ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we examine how racial minorities in the United States have been shaped by race and racism through nativist environmentalism. Drawing upon three case studies, we analyze the ways in which racial minorities experience and challenge environmental inequalities. Specifically, we focus on victory gardens planted by incarcerated Japanese Americans in WWII, Mexican-American residents fighting housing eviction in Boyle Heights in the 1950s, and a population control campaign against Latino immigrants in Aspen in 2000. This chapter introduces the concept of nativist environmentalism and the significance of environmental justice to re-imagine racial minorities as agents of environmental change. Readers will learn how social categories like race, class, and immigration status are embedded in environmental racism.
