Abstract

Excerpted From: Tierica Coleman, Invisible Lines, Lasting Harm: The Environmental Cost of Redlining on Black Communities, 19 Southern Journal of Policy and Justice 1 (May, 2025) (159 Footnotes) (Full Document Requested)

Imagine turning on your kitchen faucet and expecting clear water, but instead, brown, foul-smelling liquid pours out. That was the reality for thousands of residents in Flint, Michigan, in 2014. Their water was contaminated with lead, and government officials ignored their complaints for over a year even as children began showing signs of lead poisoning. This wasn't merely government negligence; it was environmental racism.

Communities like Flint, predominantly Black and under-resourced, disproportionately suffer the most from polluted air, toxic waste, and contaminated water. This outcome is no accident. Decades of discriminatory housing policies, particularly redlining, forced Black residents into hazardous areas with little political power to push back. By denying loans and investments in Black neighborhoods, redlining determined where landfills, highways, and industrial sites were placed. Today, these areas still experience higher rates of asthma, cancer, and other pollution-related diseases.

This comment examines how redlining created environmental disparities in Black communities and why these injustices persist today. To understand these ongoing problems, this comment applies Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) and Dr. Robert Bullard's Environmental Justice Framework (“Dr. Bullard's framework”). CRT highlights how laws and policies reinforce racial inequalities while Dr. Bullard's framework outlines five key principles for achieving environmental justice and protecting vulnerable communities.

Using these theories, this comment analyzes three case studies: the Weaver Fertilizer Plant fire in Winston-Salem, the Flint Water Crisis, and Louisiana's Cancer Alley (“Cancer Alley”) to illustrate how weak environmental protections and systemic racism continue to harm Black communities.

Although federal laws like Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”), the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”), and the Clean Air Act of 1970 (“CAA”) exist in part to prevent environmental issues, they remain inconsistently enforced. These laws also fail to address the combined, long-term effects of pollution in historically marginalized communities. As a result, the harmful legacy of redlining continues, making stronger legal protections essential.

Finally, this comment explores how legal action and policy reforms can address environmental racism. It explains why lawsuits remain difficult for affected communities and why existing laws often fall short. To close, it proposes stronger federal protections and alternative legal strategies to ensure that all communities, regardless of race or income, have the right to a clean and healthy environment.

[. . .]

The cases of the Weaver Fertilizer Plant fire, the Flint Water Crisis, and Cancer Alley reveal how redlining and weak environmental laws continue to harm Black communities. These are not isolated incidents; they are the predictable outcomes of systems that have long placed Black lives, neighborhoods, and futures at risk. Federal laws like Title VI, NEPA, and the CAA were designed to protect public health, yet they fail to prevent environmental racism.

CRT shows how the laws can reinforce racial inequality instead of correcting it. Dr. Bullard's framework offers a roadmap for change: one that focuses on prevention, shifts the burden of proof to polluters, and prioritizes the communities most affected. Together, these frameworks make clear that environmental harm in Black neighborhoods is not accidental; it's systemic.

Moving forward, the law must shift from vague promises to real accountability. That means stronger protections, more consistent enforcement, and legal tools that empower people to defend their right to clean air, safe water, and healthy living conditions. Environmental justice is not just a policy issue. It's a civil rights issue.

The time to act is now. Justice means listening to those most impacted, repairing broken systems, and making sure no community is treated as disposable. Clean air and water are not luxuries. They are basic rights, and they can't wait. Legal reform must match the urgency of the crisis. Only then can we dismantle the environmental legacies of redlining and build equitable, resilient communities for the future.

Tierica Coleman is a third-year student at Wake Forest School of Law.