A Terrible Thing to Waste by Harriet A. Washington

Washington adds her incisive analysis to the fray, arguing that IQ is a biased and flawed metric, but that it is useful for tracking cognitive damage. Now, in A Terrible Thing to Waste, award-winning science writer Harriet A. The 1994 publication of The Bell Curve and its controversial thesis catapulted the topic of genetic racial differences in IQ to the forefront of a renewed and heated debate. But these deadly environments create another insidious and often overlooked consequence: robbing communities of color, and America as a whole, of intellectual power.

This systemic onslaught of toxic exposure and institutional negligence causes irreparable physical harm to millions of people across the country-cutting lives tragically short and needlessly burdening our health care system. Almost all of the 37,500 Baltimore children who suffered lead poisoning between 20 were African American.įrom injuries caused by lead poisoning to the devastating effects of atmospheric pollution, infectious disease, and industrial waste, Americans of color are harmed by environmental hazards in staggeringly disproportionate numbers. Nearly two of every five African American homes in Baltimore are plagued by lead-based paint.

When swallowed, a lead-paint chip no larger than a fingernail can send a toddler into a coma - one-tenth of that amount will lower his IQ.

Middle-class African American households with incomes between $50,000 and $60,000 live in neighborhoods that are more polluted than those of very poor white households with incomes below $10,000.

Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American MindĪ 'powerful and indispensable' look at the devastating consequences of environmental racism (Gerald Markowitz) and what we can do to remedy its toxic effects on marginalized communities - featuring a new preface on COVID-19 risk factors.

A Terrible Thing to Waste by Harriet A. Washington