[CPEO-BIF] TCE and racism in Dickson County, Tennessee

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Toxic Terror in a Tennessee Town
Government Makes Black Family Wait for Clean Water

by Robert D. Bullard
Environmental Justice Resource Center, Clark Atlanta University (GA)
February 22, 2006

What would you call an individual who climbs the water tower in Dickson, 
Tennessee and deliberately dumps deadly chemicals in the town's drinking 
water supply that ultimately makes local residents sick? Most of us 
would label that person a toxic terrorist. We would certainly expect to 
see the Office of Homeland Security, the FBI, the EPA, state and local 
officials, and a host of other government agencies with strange initials 
deployed to the small town in warp speed. We would expect the emergency 
response to be swift and thorough. If such an unthinkable event 
happened, there is a good chance that the culprit would be hunted down, 
tried, and mostly likely convicted and sent straight to jail.

What would you call government officials who knew about this unthinkable 
act, covered it up, twisted the facts, and penalized the victims who got 
sick from drinking the contaminated water? We would mostly likely label 
the officials incompetent and their response as bordering on the 
criminal. We have other names for people like this, but they are not fit 
to print. The actions would likely prompt government hearings, 
investigations, and lots of media coverage.

The above scenario did not occur. And we are thankful. However, Dickson, 
Tennessee is a real town with a real toxic threat—a threat borne 
disproportionately by its black residents. Dickson, a town of 12,244, is 
located about 35 miles west of Nashville.

From American Dream to Toxic Nightmare

After slavery, dozens of black families acquired hundreds of acres of 
land—not part of the empty "40 acres and a mule" government promise—and 
lived a quiet and peaceful existence in Dickson's historically black Eno 
Road community. That is, until their wells were poisoned by a county 
landfill. Although Dickson County is only 4.5 percent black, the city 
and county fathers for nearly six decades singled out the small rural, 
and mostly black Eno Road community to locate their garbage dumps, 
landfills, transfer stations, and toxic waste sites. The waste sites are 
all located on Eno Road approximately 1.5 miles southwest of Dickson.

One African American family in particular, the Holt family, a family of 
black landowners that have deep roots in the Eno Road community, has 
been especially harmed by the environmental assaults of the city and 
county landfills. The Holt family members are riddled with cancer and 
other illnesses. Contamination from the local county landfill is the 
chief suspect behind their illnesses.

For the entire article, see
http://www.ejrc.cau.edu/DicksonArticleRDB.html

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

_______________________________________________
Brownfields mailing list
Brownfields@list.cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/brownfields