After learning about ‘Environmental Racism’ in class on Tuesday, I was surprised that I had never before heard the term. According to The Environmental Justice Movement, “people who live, work and play in America’s most polluted environments are commonly people of color and the poor” (1). In Helena Maria Viramontes’ novel ‘Under the Feet of Jesus,’ environmental racism is clearly depicted.
“A large percent of U.S Latinos live and work in urban and agricultural areas where they face heightened danger of exposure to air pollution, unsafe drinking water, pesticides and lead and mercury contamination” (2). This quote is important in describing the situations that Estrella’s family and friends face throughout the novel. Each character is in someway affected by the pollution of the pesticides, which are sprayed from a biplane onto the crops. The character most affected however is Alejo, who is directly sprayed with chemicals; ” At first it was just a slight moisture until the poison rolled down his face in deep sticky streaks” (Viramontes, 77). Alejo must be sprayed in order for Viramontes to portray to us how dangerous the use of pesticides really is.