Dr. Beverly Wright has a list in her head of the most environmentally racist places in America. Near the top of it is Wedgewood, a low-income Black community in Pensacola, Florida, surrounded by 13 landfills.
For decades, its residents have consumed drinking water with levels of arsenic, ammonia, and other toxic chemicals higher than in nearby white communities, Wright said. They breathe in hydrogen sulfide, which can be harmful to the lungs and brain. And though wealthier areas of the region are protected from flooding, Wedgewood is nearly defenseless. When Hurricane Sally hit the region in October, residents’ homes were quickly flooded.
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