The intersections of systemic violence in the US

Photograph of two people wearing protective face masks holding signs protesting race-based police violence. Credit: Pablo Monsalve / VIEWpress via Getty Images

 

The intersection of environmental injustice and policing can be seen on Rikers Island, New York City’s most notorious jail complex, which is built on a landfill and surrounded by polluting infrastructure. Roughly 90 percent of those behind bars in Rikers are people of color, and they have long suffered extreme summer heat, flooding, and noxious pollution while in confinement. 67 percent of those incarcerated at the complex have not been convicted of a crime and are simply awaiting trial.

Read Protests are bringing attention to the ‘everyday violence’ faced by black Americans, via Grist