The latestLast Week Tonightepisode began withJohn Oliverdiscussing how Walt Disney World in Orlando has just been stripped of its special district benefits, which came as a direct pushback of Disney having revealed its opposition to the parental rights in education bill that has recently been passed in the state of Florida. After throwing criticism at Florida GovernorRon DeSantisfor this decision, the host then also talks about Texas GovernorGreg Abbott, and LA County SheriffAlex Villanuevawho all have in common the fact that they’ve made some dreadful decisions in the past few weeks. After this initial segment, the episode moved on to its main topic: Environmental Racism.
It’s a well-known fact that everyone suffers from pollution, there’s no avoiding it. However, Oliver is raising awareness to the fact that some people are more affected than others. Enter Environmental Racism, a kind of racism that we don’t often think about, but it is very much a reality that plagues countries like the US. As the British-American comedian explains, this systemic racism issue is pretty overt. In one example, 4 million tons of toxic waste were removed from a white residential area and dumped in a largely black residential area. However, these injustices are not always visible: sometimes the pollution provoked is undetectable to the naked eye, thus making it even more difficult to be fought against.
As this episode makes crystal clear, neighborhoods where minorities live are targeted over white neighborhoods. This environmental issue is far from a mere annoyance, it is actively harming people’s health, being a driving factor for diseases like asthma, heart conditions, and other ailments that can lead to death. Even within the same city, there can be startling disparities in the living conditions of different ethnic groups.
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Racist zoning policies are motivated by the twisted belief that black and minority neighborhoods offer the “least resistance” to these abuses of power. This is a problem that has existed for decades, and even now there are few policies to protect people affected by these environmental hazards. Even environmental movements have been leaving certain communities out of consideration, failing to provide the necessary support.
This issue cannot be solved by simply cleaning pollution that has already happened, as Oliver explains: it’s also necessary to make decisions concerning where industries are able to pollute going forward. “Sacrifice zones” are zones where there is a complete disregard for people’s health in favor of dumping all sorts of toxic wastes. To help end this disparity, not only does there need to be more transparency but, once again, people’s health needs to be prioritized over profit. Despite President Biden’s campaign promises in regard to environmental justice, not much has been done yet. Significant zoning reforms are needed to amend these injustices and keep polluters away from people’s residences. As Oliver concludes, no country can view itself as progressive while “some are treated like they are worth protecting, and others like they can be sacrificed.”
