Air Made ‘Racist’ as White Drivers Blamed for Pollution in Non-White LA Quarters

Wok people hit a new bottom after a report in The Los Angeles Times accused white residents of “environmental racism” for causing pollution in non-white neighborhoods by driving to work.

This is an accusation that critics have ridiculed as amounting to practically declaring that air is racist.

‘Environmental Racism’

The assertion that white LA residents are hurting black and Latino LA residents with their exhaust fumes was put forth in a Los Angeles Times article. The article was put out there by writer Sammy Roth, the Gateway Pundit reported, citing Fox News.

According to the report, people of color in Los Angeles are burdened by the yoke of white-perpetrated environmental racism. The report alleges this is because there are white and affluent drivers going through the former’s neighborhoods.

Roth wrote that a new USC study concluded that LA residents who are driving more got subjected to “less” polluted air, compared with those who drove less.

The woke author proclaimed the conclusion was not a paradox, but a “function of the racism” which allegedly underlined the way in which the city and suburbs of Los Angeles developed.

He added the observation in question was a “stark reminder” of how much need there was for “climate solutions” benefiting everyone.

In his words, the USC study found that the number of fine particles in the air in LA County declined by 0.62% per 1% increase in the number of miles driven to work and back.

‘Build Apartments in Rich Neighborhoods to Fix That’

Roth quoted the lead author of the research, Prof. Geoff Boeing, who told him that was the result of LA’s “shameful” history in which freeways were built through “low-income communities of color.”

Thus, today, many of the “whiter” and “more affluent” residents go to work passing through black and Hispanic neighborhoods, with Boeing stating the commuters don’t even shop in the communities they go through.

The report explains that Boeing’s study looked into “local inequalities” with respect to “vehicular air pollution” in LA. The study also emphasized that residents of “majority white” quarters “disproportionately drive” through neighborhoods of non-white people.

The paper further blamed the alleged problem on “racially-motivated freeway infrastructure planning” that went on for decades and was part of the “residential segregation.”

The woke, progressive scholar insisted that “this injustice” ought to be “mitigated” through changes in transport policy and urban planning.

The solutions proposed by Boeing and his colleagues provided for terminating the selling of “most gasoline vehicles.” Their proposals also involved constructing more apartment buildings in “wealthier neighborhoods.”

“The air is racist now,” wrote on Twitter Donald Trump Jr., former President Trump’s son, who was among the many social media users infuriated by the claims of the LA Times article.

 

This article appeared in The State Today and has been published here with permission.