Much work is going into preparing for the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance (WCAR) to be held in Durban South Africa August 31- September 7, 2001. Much of the Environmental Justice Resource Center (EJRC) at Clark Atlanta University research/policy work focuses on institutional racism.

Environmental Racism. Race continues to be a potent variable in explaining the location of toxic waste sites, landfills, incinerators, and polluting industries. Three out of five African Americans live in communities with abandoned toxic waste sites. (see R.D. Bullard, Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots, 1993).

Residential Apartheid. American apartheid is created and maintained by racial segregation, housing discrimination, insurance and lender redlining, predatory lending, and outright intimidation. The current generation of blacks has lost $82 billion due to discrimination. Each Black or Hispanic household, on average, must pay discrimination "tax" of roughly $3,700. (see R.D. Bullard, J. Eugene Grigsby, and Charles Lee, Residential Apartheid: The American Legacy, 1994).

Discriminatory Land Use and Exclusionary Zoning. Exclusionary and expulsive zoning practices place people of color at special risk from locally unwanted land uses or LULUs. NIMBY (not in my back yard) is often replaced with "PIBBY" (place in blacks back yard). (see R.D. Bullard, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality, 2000).

Unequal Enforcement of Laws and Regulations. African American children are twice as likely to be lead poisoned than white children at every income level. Over 28.4 percent of all low-income African American children were lead poisoned compared to 9.8 percent of low-income white children. (see R.D. Bullard, Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color, 1996).

Transportation Racism. For more than a century since Plessy v. Ferguson (the U.S. Supreme Court decision that made "separate but equal" the law of the land), African Americans have struggled to end transportation racism, i.e., "separate but equal," linking the discriminatory and destructive paths of roads and highways and unequal treatment on buses and trains with violation of constitutionally guaranteed civil rights. Transportation racism creates barriers instead of bridges to equal opportunity for people of color. (see R.D. Bullard and G.S. Johnson, Just Transportation: Dismantling Race and Class Barriers to Mobility, 1997).

Racism and Urban Planning. Racism plays a major role in the spatial layout of cities and metropolitan regions. Suburban sprawl heightens racial disparities and concentrates poverty. It also increases traffic, drives up transportation costs, pollutes the air, destroys forests and greens space, worsens flooding, and wastes energy. (see R.D. Bullard, G.S. Johnson, and A.O. Torres, Sprawl City: Race, Politics and Planning in Atlanta, 2000).

For more information contact: Environmental Justice Resource Center, Clark Atlanta University, 223 James P. Brawley Drive, Atlanta, GA 30314, Phone: (404) 880-6911, Fax: (404) 880-6909, E-mail: ejrc@cau.edu.