A screenshot taken from the SELF website on September 2, 2022 shows the title and photo of a report on the water crisis in the city of Jackson, Mississippi, USA. (Xinhua News Agency)
No coincidence. Jackson is a disproportionately black city where people knew there was a problem and didn’t spend money to fix it, says Colin Jerolmack.
NEW YORK, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) — More than 80 percent of the residents of the Mississippi city of Jackson, USA, are black, noting that the city’s ongoing water crisis is a “painfully clear case.” It is important to It’s because of environmental racism,” the website magazine SELF reported on Thursday.
Things fell apart this week when the local river flooded, causing problems at the OB Curtis Water Plant and causing water shortages. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves then issued a statement declaring a state of emergency on August 30.
But the statement neither outlines plans to restore water to the city’s capital nor provides an update on when Jackson’s approximately 150,000 residents can expect the water shortage to end. Instead, they were told they would run out of clean water “indefinitely.”
Some experts have compared Jackson’s current situation to the 2014 water crisis in Flint, Michigan. For years, the city’s predominantly black residents had no access to clean water because of lead contamination.
No coincidence. Jackson is an unbalanced black city whose people knew there was a problem and didn’t spend money to fix it, says Colin Jerromach, a professor of sociology and environmental studies at New York University. said.
“It’s the result of a legacy of racism,” Jerol Mack was quoted as saying. ■
