Forests disappear, unhoused and fear: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM IN HURRICANE COUNTRY
By Momii Palapaz, PNN Poverty Scholar
Across Turtle Island, hurricanes, tornados, fires are relentlessly displacing thousands. Over 200,000 in North Carolina are houseless due to the Helene Hurricane in late September 2024. Thousands are waiting for RV’s, temporary housing, tiny homes and are self sheltering since local temporary shelters are full. Private and community groups are scrambling to make up for lack of government resources and financial support.
“We are still digging through the rubble and trying to find a way out,” said Kenyon Lake, Asheville resident and founder of My Daddy Taught Me That. Mr. Lake and his organization immediately responded to their neighbors with van services, food and clothes. Left to their own local resources, Black and Brown communities are experiencing catastrophic trauma and devastation. Toxic waste dump sites, oil pipeline installations, poisoned wells, hog farming production produced more waste and health misery. Current environmental disasters bring to light the centuries of racial discrimination, displacement and stolen land of “freed” slaves.
October's hurricane Helene is shocking. The tv camera shows bodies floating by in the rushing river, once a street. Dogs, furniture, vehicles and an abundance of household appliances gush along, crashing and settling down in heaps of garbage. The latest death toll is over 227 of the people in North Carolina who died.
The city of Asheville, North Carolina, was literally closed down due to the hurricane rains and flooding. Mud and wildlife debris, coming from the thousands of acres of timbered trees, rolls down the balding forest, settling on homes, highways, paralyzing the whole infrastructure.
In a town northeast of Asheville, is Princeville, founded by freed slaves. Racism put the community there. Whites were not interested in the property and soon it was found that flooding was common in that area. As hurricanes throughout the years impacted Princeville with floods, resident and descendant, Resita Cox, questioned that and made a film from all her research. “It’s not just a film; this is my life. My folks are in Eastern North Carolina,” she said. “We are taking on the burden ourselves. We are teaching our young people in North Carolina ourselves about environmental racism and Black history through documentary filmmaking.”
Asheville, in North Carolina is the home of the Biltmore mansion. It is also the native land of Shiloh, where Cherokee natives lived for centuries. The trail of tears took place here. It is named for the violent, forced removal of Indigenous Cherokee by the US government and the stealing of over 108,000 acres of land. In the late 1880’s, over 125,000 acres was purchased by the Vanderbilt family. Freed African slaves who lived on this land were also forcibly removed when George Vanderbilt fell in love with the vast forest. He bought over 600 parcels of land from the Black community called “Old Shiloh. About 6,000 freed slaves, their churches and cemeteries were displaced and moved to an area called “new Shiloh”.
Clear cutting in Asheville lost 6.4% of its tree canopy from 2008 to 2018, which is equivalent to 891 acres of trees. Over 200,000 acres of forests are logged every year. The removal of acres of trees amounts to 60,000 in a year.
Katrina returns. Google searching for the effects of Hurricane Helene on the Black and Brown neighborhoods of Asheville, I come across a writer named Parisa fitz Henley in the September 30, 2024 issue of “Word in Black.” Her opinion starts out, “Katrina. A word I’ve hesitated to say aloud because of its weight, it’s gravity. A word that’s been quietly repeating in my mind. Not a name anymore. A symbol. People standing on rooftops, frantically waving at helicopters, begging for power for medical devices, for water, for food. Begging to be seen. It’s become synonymous with neglect of the most vulnerable people, neglect of places with poor infrastructure and few resources. Now, (after Hurricane Helene), I’m seeing that kind of neglect play out in real time.”
Hurricane Helene and all the decades of environmental disasters have compounded the already intolerable conditions. All contributed to the loss of life and degraded land value. History shows the population of Black and Brown, indigenous communities has reaped the worst of Amerikkkan environmental racism.
Colette, a lifelong friend, moved to Charlotte, NC, 6 years ago. She said, “I work at the local grocery ‘Food Lion’, and the shelves were empty with people supporting the victims in the mountains. Nobody seemed to care about color. There are plenty (of) white people in Asheville, you know ‘hippies’ so to speak. They wear tee shirts that say ‘Mountain Strong’. Everyone down here in Charlotte had no clue of the devastation in the mountains. I had no idea it was so bad? I don’t know if that’s due to racism? From my view, everyone was helping the Mountain community! It still is amazing to me how many lives were lost, but people keep it moving”. Despite the onslaught of racism, and economic losses, we come together.
Anyone facing a threat to their housing, immediately finds solutions. We can no longer wait for the government.
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