A 2018 study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency showed that at the national, state and county levels, non-white Americans are more burdened by particulate matter — or air pollution consisting of automobile fumes, smog, soot, oil smoke, ash and construction dust — than white people.

This is a form of systemic racism called environmental racism. Sociologist Robert Bullard determined “race to be more important than socioeconomic status in predicting the location of the nation’s commercial hazardous waste facilities.”

His research found that African American children are five times more likely to have lead poisoning (the leading environmental health threat for children) than their white peers, and that a disproportionate number of people of color reside in areas with hazardous waste facilities.

Past presidents have promised to address environmental racism but have failed to do so. It is looking like Biden will break this cycle by working to ease this problem. According to NPR, “Among a raft of executive actions on the climate Biden signed on Wednesday was one creating a White House council on environmental justice and a pledge that 40% of the benefits from federal investments in clean energy and clean water would go to communities that bear disproportionate pollution.”

On the other hand, academics, former federal officials and activists have warned that the Biden administration has a lot of work ahead of them because they have the task of building trust with the people in the communities where past administrations have been breaking promises for decades.

“Trust has been broken,” says Mustafa Santiago Ali, who ran the Office of Environmental Justice at the Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama. “For communities, especially vulnerable communities, there have been so many broken promises over the years.”

People of color are facing increased health issues due to environmental racism. This is a national crisis, yet a lot of white people are not even aware of it. We can no longer stand by and let our fellow Americans face early deaths and health complications due to racism. Greater awareness must be brought to this issue, and more policy needs to be passed on this issue. The United States must do better at addressing environmental racism or things will never change.

Actor, producer, and humanitarian Danny Glover stated, “If we talk about the environment, for example, we have to talk about environmental racism- about the fact that kids in South Central Los Angeles have a third of the lung capacity of the kids in Santa Monica.”

Lindsey Ulrey is a freshman political science major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or lrulrey@eiu.edu.