Question

In the article "Killing Them Softly", Tanesha Thomas argues that black women in Albany face unique environmental threats. This is because areas that are close to train cars carrying toxic petroleum (also called bulk storage tanks - BSTs) have a higher percentage of Black female-headed households than areas that are further away from BSTs.

Answer 1

The South end is considered as the low-income African-American community. In this kind of heavy-industrial zone where toxins, harmful gases vessels cause many damages to our bodies. Where polluted gases from the trains, approximately 787 trucks are traveling every day can easily make someone ill. People who live here have severe health issues like asthma, anxiety, breathing problems, headaches etc. Tanesha apparently mixed up the sociological geographical methods of analysis and with the help of statistics she tried to find who are mostly affected and she saw that the Black female-headed households bear the most environmental burden. Many scholars pointed out at the gendered facts of environmental justice but very few have estimated it quite spatially. For her, Black women have accepted the principal role as primary responsibilities of a homemaker. An increasing report in service jobs improved the economic status of Black women, who were only restricted to do the household works only. For her maybe the environmental burdening prevented the black women from climbing the ladder of success and it stopped them to achieve more success than men. She found out that black women live mainly in host communities therefore they are at higher risk to be a victim of this toxic hazards. She explained it this way.