Since settling a civil rights complaint over racially discriminatory sewage treatment in 2023, the state has made few changes.
Since settling a civil rights complaint regarding racially discriminatory sewage treatment with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2023, Alabama has made frustratingly slow progress in achieving equity in Lowndes County, a historically significant area at the heart of the lawsuit.
As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, there are fears that Alabama towns are instituting racially discriminatory policies regarding its municipal garbage policies.
According to Inside Climate News, the lack of urgency from the state has inspired the non-profit sector to take matters into their own hands.
A non-profit, Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Projects, run by Sherry Bradley, a Black woman, is hoping to speed up the equity that the State of Alabama seems determined to slow walk to the mostly Black and poor population of Lowndes County.
Over a year after the settlement, Alabama has only officially entered the planning stage, and has only signed contracts to begin the installation of up to date septic systems which are necessitated by the presence of heavy “red clay” soil in the area.