The Color of Climate
Even During a Pandemic, Racism Continues
In the midst of the pandemic, a planned demolition sent up clouds of pollution in the ‘Mexico of the Midwest’
This is The Color of Climate, a weekly column from OneZero exploring how climate change and other environmental issues uniquely affect the future of communities of color.
Thick clouds of dust engulfed the streets of Chicago’s predominantly Latinx Little Village neighborhood on the morning of April 11. The smokestack of a defunct coal-fired power plant had just been demolished, sending a tsunami of dust into Little Village. A local photographer captured the aftermath: As the haze blotted out all buildings in sight, car headlights had to be turned on in broad daylight.
“My lungs started hurting, I’m not going to lie,” the photographer, Maclovio (he prefers only to use his first name), told Mauricio Peña of Block Club Chicago, a local news website.
Many residents and community organizations in Chicago, like the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), were outraged the city allowed the demolition at the former Crawford Coal Plant to take place during the Covid-19 pandemic. They knew that pollution from the demolition would cause respiratory…
