How ‘segregation, disinvestment, and concentrated poverty’ preceded lead troubles in Benton Harbor
“‘When it comes to our water systems, we’re all in it together; everybody needs and deserves safe drinking water,’ Clark said. ‘But our nation has a history of purposefully disinvesting in communities of color, making land and property worth less precisely because of the race of the people who live there. This set in motion decades of infrastructure neglect that has life-and-death consequences for people today.’
‘The failure to intervene with an appropriate level of urgency when the water is clearly unsafe to drink, according to the state’s own data, is another manifestation of environmental injustice and historic neglect,’ Clark added.”