Coming to Terms with the Racist Causes of Pollution

The Pittsburgh City Council voted in December 2019 to declare racism a public health crisis, led by councilmembers Ricky Burgess and R. Daniel Lavelle.

As noted in an article by Brentin Mock, the city's track record of environmental justice has faced criticism from two recent reports: "One was a Columbia Journalism Review report, published in October by Thomas Jefferson University media professor Letrell Deshan Crittenden, entitled [sic] 'The Pittsburgh problem: race, media and everyday life in the Steel City.' The other was a study released in September on gender and race inequality, which found Pittsburgh was statistically among the worst cities for African Americans to live in, particularly for black women."

Mock provides more background on the issues of pollution and race in the city, which calls into question Pittsburgh's accolades at the country's "most livable city." The vote coincidentally timed with weather that blanketed the city in smog for weeks.

According to Mock, the vote by the council followed the lead of Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the first cities to pass this kind of legislation earlier in 2019. The Pittsburgh City Council's vote, however, lacks any funding to back up words with deeds, so progress on the environmental justice challenges facing the city is still to be determined.