Racial Segregation and Environmental Injustice

51 Environmental Law Reporter 10773 (2021)

U Iowa Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2021-25

12 Pages Posted: 24 Sep 2021

See all articles by Shannon Roesler

Shannon Roesler

University of Iowa - College of Law

Date Written: September 23, 2021

Abstract

One legacy of the environmental justice movement is documenting the unequal distribution of environmental harms and benefits throughout American society. These inequalities are inscribed in our urban physical spaces by laws and policies designed to exclude African Americans and other minority groups from lands and spaces constructed and preserved for whites only. This Article traces this history, identifying ways in which laws designed to address racial discrimination fail to provide remedies for structural inequalities; and suggests that Justice Anthony Kennedy’s “equal dignity” approach in Obergefell v. Hodges has the potential to be a necessary first step toward redress. The Article is excerpted from the book Environmental Law, Disrupted, to be published by ELI Press later this year.

Keywords: environmental justice, residential segregation, racial discrimination, federal antidiscrimination laws

Suggested Citation

Roesler, Shannon, Racial Segregation and Environmental Injustice (September 23, 2021). 51 Environmental Law Reporter 10773 (2021), U Iowa Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2021-25, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3929124

Shannon Roesler (Contact Author)

University of Iowa - College of Law ( email )

Melrose and Byington
Iowa City, IA 52242
United States

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