Mary Robinson - Free Response 4

Within our local community, environmental injustice is extremely present. On a normal day at high tide, water can be seen flooding the streets of the neighborhood bordering Salter’s Creek in Newport News. With this in mind, days with exceptionally high tides or storm surges can send the entire street underwater. To solve the issues of flooding in the neighborhood, the city has taken the approach of buying out homes as a solution. When houses are bought, they are torn down, and the property is converted into wetlands. Other areas prone to flooding, such as Virginia Beach and Norfolk, used to elevate homes as a method to prevent flooding. If there are prevention methods other than buyouts, why have those methods been abandoned? The answer lies in the midst of environmental and racial injustice. Over 80% of the population in this neighborhood is African American. Veralene Dickens says “If it was in the white area, it wouldn’t be like this” (Turken, 2021). High-dollar homes in coastal areas are elevated and do not face the risk of being bought out by the city. With the guise of “giving families an opportunity to flee the rising water before it’s too late,” the cities portray concern over residents’ welfare (Turken, 2021). In reality, residents are left with few choices other than to be pushed out. Redlining set up this marginalized community to face the consequences of later decades. https://whro.org/news/local-news/24214-at-a-crossroads-newport-news-has-bought-out-more-flood-prone-properties-than-anywhere-else-in-virginia-how-s-that-impacting-one-neighborhood.