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Geographies of Race and Ethnicity 1: White Supremacy Vs White Privilege in Environmental Racism Research

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Geographies of Race and Ethnicity 1: White Supremacy Vs White Privilege in Environmental Racism Research Progress report Progress in Human Geography 2015, Vol. 39(6) 809–817 ª The Author(s) 2015 Geographies of race and ethnicity 1: Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav White supremacy vs white privilege DOI: 10.1177/0309132514563008 in environmental racism research phg.sagepub.com Laura Pulido University of Southern California, USA Abstract In this report I compare two forms of racism: white privilege and white supremacy. I examine how they are distinct and can be seen in the environmental racism arena. I argue that within US geographic scholarship white privilege has become so widespread that more aggressive forms of racism, such as white supremacy, are often overlooked. It is essential that we understand the precise dynamics that produce environmental injustice so that we can accurately target the responsible parties via strategic social movements and cam- paigns. Using the case of Exide Technologies in Vernon, California, I argue that the hazards generated by its longstanding regulatory noncompliance are a form of white supremacy. Keywords environmental racism, white privilege, white supremacy I Introduction critical race theory, I suggested white privilege as an alternative understanding of how racism In 2000 I published an article in the Annals of functioned in producing urban geographies of the Association of American Geographers that environmental racism. sought to recast how we think about racism in In hindsight, I believe the article was useful the environmental arena (Pulido, 2000). In it, I to the environmental justice literature for sev- argued that white privilege accounted for at eral reasons. First, by acknowledging that least some of the racial disparities that research- racially unequal environments are not necessa- ers were finding. I was responding specifically rily produced by racial animus, but rather as the to debates within US scholarship over whether ‘naturalized’ decisions of millions of whites in a environmental inequities were due to racial racialized society, I provided a different way of dynamics or economic processes. Interrogating understanding racism. Second, by focusing on the underlying conceptions of racism informing the urban region, rather than the individual pol- these debates, I showed how most US research- luter, I illuminated how racism constituted ers conceptualized racism as a highly conscious and deliberate set of acts infused with racial ani- mus or intent. In short, they saw racism as a Corresponding author: form of personal prejudice rather than in struc- Laura Pulido, American Studies & Ethnicity, University of tural terms. In an effort to move beyond such Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. a narrow conceptualization and drawing on Email: [email protected] 810 Progress in Human Geography 39(6) urban space, including class formation. In turn, consider multiple axes of difference when ana- this challenged the notion of ‘nonracial’ eco- lyzing social phenomena (Crenshaw, 1989), is nomic processes, which reproduce impover- a useful tool in this regard. ished conceptions of both race and class. Over the years many people have told me that the article helped them better understand II White supremacy vs white racism. While I am gratified that my work has privilege been useful, I wish to revisit a key concept of In the US in the 1990s, the concept of white pri- that article: white privilege. Not only has my vilege emerged as a popular way to explain how thinking changed, but I worry that I have con- white people benefited simply from being white tributed to an over-reliance on the concept to the (McIntosh, 1988; Harris, 1993; Lipsitz, 1998). detriment of other forms of racism, including This was a major advancement in our under- white supremacy. Though I still believe that standing of how racial inequality was repro- white privilege is a powerful force in creating duced. White privilege revealed how, despite and explaining urban inequality, it is not suffi- softening racial attitudes and practices, the US cient to explain all forms of environmental was still characterized by massive racial racism. Since environmental racism is produced inequalities. White privilege highlighted how through various means, it should not be surpris- the individual decisions of whites were not ing that there are multiple forms of racism at necessarily driven by racial animus, but often work (Walker, 2009; Pulido et al., 1996). For were simply a desire to create the best opportu- example, settler colonialism may best capture nities for themselves and their families, which, native peoples’ relationships to environmental in a highly