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Water Crises and Environmental Racism Continue in Jackson, Miss. After Winter Storm
A volunteer carries bottled water to a local's car at a water distribution site in Jackson, Mississippi on March 05, 2021. Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images
Most of Jackson, Mississippi, still lacks safe water, a month after the severe winter storm in mid-February ravaged the city’s water system and left much of the population without any running water at all for three weeks.
Even now, city officials cannot show the water is potable, forcing those residents for whom service has been restored to boil water to drink, brush their teeth, and attempt to clean themselves.
That Jackson’s water infrastructure needed improvement did not come as a surprise, and for residents of the 80% Black city, the racism is clear.
“We have to recognize the role that [racism] plays, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told NPR.
“We have to realize that issues of race are as American as apple pie.”
For a deeper dive:
Clarion Ledger, Mississippi Today, Clarion Ledger, NPR, New York Times, NBC, AP, CNN, Slate; Commentary: CNN, Keri Leigh Merritt op-ed; Climate Signals background: February 2021 polar vortex breakdown and central US winter storms
For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, sign up for daily Hot News, and visit their news site, Nexus Media News.
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