Honor | Education | Accountability | Healing | Transformation

The Duwamish River

The DUWAMISH River was once shaped like a snake. The river runs along Georgetown, South Park, ending on the north end into Elliot Bay, and on the south end connecting to the Green River in Tukwila. Over a hundred years ago it was a healthy place to live and fish. Because of colonization and industrialization the DUWAMISH now has over 41 pollutants that are above the human health standard. The most toxic pollutants are CPHAs, PCBs, DIOXINS and ARSENIC'S. These pollutants have made the river so toxic that it has become a Superfund site. The DUWAMISH Valley community and workers now live and work in a polluted, unsafe environment. The results have made the life spans shorter of community members who are mostly BIPOC. This is environmental racism! The community has been advocating for environmental justice and we will not stop until we have the justice we are fighting for.

Definitions:

Super Fund Site: are polluted locations in the United States requiring a long-term response to clean up hazardous material contaminations. They were designated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.

environmental racism: is a concept in the environmental justice movement, which developed in the United States throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The term is used to describe environmental injustice that occurs within a racialized context both in practice and policy.

Environmental justice:is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.