Pressing Forward: Camden City Is a Dumping Ground For a Different Reason
Graphic by Habib Salami.
Rann Miller says Environmental Racism Continues to Haunt City And it WouldTake Uncommon Political Courage to End It
OP-ED
BY RANN MILLER | Pressing Forward
Some consider Camden City a dump because of the crime and violence that have plagued the city.
It’s a narrative I’ve heard my entire life. That narrative is responsible for the negative treatment the city receives, specifically by non-residents: those who leave trash behind after attending a concert, panhandlers who come to Camden to buy and use narcotics, and even by those who retreat to the suburbs after a day’s work.
But none of that is why Camden could be considered a dump.
What makes Camden a dump is all of the pollution centers that are allowed to exist: pollution centers that would never be tolerated in the surrounding suburbs. While excuses for their presence abound, their presence is a classic case of environmental racism, if for no other reason than because these pollution factories would be tolerated in municipalities where majorities of white people live.
Environmental racism is the targeted placement of toxic and hazardous waste sites in Black and brown communities. The latest example of that is EMR, whose facility in Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood has experienced multiple fires over the last 18 months caused by burning lithium-ion batteries, which have either forced residents to stay inside their homes or displaced them due to the toxic fumes.
After much posturing, Camden officials are poised to have EMR’s facility removed. However, the company is a recipient of tax breaks for setting up shop in Camden and has no intention of leaving.
They’ve sued the city, and a judge has ruled that the city overreached in suspending its license; per a signed memorandum, EMR has the opportunity to show and prove. According to EMR, they are scheduled to reopen soon.
EMR is not the only facility that pollutes Camden’s air. There’s also a cement plant, a trash incinerator, and a sewage treatment facility. All these, in concert, create a deadly elixir that not only pollutes Camden’s air but also much of the air throughout Camden County. It’s likely that it has to do with Camden, a county with the highest rate of asthma hospitalizations.
But Camden’s residents experience the worst of what these polluters provide: Camden displays higher rates of asthma than anywhere else in New Jersey. There are also implications for the Delaware Valley Region from these polluters. According to the American Lung Association, the Camden-Philadelphia-Reading Metropolitan Area fails in every clean air indicator.
Camden’s residents shouldn’t have to put up with pollution. While it is true that CCMUA is reducing its sewage overflows and, as mentioned, EMR has put safeguards in place to contain future fires, the issue is that sewage will still flow, waste will fill the air, and fires will still happen. Because reforming harmful systems and institutions isn’t the same as removing them, harmful systems and institutions must be removed and replaced with those that not only process waste in environmentally friendly ways but also do so in areas away from neighborhoods where people live.
If they’re not located in white communities, they shouldn’t be in Black or Latino communities either. That includes EMR.
One response from EMR came from their Camden employees, advocating on behalf of EMR and themselves to save their jobs. Unlike many of Camden’s corporate residents who’ve received tax breaks in the tens of millions, EMR has a better record of employing Camden City residents.
In addition, EMR is a second-chance employer. Another response has been to allocate EMR funds for community use, potentially to create a pantry stocked with nonperishable food and household items, or even to install a physician’s office in the area.
But these and other responses are only reforms. The problem with reforms is that they don’t fix problems; they make it “possible” to live with them.
Reforming EMR’s processes is about making it “possible” for Camden’s residents to live with EMR, because those who can see EMR removed from Camden would rather it remain in Camden. Reform is a mechanism for compromise so that all parties involved get something.
But reform doesn’t guarantee what an aggrieved party needs, and what Camden residents need is clean air. To achieve clean air, polluters need to be removed, not reformed.
Sadly, it’s Black and brown folks for whom reform is reserved … police reform, immigration reform, healthcare reform, education reform … and yet Black and brown folks continue to deal with the same oppressive forces because “reforming” oppressive systems doesn’t end them.
What’s happening in Camden matters. Like Flint, Mich., whose residents wrestle with the trauma of contaminated water, and Chester, Pa., whose residents are subject to trash being burned in their community, Camden City, New Jersey, residents are breathing contaminated air.
Former industrial centers such as these communities have been devastated by deindustrialization and the politics of Neo-Colonialism whereby residents (largely Black and brown) are governed as a colony of the state under the guise of having real autonomy. However, their municipal functions, public education, and public safety are subject to state intervention.
Private corporations are given perks such as tax breaks and land leases to set up shop in the name of economic (re)development. Few jobs arrive with them. Political machines disguise themselves as advocates for the people, yet they monopolize voters’ viable options so that elections ensure the status quo of backroom deals and political patronage continues, to the detriment of the community.
What’s happening in Camden concerning the quality of air breathed by its residents isn’t a phenomenon as much as it is simply the price of doing business in a society that’s chosen profits over people. Regulations be damned if it’ll secure an investor ROI that can afford their name being added to a public building. This isn’t simply a Camden problem. Rather, it is an American problem.
The fact of the matter is that “reform,” while it doesn’t help urban communities, doesn’t help suburbanites either. An EMR facility caught fire as recently as July 15 in Darby Township, proof that putting profits before people harms everyone, no matter their skin color, where they live, or what’s in their bank account.
The only logical step is to remove these facilities to prevent widespread air pollution. Doing so will require a kind of courage that’s unfamiliar to policymakers. Political conservatives often argue that too much reform is a bad thing … unless it is the sort of “reform” that is a coping mechanism for living with racial capitalism. That seems to be okay, and sadly liberals (who are more moderate than progressive) tend to agree.
But what else should we expect … Camden is a dump, right?
BIO: Rann Miller is a writer, author, and educator. A graduate of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Rann teaches AP United States History, is the author of Resistance Stories from Black History for Kids, and is an opinion columnist, featured in various news outlets exploring the intersections of race, education, politics, culture and history. You can follow on “X” @RealRannMiller, on IG, and TikTok @realrannmiller.
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