move to a country where environmental laws are less restrictive. The state often responds to these threats by giving in and allowing polluting to continue […]. 11
In addition to such threats made by corporations, government incentives are offered in industrial cities in the United States. This interplay between the public and private sphere led to rapid increases in pollution levels in the automobile-friendly Midwest, particularly in Michigan. 12 During the automotive industry boom in the 1960s, Flint was home to many of the largest automotive factories and suppliers. Much of this industry was dependent on lead, a core component in batteries, paint, welding materials and finishers on automobiles.
When the automobile industry in Flint collapsed, beginning in the 1970s, those confined to communities near the former factories were exposed to the highest concentrations of lead, particularly in the soil. In a 2016 study into the levels of lead toxicity in the blood of Flint’ s children, Mark A. S. Laidlaw et al. found that‘ lead exposure from soil and dust sources in Flint before the water crisis was already high and predictable from seasonal patterns.’ 13 Such exposure is particularly dangerous for children, as much of the lead particles in the air settle into the first few inches of topsoil around the polluted spaces. Making matters worse, discriminatory housing policies, which emerged as automotive cities like Flint expanded, isolated communities of colour, in particular, inside the boundaries of the heaviest pollution. Both soft policies of landlord refusal and legal“ redlining” policies – in which people of colour were denied home loans for certain communities – effectively ghettoised the neighborhoods around the large automotive factories in Flint. But perhaps more insidious were the discursive and perception consequences that arose as these lead-concentrated neighborhoods increasingly fell into disrepair.
John Reynolds argues that‘ the notion of the civilizing mission— spawned by the European colonial project and percolating through the League of Nations—
11 Paul Stretesky and Michael Lynch,“ Corporate Environmental Violence and Racism,” Crime, Law & Social Change 30( 1999): 167. 12 Andrew R. Highsmith,“ Demolition Means Progress: Urban Renewal, Local Politics, and State-
Sanctioned Ghetto Formation in Flint, Michigan,” Journal of Urban History 35( 2009): in which the author discusses joint progression of industrial development and increased ghettoisation of Flint from the 1940s through to the 1970s. 13 Mark A. S. Laidlaw et al.,“ Children’ s Blood Lead Seasonality in Flint, Michigan( USA), and Soil-
Sourced Lead Hazard Risks,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13( 2016): 2.
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