ipl-logo

Sand Branch Research Paper

2128 Words9 Pages

Sand Branch, Texas is a small community located in Dallas County, right next to Seagoville, Texas. This city is approximately 14 miles from downtown Dallas and falls between the Trinity River and Hickory Creek. Currently Sand Branch is home to 80 people and is a predominately black community. In its peak, this community was home to nearly 500 people. Sand Branch is the last of all settlements in Dallas to not be incorporated. An unincorporated settlement is land that the United States has not formally incorporated even though it is within the border. This means that the land is technically not U.S. territory but it is because it lays within the borders. This community is said to be one the poorest areas in Dallas like those in third world countries. …show more content…

Why is it that communities like these are the ones that are being affected? Another thing these two have in common are that they are poorly represented and have no influence because this is a very poor community. This leaves them vulnerable to be taken advantage of by the city. The only difference between the two of them is Flint was publicized across the U.S. and it affected more people. Sand Branch on the other hand, may have had less victims but in the 138 years of this communities existence but they have never had running water ever. Why for as many years that this Sand Branch has existed that they do not have running water? Also, why hasn’t there been action to help instead of trying to tear this community apart with policies and laws? This research paper will take a further look at the living quality and the harsh conditions of the small community of Sand Branch, Texas. From what I have gained from theorist in the Environmental Injustice Movement, I will argue that the living conditions and circumstances of this community are harsh and inhuman for the residents because this is a predominantly black community this is an example of environmental …show more content…

According to Savali, the community found a source of water (a well) but soon after find that the well ran dry and some say that it is too contaminated to drink from. The well was deemed too contaminated to drink back to the early 1980’s. Officials say, “that a bacterium that stems from hogs and livestock”, is the reason why the communities water is contaminated (Savali 2016). This left the community devastated because they are not able to access any usable water. In efforts to try and save the people from being forced out, with the help of people from all around Dallas, the community has a plan to clean up Sand Branch and give them a source of running water but in their attempts the city keeps postponing it. Regulations have been put into place by the government to keep postponing and forcing people to move out of the community. The regulations set by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) are the ones that must be met for them to stay, which are nearly impossible to meet because this is not a wealthy area that can afford to spend money. The average income of this community is said to be at average $700 per month (Savali 2016). The commissioner of Dallas John Wiley Price said that the reason why they haven’t been able to fix things is because it would cost the city “$6.8 million for flood protection, $4.2 million for water/sewer service, with an estimated

Show More
Related
954 Words | 4 Pages

In the book, Praying for Sheetrock, the nonfiction story center on the oppressed black people in the county ruled by a corrupt sheriff Tom Poppell and his people and preyed on the tourists passing through the county on their way to Florida where residents rely on the goods from the wreckage. This is one of the way how people survive in the county and sheriff Tom Poppell is mainly responsible for this to happen. The white minority control almost all the political and economic power in the county. Even though there were many unfair and racial problems, the people in the county remained peaceful and calm. In order to make the community stays silence, sheriff Tom Poppell and his people used their power to make sure races in the county were divided.

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

Paul Galley an accomplished environmentalist enters the controversial debate about Hydrofracking in New York, with his article “Hydrofracking: A bad Bet for the Environment and the Economy” published in the Huffington Post on January 05, 2012. Galley states “Net-Net, fracking is simply bad bet” fracking poses serious risk to New Yorkers. Galley, president of Hudson Riverkeeper has worked for over twenty-five years to protect the environment and support local communities, as a non-profit, public official and educator. This piece continues his devotion to protection of the Hudson River, and the drinking water supply of New Yorkers. Galley effectively convinces his audience through his use of appeals to pathos and logos that hydrofracking will have negative impacts on New Yorkers.

Read More
1348 Words | 6 Pages

In _The White Scourge_, Neil Foley uses a wealth of archival materials and oral histories to illuminate the construction and reconstruction of whiteness and the connection of this whiteness to power. Focusing largely on cotton culture in central Texas, Foley 's book deconstructs whiteness through a new and detailed analysis of race, class, and gender. The most intriguing aspect of this book is its comparison of the impact of whiteness on various ethno-racial classes and how each struggled in relation to the other to develop a meaningful existence. _

Read More
897 Words | 4 Pages

This challenge was brought up again in the Edwards Aquifer v. Day case, showing a pattern in public opinion of property rights being violated. The resulting case decision is discussed as well. This source further develops the knowledge present by discussing the current Texas water and property laws; the discussion includes opinions from water conservation districts and facts about the history of certain law creations. A general sense of Texas law and its history is produced through reading this

Read More
663 Words | 3 Pages

Using the reservoir can help prevent a decrease in useable water level in San Francisco and prevent health harms from the water coming from “questionable

Read More
182 Words | 1 Pages

The Rosendale Trestle is a 940-foot (290 m) continuous truss bridge and former railroad trestle in Rosendale in Ulster County, New York. Originally constructed by the Wallkill Valley Railroad to continue its rail line from New Paltz to Kingston, the bridge rises 150 feet (46 m) above Rondout Creek, spanning both Route 213 and the former Delaware and Hudson Canal. Construction began in 1870; when it opened to rail traffic on April 6, 1872, it was the highest span bridge in the United States. The trestle was rebuilt in 1895 by the King Bridge Company to address public concerns regarding its stability and sturdiness, and it was repeatedly reinforced until 1977, when Conrail closed the Wallkill Valley rail line. The bridge was sold in 1986 for

Read More
546 Words | 3 Pages

By 1887, there were 74 settlements in the United States, and the number had ballooned to over 400 by 1890. Settlements were organized initially to be “friendly and open households,” a place where members of the privileged class could live and work as pioneers or “settlers” in poor areas of a city where social and environmental problems were great.

