricted in their choice of residence by a series of mechanisms
that result in racial segregation (30). As demonstrated in the study American
Apartheid (74), such mechanisms are numerous and include real estate agents
steering people of color into racially segregated neighborhoods, discrimination in
lending practices, and the phenomena of “white flight” to the suburbs. As a result,
many people of color are concentrated in highly segregated communities that are
significantly more disadvantaged than those of the white population. Racial segregation
is a major contributor to the creation and maintenance of environmental
inequality because governments and corporations often seek out the path of least
resistance when locating polluting facilities in urban and rural settings. Thus polluters
can site locally unwanted land uses in such neighborhoods because they are
more isolated socially and relatively powerless politically (23, 74).