Sorry but it is if the heavy industry was developed before African Americans moved North. For much of the eastern half of the US, heavy industry developed before WW1. So before the Great Migration. As far as the dumps, in NJ our dumps were not and are not in minority areas - we have the meadowlands in the East of the state and dumps in rural and white Sussex County.
I don't know were dumps are located in all states - but let's leave that aside. The Rust Belt developed before African Americans were a significant presence in the North. Before 1910, 95% of African Americans lived in the South.
It is true that industrial area are lousy places to live - and so only those with few options choose to live near factories. But these were white laborers before Ww1.
So that many of these became majority black was a coincidence. My family lived in Paterson near the factories. It was an area of working class whites. Shitty but it had nothing to do with race. That does not mean that poor minorities don't get the worst places but the issue is far more complex.
By the way, Whippany NJ is mostly white but has a few very polluted sites. Again a complex issue.
Well remember most folks before WW2 did not own cars. They usually walked to work. So where you lived was about what you could afford and where you needed to be. In most towns, the well to do lived in large houses on broad avenues, the rest lived in smaller homes closer together etc.
Even in more recent times there are dumps/water treatment plants, etc. built in minority/poor neighborhoods. Prior to that the urban renewal projects often fragmented and displaced those minority neighborhoods in favor of elevated highways and public buildings. We are talking 1960s-2018--well after the Northern Migration. In my region -- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/syracuse-residents-fight-stop-sewage-plant-n409261
Even in more recent times-- Flint, Michigan-- where the water source was changed out to save money but no efforts made to ensure it was safe and thus poisoned hundreds of children.
With Flint - yes you are talking about racism. And the urban renewal - some of it was. But my comment was about industry, not about urban renewal. But even that was not all about race. For example the destruction of lower manhattan destroyed lofts and factories to build new office space. It was about greed but not about race at all.
I don't discount racism but much commentary is poorly informed. It becomes like the recitation of a catechism.
So, it's a coincidence that dumps and heavy industry are most often located in majority Black areas?
Sorry but it is if the heavy industry was developed before African Americans moved North. For much of the eastern half of the US, heavy industry developed before WW1. So before the Great Migration. As far as the dumps, in NJ our dumps were not and are not in minority areas - we have the meadowlands in the East of the state and dumps in rural and white Sussex County.
I don't know were dumps are located in all states - but let's leave that aside. The Rust Belt developed before African Americans were a significant presence in the North. Before 1910, 95% of African Americans lived in the South.
It is true that industrial area are lousy places to live - and so only those with few options choose to live near factories. But these were white laborers before Ww1.
So that many of these became majority black was a coincidence. My family lived in Paterson near the factories. It was an area of working class whites. Shitty but it had nothing to do with race. That does not mean that poor minorities don't get the worst places but the issue is far more complex.
By the way, Whippany NJ is mostly white but has a few very polluted sites. Again a complex issue.
Was it a coincidence, or did relative poverty compel them to live there?
Well remember most folks before WW2 did not own cars. They usually walked to work. So where you lived was about what you could afford and where you needed to be. In most towns, the well to do lived in large houses on broad avenues, the rest lived in smaller homes closer together etc.
Even in more recent times there are dumps/water treatment plants, etc. built in minority/poor neighborhoods. Prior to that the urban renewal projects often fragmented and displaced those minority neighborhoods in favor of elevated highways and public buildings. We are talking 1960s-2018--well after the Northern Migration. In my region -- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/syracuse-residents-fight-stop-sewage-plant-n409261
https://cnycentral.com/news/the-map-segregated-syracuse/the-map-urban-renewal-and-the-removal-of-blacks-from-the-center-of-syracuse
Even in more recent times-- Flint, Michigan-- where the water source was changed out to save money but no efforts made to ensure it was safe and thus poisoned hundreds of children.
With Flint - yes you are talking about racism. And the urban renewal - some of it was. But my comment was about industry, not about urban renewal. But even that was not all about race. For example the destruction of lower manhattan destroyed lofts and factories to build new office space. It was about greed but not about race at all.
I don't discount racism but much commentary is poorly informed. It becomes like the recitation of a catechism.