Symposium on Race, Racism and Racial Equity Hosts Fourth Seminar for UNC Community

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More than 600 members of the UNC community joined the fourth event of the Symposium on Race, Racism and Racial Equity on Thursday.

At the virtual seminar, four panelists spoke about where environmental racism manifests in society and what people can do to help.

The Race, Racism and Racial Equity Symposium (R3) is a series of virtual events that began in September 2020, focused on contextualizing race at UNC and the United States. It is hosted by the University’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion, the Jordan Institute for Families and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the UNC School of Social Work.

Thursday’s seminar was entitled “The Many Faces of Environmental (in) Justice: Scholarships in Racism, Infrastructure and Climate Action”.

Leah Cox, Vice-President, Equity and Inclusion and Head of Diversity, began the seminar in recognition of the Indigenous peoples who once inhabited the land on which UNC sits.

Cox said R3 is especially important as people continue to learn about how systemic and structural racism impacts the way and where people live.

I am encouraged to know that many of my colleagues here at UNC are doing this vital work and helping us all understand how we are addressing the injustices that affect our entire community, Cox said.

Moderator Travis Albritton, Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the UNC School of Social Work, then introduced the panelists for the event.

Danielle Spurlock, assistant professor in the urban and regional planning department at UNC, said her research focuses on the links between environmental injustice and urban and regional planning. She spoke about a study she conducted on the urban canopy, a layer that reduces temperature spikes and air pollution from climate change.

Our project illustrates a recurring and disheartening point that historically black neighborhoods have less urban canopy, Spurlock said.

Spurlock recommended using a community approach to solve environmental problems, allowing those most affected to have a stake in changing the systems in place.

Morgan Richey, a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, spoke about his research on preventable injuries and diseases. Specifically, Richey discussed workplace death, which he said is most common among Latinx workers in North Carolina.

When the rent comes up, when you have people to take care of, when you don’t have a lot of other options, you may feel like you have no choice but to show up for the job. taking that risky job or taking that dangerous job from your boss, says Richey.

Richey also discussed the health disparities in the exacerbation of asthma in the United States, noting the impact of redlining and other racist policies. He said black people are more vulnerable to asthma because they are more likely to live in areas where there is a greater presence of harmful particles.

Richey encouraged those who wish to help end these forms of environmental racism to advocate for solutions and invest in measuring air quality.

Seth LaJeunesse, Associate Researcher at UNC’s Road Safety Research Center, spoke about his studies of the racism inherent in the transportation system and how it perpetuates inequalities and injustices. He said the system was disproportionately focused on serving white male commuters.

It’s really recognizing that, crossing over and understanding the differences between what is listening to people, what is listening to people and what it really is to include people in decision-making situations. powerful and influential, said LaJeunesse.

Anderson Al Wazni, the latest panelist and doctoral student at the UNC School of Social Work, shared her work on the intersection between climate change, fragility and conflict.

She spoke about the flooding in neighborhoods marked in red, the militarization of water and the positive impact that interdisciplinary research can have on people’s lives.

You have people who technically have access to water, but they have access to an epidemic, so we don’t measure these things well, Al Wazni said. It’s really important for researchers to work in an interdisciplinary way where you can say: wait, wait, there is a problem with the measurements themselves.

In the question-and-answer portion of the seminar, the panelists shared their thoughts on how best to address these issues of environmental racism in the future.

Come up with the assumption that the way we built this system will marginalize community members, be it by race, income, ethnicity, gender identity, Spurlock said. This has to be where we start so that we can start dismantling larger systems rather than this more piecemeal and ad hoc identification, which often takes place on the backs of those who are (marginalized).

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