Into Dirty Air

Black Americans are dying from COVID-19 at a disproportionally high rate. One of the reasons why is proximity to pollution.

In St. James Parish, Louisiana residents have been fighting for decades to stop industry-related pollution that causes a high prevalence of cancer, hypertension and other diseases. Those health disparities are now making residents a target for COVID-19. St. James and neighboring St. John the Baptist Parishes are among the 20 U.S. counties with the highest per-capita death rate from Coronavirus.

Host Trymaine Lee interviews Sharon Lavigne, a community leader and lifelong resident of St. James, who is fighting for clean air. And Dr. Robert Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University, explains the link between race, health and the environment.

The Into America team wants to hear from you about what’s happening in your community. Send feedback, questions, and story ideas to intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Find host Trymaine Lee on Twitter @trymainelee.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Further Reading:

First pollution, now coronavirus: Black parish in Louisiana deals with 'a double whammy' of death Cancer Alley: Big Industry, Big ProblemsAs more black Americans die from coronavirus, community leaders are taking actionThe coronavirus will devastate the South because politicians let poverty to do so first