From Gina Carroll, at Proactive Black Parenting, on why African-American families are especially at risk from air pollution:
Compared to White children, Black children have a
· 260% higher emergency room visit rate,
· 250% higher hospitalization rate, and a
· 500% higher death rate from asthmaThese statistics are frightening and should give every African-American head-of-household pause. For all that we do to improve the lives of our children, how insidious is this quiet killer, that while we strive to improve our diets and the safety of our neighbor hoods, the very air we are breathing is undermining our efforts.
Legislators, unethical corporations and their lobbyists are deciding as a matter of policy that the human lives nearest and most affected by these power plants are expendable and less important. And we, distracted by all of the other challenges that impact us day-to-day, allow decisionmakers to deprioritize our children.