According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Lung Association, air pollution is now being labeled as “racist”. Air pollution has been targeting “People of Color” three times more than “white people”, stated the American Lung Association.
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) announced the gain of another $50 million in funding to fight air pollution in “low income communities of color”
“Communities of color and environmental justice communities have been impacted by a number of systemic policy decisions that have been made, whether it be transportation, looking at roads and highways that cut through the heart of many of these communities, whether you look at failed drinking water systems … or whether you look at facilities that spew pollution in closer proximity than other communities,” Regan said.
The Lung Association of America released a recent “State of the Air” 2021 report, which claimed:
“40% of Americans are living in places with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.”
“The burden of living with unhealthy air is not shared equally.”
“People of color were 61% more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade for at least one pollutant, and over three times as likely to live in a county with a failing grade for all three pollutants.”
This would suggest that “People of Color” are indefinitely destined to be poorer than “white people”. Statistics however, disagree.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2019 Black people at 18.8% have the lowest poverty rate observed since poverty estimates were first implemented in 1959. Hispanics at 15.7% were the lowest ever recorded since it began taking record in 1972.
Additionally in a Median Household Income by Race and Hispanic Origin publication released by the U.S. Census Bureau showed Black and Hispanic annual income at its highest point since 2008.
This data shows that the American Lung Association believes “People of Color” will remain in poverty, meaning they will be the prime targets of future air pollution. It racially charged statements like that of the American Lung Association that contributes to the divide in our country.
Critics also argue that there may be a variance in lung capacity between races, which again has not been medically proven and can itself be considered racist and discriminative.
Now, even air has become racially oppressive. Could suggestions like these be a way to gain more government power?
JMBK.NEWS 