racialized society, reproduced racial problems (Preston, 2013), while white privilege inequality. may explain some communities’ proximity to Acompellingfeatureofwhiteprivilegeis industrial zones, but neither addresses uneven that it does not require racial animus – an accu- patterns of regulatory enforcement (Kohl, rate reflection, I believe,ofmanywhites’atti- 2014).1 In this essay I explore environmental tudes. Consequently, white privilege does not racism and white supremacy by focusing on reg- trigger high levels of discomfort among whites ulatory noncompliance. (Leonardo, 2004: 140), as they are not being The violation of environmental laws and reg- blamed individually, nor is racial hostility ulations merits our attention for several reasons. being inferred. It is precisely these elements, First, regulatory noncompliance is an important however, that have contributed to the contrac- cause of environmental racism and in many cases tion of what is publicly recognized as racism in (re)produces it (Gordon and Harley, 2005).2 Sec- the US. Producing a more restricted conception ond, while the polluter is the primary culprit, the of racism is not only in keeping with the US’s state is also intimately involved, and thus non- general history, but part of a much larger and compliance illuminates a larger regulatory cul- more recent racial project linked to neoliberal- ture that is mutually constituted by the racial ism. In the US today, both racial consciousness formation (Hagan et al., 2010; Kurtz, 2009; Fre- and animus are increasingly required for an act, drickson, 2013; Holifield and Heynen, 2007; speech, symbol, or person to be acknowledged Gerber, 2002; Strong and Hobbs, 2002). Third, as ‘racist’ by the dominant society (Jones, while one could argue that environmental non- 2014).3 Indeed, the words ‘racism’ or ‘racist’ compliance is simply a matter of maximizing are rarely heard in mainstream discourse any profits, many factors enter into such a decision. longer. Instead, far more antiseptic language Intersectional theory, which requires that we is used, including ‘racial slurs’ and ‘bias’ (see, Pulido 811 for example, Mendez and Grose, 2014). As neoliberal era: growing fragmentation within formal structures of white supremacy were dis- communities of color based on economic and mantled after the Second World War (Winant, social status, including citizenship. This is also 2001), US society developed other ways of why an intersectional analysis has become ensuring the privileged place of whites. Indeed, essential.4 While nonwhite elites enjoy unparal- as formal discriminatory structures and prac- leled opportunities, the vast majority of people tices were eroded, discourse and ideology of color confront shrinking options. became even more important. It was through While some may argue that nonwhite mobi- the civil rights movement, for example, that lity is evidence of the declining significance of overt acts of racial hostility became unaccep- race (Wilson, 1978), I believe that is an over- table and equated with ‘racism’. By condemn- statement. Besides overlooking the fact that ing a small set of acts, attitudes, and speech, a there has always been variability within vast terrain was left unchecked that has been racially-subordinated populations, this position effectively claimed and harnessed by conserva- ignores the important ideological work that race tive forces. continues to perform. This can be seen in Consequently, while the bar for racist beha- numerous ways, two of which I will mention vior is continually being raised, racial inequal- briefly. First, racist ideology rationalizes the ity persists. This is partly due to neoliberalism, economic plight of the vast majority of people in which, as Melamed (2011) has argued, the of color. Among conservative activists in the free market is embraced as the best way to US, such as the Tea Party, for instance, scholars organize society. In order for neoliberalism to have documented ‘racial bias’ (Parker, 2010). be considered legitimate, the social formation While people may be drawn to the Tea Party for must not be seen as racist. Thus, there is a refu- many reasons, there is no denying that it is sal to grapple with structural racism and an funded by billionaires intent on eradicating insistence on reducing racism to personal obstacles to greater profit. Thus, while the Tea prejudice and racial hostility (Lipsitz, 1998: Party’s primary objective may not be racial sub- ch. 1). This dynamic corresponds with a popu- ordination, activists employ racism in their lar national narrative: the US has moved past quest to dismantle the remnant safety net and racism. Accordingly, there is a continual con- uphold the existing distribution of wealth and traction of the domain of ‘racist’ and a simulta- opportunities. Activists know the power of such neous proliferation of racial concepts that narratives because
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