Sanders' platform on environmental justice shows he puts people before profits.
People of color get sick and die from environmental pollution at disproportionately high rates in the United States. African-Americans are three times more likely than whites to be hospitalized or die from asthma. Latino children are twice as likely to have unsafe levels of lead in their blood than other children. Disparities in nitrogen dioxide exposure alone leads to 7,000 unnecessary deaths from heart failure among people of color each year.
This environmental racism is only rarely mentioned in the media and it has received little attention from most presidential candidates. Sen. Bernie Sanders is an exception: His racial justice platform explicitly commits to ending environmental violence along with physical, political, legal and economic violence in communities of color.
Sanders recognizes that African-Americans, Latinos, indigenous peoples, immigrants and other communities of color are disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards like toxic air and water pollution, lead and pesticide exposures, and the effects of climate-related disasters. Sanders’ acknowledgment of the disproportionate morbidity and mortality faced by communities of color from injustices is important. The first step in solving a problem is admitting it exists. He also understands that environmental injustices in this country are not accidental or disconnected, but rather "the product of political marginalization and institutional racism."
No comments:
Post a Comment
You can leave any comment you want, but no vulgar language and no personal attacks.