First Coast Connect: “Toxic Tides” Report

The dividing lines created or reinforced by segregation and redlining sustain a toxic tide, according to a new report in The Florida Trib. Intensive flooding from recent hurricanes, and increasingly, during ordinary rainstorms, carry a range of pollutants. But in historically Black communities in Jacksonville, those floodwaters carry an additional hazard. Trib investigative journalism fellow Trinity Webster-Bass writes, “More than half of Jacksonville’s vulnerable industrial sites are situated in neighborhoods near or in the heart of downtown Jacksonville, known as the Urban Core, home to some of the oldest majority-Black parts of the city.” The story explores why the legacy of the region’s most polluted places disproportionately affect communities of color in ways that residents, health experts and scientists are just beginning to grapple with. We talk to Webster-Bass about why these threats are increasing as the planet warms and what the city is doing to address the issue. Guest: Trinity Webster-Bass, investigative journalism fellow, Florida Trib