Read More
246 Words | 1 Pages

Carol B. Stack wrote an anthropological ethnography on a Black community in published in 1974. It is based in a place she calls “The Flats”, which is located in somewhere in the Midwestern United States. She focused on the extensive kin networks of two southern migrant families-the Jacksons from Arkansas and the Waters from Mississippi-whom Carol B. Stack observed for three years. Stack’s research techniques and early phase of participant observation produced the following hypothesis: “that domestic functions are carried out for urban blacks by clusters of kin who do not necessarily live together, and that the basis of these units is the domestic cooperation of close adult females and the exchange of goods and services between male and female

Read More
1426 Words | 6 Pages

In Carol B. Stack’s book, All Our Kin, Stack journeys into The Flats, an African-American poverty-stricken community and she narrates her one on one experience with the community themselves. Stack observes that the black urban poor or any other poverty-stricken communities do not come into poverty from an individual’s experience but comes from middle and upper classes, due to their need for lower class labor, which they think is needed for the economy. Stack also talks about the lifestyle of the people in the Flats and their survival to live on within their community. Stack discusses the two pre-requisites that Stack claims that the poor need to accomplish in order to get out of poverty and also the treatment of the poor in the flats from the larger members of the society.

Read More
2149 Words | 9 Pages

Kids in the most disadvantaged neighborhood, with low family resources, bad schools, and neighborhoods characterized by violence are the ones who are being punished unfairly and are not given second chances. This is because of the discrimination and the bias of the criminal justice system against poor African-American communities, which represent a concentrated disadvantage in that case. Moreover it affirms the theory that the poor are more likely to get to prison because there is a bias in arrest such as the neighborhood social class that affects the presence of the police and their arrests. In that case 6th street is considered a neighborhood that represents communities that are disadvantaged, and therefore the presence of police is greater than necessary. Instead of having the resources from outside to ameliorate the conditions of the neighborhood and improve schools or academic institutions, the efforts and resources are being invested in the war against crimes, but without giving an alternative solution for their

Read More
952 Words | 4 Pages

Those who dwell at the top of society generally control the politics within the area of their influence. When analyzing the politics and complexities of Mississippi, especially in the Delta, those in lower classes can be met with refusal when “[attempting] to address the economic problems confronting them in the face of failure of the political system to speak to those issues, a political system dominated by planters” (Whayne 3). Since the rich people in the area have long-had control of politics in the area, the lower class has been unable to oppose elites in their society. Power struggles between the rich and poor classes have caused many to live in a broken system that does not allow economic progression for an individual. The desire to keep this political power has motivated government officials to manipulate the public and take advantage when they have the opportunity; especially in impoverished areas.

Read More
1402 Words | 6 Pages

Loss of life, property damage, economic disruption and environmental degradation all play a part in these devastating events, leaving an aftereffect with devastating challenges for these affected communities in their wake. This essay will examine some underlying social and economic factors which contribute to increased vulnerability while simultaneously challenging adaptive capacity among regional communities when facing bushfires. There are various social and economic factors that make regional communities more prone to bushfire impacts, such as population density. Many regional communities with relatively few residents distributed over an extensive geographical area make emergency response harder as emergency personnel must cover large areas with limited resources; additionally, their spread-out nature makes it more challenging for individuals seeking information or support during bushfire

Read More
856 Words | 4 Pages

This occurred in Ferguson, Missouri, Michael Brown’s home, because it was a industrial city with many job opportunities (Hill,p.8). However, these opportunities would eventually diminish as companies outsourced labor around the 1970s and with many white people gone, it was predominantly black Americans left exposed to a city with a limited job market; consequently, poverty and unemployment rose and with this followed a poor public education

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

Hooverville Who were the victims of Hooverville? Well I’ll tell you that all over the United States, people had suffered from the government actions. Banks failed the people becauase of the choices they had to decide for what they thought was for the best. Hooverville was a shantytown built by the people who had lost their homes, and their jobs.

Read More
1377 Words | 6 Pages

Instead, most black adults that live in Philadelphia moved there from other places, the majority of them from the South. However, 83% of kids who lived in Philadelphia were born there. The purpose of this document is to show that blacks are moving into major cities, like Philly, to start their families in an effort to build a better life for themselves, disproving the misconception that blacks have lived in Philadelphia for a long time and were not moving throughout the US. White farmers who moved West also had a significant impact on the US due to numerous economic issues and policies.

Read More

More about Sand Branch Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document