In rural Alabama, raw sewage prompts investigation into racial inequality

HAYNEVILLE, Ala. – Raw sewage that collects throughout Jerry Dean Smith’s neighborhood and flows into the yards where children play and adults make a living is a daily reminder of the poverty and lack of infrastructure that plagues residents. here.

The dark green lagoon across from Smith’s home – part of the county’s sewage system – emits the stench of human waste. In this town and many others throughout Lowndes County, Alabama, residents pay to let wastewater flow into lagoons because they lack the more advanced centralized treatment facilities common in large cities.

But for some taxpayers, even pumping raw sewage down the street is not an option, given the broken or non-existent sewage system.

In neighborhoods like Smith’s, the plumbing in some homes is connected to the county system but isn’t working properly or the connections are outright faulty. Instead, many people rely on pumping their sewage into holes in their yard.

“It really smells. It smells really bad,” Smith said as she sat on the steps of her house. “Garbage goes to people’s yards, neighbors yards, waste runs into places. It retreats into most of these neighbors’ homes. It goes back into their bathroom and onto their floor. And the waste, I mean pure waste, comes through. “

Smith and her neighbors could hardly stand being in their yard. They forbid children from playing outside and move around quickly to avoid the stench that pervades most places.

“This doesn’t have to happen in 2022. It shouldn’t be,” said Smith, 59. This is the richest country in the world. A drainage system should be a right. ”

She and others believe it is racist, blaming state and local governments for not installing a centralized sewage system. In Lowndes County, which has a black majority, The rate of poor households is 22%, double the national average. At least 40 percent of homes have inadequate or no sewage systems. As a result, many residents use PVC pipes to direct waste from their homes into openings in the ground, a method known as “straight pipe”.

The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation in November to assess whether the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Lowndes County Department of Health were operating in a way that discriminated against Black residents.

This is part of a growing effort by the Department of Justice to consider the failure of local governments to provide adequate services – especially when it comes to environmental issues – as a violation of their rights. Possible civil action should be investigated and prosecuted.

Smith and her neighbors say the conditions they are forced to live in are also a health risk. A study by a team at Baylor College of Medicine and the Alabama Rural Enterprise Center found that one in three adults here tested positive for hookworm, a type of sugar parasite. intestines were long thought to have been eradicated, mainly acquired by walking barefoot. soil contaminated with infected feces, According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To address cases like those faced by Smith and her neighbors, the Biden administration has asked Congress for $1.4 million in funding to open an office of environmental justice within the Justice Department.

“I think we have to address the crime crisis in America while we address the environmental justice system,” Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers recently. school. “Where there is illegal activity, the DOJ absolutely needs the tools to ensure that all Americans are treated equally under the law even when there are environmental issues.”

‘We’re getting drunk’

Catherine Coleman Flowers, an environmental activist and MacArthur The “genius grant” recipient, who grew up in Lowndes County, has worked on waste issues in the county for many years.

“I call it America’s dirty secret,” she said. “Because it mainly exists in rural communities and poor communities, and most people, when they know about it, they are shocked. They don’t believe that’s true in this country.”

Hoa, who is also a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, has taken Justice Department officials around the county to witness the problems first-hand. She believes they are the result of systemic racism.

“I think it’s happening because the county has a black majority,” she said. “We’re in the countryside and we might not speak standard English all the time, so people might think we’re not smart. But we’re smart enough to know when we’re stuck. “

Hoa added that she is also concerned that government officials have the power to impose fines and even impose sanctions on homes without proper septic systems, even if residents cannot afford to buy them. .

The Justice Department held its first public meetings in the county this month. The bored residents muted their voices.

Charlie Mae Holcombe, who lives near Smith, said: “I call my house the house of hell. “I don’t know what to expect and when that will happen.”

Smith had a candid message for Justice Department officials: “I hope that you all come to the real thing. And don’t play us for stupidity or madness.”

Ozelle Hubert, head of the Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, offers a different approach.

“Whether it is discrimination, directly or indirectly, the overall result is that we need a waste management system,” he said. “We need a treatment center in this town to deal with the problems, and it’s a healthcare problem.”

‘Better housing’

Robert D. Bullard, a native of Alabama, professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University, says the situation is like going back 100 years and a man some have called “the father of environmental justice”.

“Lowndes County is a textbook case of systemic racism,” he said. “Race is the single most important determinant of who gets the infrastructure and who gets left behind. It’s like racism has made this county underdeveloped. And it makes them underdeveloped, which has a spillover effect on longevity.”

He said it’s been too long for law enforcement to investigate environmental issues more thoroughly.

“This is a law enforcement issue because the Department of Justice deals with civil rights violations,” Bullard said. “This is a classic case of discrimination looking you in the face. This kind of crude discrimination shouldn’t happen”.

County officials responsible for the part of the sewer system could not be reached for comment.

Sherry Bradley, director of the State Department of Public Health’s Office of Environmental Services, was at a Justice Department hearing in defense of the agency. She is adamant that the Justice Department will not find any wrongdoing. She argued that the installation of the sewer line from the house to the county system was the responsibility of the homeowner.

“They will come to the same conclusion that I had. I made my own investigation. I see no discrimination,” said Bradley, who is Black. “If you flush your toilet, you are responsible. First of all, your home is your property. It is private property. Many people think that the health department will – be able to use private property. Not so right. ”

Bradley has started a nonprofit pilot program to place septic tanks on several properties. But she says the organization doesn’t have the resources to help everyone.

She also suggested that some residents use outdoor homes until they can get help. “You have a house outside, and you have sewage in the ground,” she said. “Environmentally, housing is better.”

John Jackson, who served as mayor of a town in Lowndes County for 30 years, was amazed by Bradley’s housing idea. “She was intolerant, unsympathetic and caring about the community,” he said.

Jackson and his family were active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s – when the area was dubbed the “Bloody Lowlands”. He said the battle to get the waste system in place was like the battle for the right to vote.

“That’s why we must keep pushing,” he said, “not only for easier access to polls and voting rights, but for better sewage and better water for the whole world.” community ministry.”

Aquillia Grant, 50, feels the same way. She has been “plumbing straight” for many years, and three times a day she has to clean a ditch near her house full of toilet paper and waste. She said she couldn’t buy a septic tank.

“It’s embarrassing,” Grant said. “If we’re important enough to vote, I think we should be important enough to get help.”

Residents like Catherine Cannion, 78, are trying to survive in the humid conditions with a broken septic system.

“If I go in there, if it rains, and take a shower or flush, the waste comes back and sometimes in my kitchen sink,” she says. “So I don’t use dishes. I use paper discs. It disgusts me. I’m eating my own waste.”

Sewage accumulating underneath her trailer is rotting her floorboards. She said recently, she broke her arm due to falling on the floor. However, she said, she has no ability to repair or move, and she feels “trapped.”

“Not sure where to go,” Cannion said. “But we just have to pray and have faith and hope tomorrow will be better.”

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here