I read this post with interest, as it is in part about the Wilson Library event that I have helped organize and a local history project that I worked on as a Master’s student in the School of Public Health here at UNC. Let me first say that the focus of this exhibit, and the panel discussion, is local history. Understanding the history of this community, as well as many other communities in our county, gives us a richer sense of ourselves and our common heritage. Because relationships between races in this country (and therefore this county) have been deeply divided in the past, any discussion of our common history will include discussion of race and racism, especially if it spans over 200 years of history, as this exhibit does.

That being said, let me also say that I can understand your frustration about the term “environmental racism.” You reflect the feelings of many county administrators and officials who feel maligned by the phrase. While I do not disagree that the phrase itself is divisive, and perhaps not the best way of creating collaborative partnerships when they are most needed, I’d like to briefly explain it a little bit more. What “environmental racism” suggests is not necessarily overtly racist acts, or even racism attributed to contemporary political actors. It is used to describe what is also known as “structural racism” or the history of racial prejudice that we have had in this country which has resulted in the development of land use policies, over time, which have often targeted minority communities for unwanted municipal projects. In fact, research in North Carolina, and in the South as a whole, documents land use policies that have disproportionately targeted minority communities for municipal and toxic waste sites, in many cases because these communities (like Rogers Road) were never fully incorporated into town or city limits, creating a situation of political marginalization.

You are absolutely right to point to the strict process used by our County Commissioners to site the solid waste transfer station. Our representatives are being careful to do what is right for the county and right for the communities most affected by their decisions–and that is one reason why this search is taking a long time. The problem is that back in the 1970s, when the first landfill went on Eubanks Road, there was no strict process used. In the 1970s, Commissioners made the decision to site the landfill there even though they had to overturn the ruling of the Orange County Planning Board that the Eubanks Road site could not be used due to risks of water contamination. In short, the process in the 1970s was far from transparent, and that was when trust started to unravel between community members and local politicians on this issue.

I know this comment is becoming lengthy, so let me close here simply by saying that the issues our politicians are grappling with today in terms of the transfer station and Rogers Road are complicated. They cannot easily be separated from the decades of history surrounding solid waste management, nor the even longer history of political marginalization of African American communities.

I’d like to urge you not to simply write off this exhibit because of the phrase “environmental racism,” but rather to understand it as part of an imperfect way of articulating history that includes conflict and wounds that have yet to entirely heal.

I’m happy to talk to you more about the project and listen to any thoughts or opinions of yours that you feel haven’t been addressed or have been addressed unfairly in this comment.

Respectfully,

Emily Eidenier