海角大神

An Alabama county fought for civil rights. Now it鈥檚 facing an environmental crisis.

In mid-April, the U.S. Department of Justice revoked a settlement that dealt with wastewater problems in Alabama鈥檚 Lowndes County. Only a week prior to that decision, which 鈥淧resident [Donald] Trump鈥檚 mandate to end illegal DEI and environmental justice policies,鈥� I sat in a room with civil rights activists and learned about the contentious civil rights history of Lowndes County.

The county, which had an ominous nickname in the 1960s, lies between Selma and Montgomery. It was called 鈥淏loody Lowndes鈥� due to the high rates of racial violence against African Americans. The events at the civil rights march in Selma in March 1965 that became known as 鈥淏loody Sunday,鈥� along with other injustices, inspired the creation of the , an independent political party.

Learning about Lowndes gave me a deeper understanding of the Civil Rights Movement and how it plays into today鈥檚 ecopolitics. There are places like Lowndes, and others such as Flint, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi, that have turbulent civil rights histories and water management problems. I wondered, Is there a link between the protests of the past and the environmental injustices of the present?

鈥淭here is a direct connection from the battles of the Civil Rights Movement to today鈥檚 environmental sacrifice zones. Flint, Jackson and Lowndes are just a few out of thousands of recent unjust actions,鈥� says Bruce Strouble, a scholar and author of the 2024 book 鈥淏y Any Dreams Necessary,鈥� in an online interview. 鈥淭hese aren鈥檛 coincidences. These are communities that dared to demand dignity, and now they face poisoned water, broken infrastructure, and government abandonment.鈥�

In November 2021, when the Department of Justice began its investigation of Alabama and Lowndes鈥� health departments, it was the first-ever environmental justice under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

鈥嬧�嬧�淪anitation is a basic human need, and no one in the United States should be exposed to risk of illness and other serious harm because of inadequate access to safe and effective sewage management,鈥� then-Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clark聽.

The probe was launched in the aftermath of a peer-reviewed study noting high rates of hookworm infection in Lowndes, a between Baylor鈥檚 College of Medicine and the Equal Justice Institute. According to EJI, more than 1 in 3 people (34%) tested positive for traces of hookworm, which, the group has pointed out, was a 19th-century disease.

When the DOJ presented its findings and established the settlement with Lowndes in 2023, it felt like a turning point at the cross section of civil rights and environmental justice, and Ms. Clarke herself , 鈥淭he fight for environmental justice is also a fight for racial justice.鈥�

But now, the landmark decision is being rolled back by the current administration, whose rhetoric against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives also takes aim at long-standing civil rights legislation.

In 2017, the same year that Lowndes鈥� hookworm crisis made national news, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission issued a , 鈥淔lint Water Crisis: Systemic Racism Through The Eyes of Flint.鈥� It is listed on the state鈥檚 Department of Civil Rights with this ignominious paragraph: 鈥淎fter a year-long investigation, three public hearings, testimony of more than 150 residents, community leaders, experts, academics and government officials, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission finds that race and racism played a significant role in causing the Flint water crisis, and all races were victims.鈥�

Taking governmental responsibility into consideration, Dr. Strouble calls the DOJ鈥檚 reversal on Lowndes a 鈥渂etrayal, not just of environmental justice, but of human rights and dignity.鈥�

鈥淲hen raw sewage backs up into people鈥檚 homes and the government turns its back because of anti-DEI politics, it tells Black communities their suffering is acceptable collateral. This isn鈥檛 just a policy shift, it鈥檚 state-sanctioned neglect,鈥� says Dr. Strouble, former sustainability program coordinator for Tallahassee, Florida. 鈥淲e鈥檙e watching decades of environmental racism go unpunished because this administration fears equity more than it fears injustice.鈥�

Solutions for environmental justice seem few and far between at times. When the 2020 Democratic presidential primary reached South Carolina, the plight of Denmark, South Carolina, reached national news. The chemical HaloSan, , had been used in the city鈥檚 water supply. The organizing efforts of residents such as Deanna Miller Berry were acknowledged by politicians and covered by outlets such as .

Five years later, a proposed $1 million settlement has been reached on behalf of the residents. After expenses, though, the $600,000 payout to about 3,000 people may not feel like justice to a town that said its drinking water was making residents sick.

Nevertheless, advocates are continuing the fight.

鈥淭he environmental justice movement is shaken, but we are not giving up,鈥� Dr. Strouble writes. 鈥淲e will continue fighting back against the administration鈥檚 rollbacks on human rights, environmental protections and DEI initiatives. ... For many of us this is a life or death struggle.鈥