DC: ANACOSTIA

Environmental racism has many facets. One of the most deeply pernicious is the siting of “dirty infrastructure” in communities of color. For years, the Kenilworth Open Burning Landfill blanketed the primarily African-American communities of Anacostia in a layer of thick carcinogenic smoke, seeped toxic chemicals into the ground, and rotted nearby parkland.

In the 1940s and 50s, as the African-American neighborhood of Southwest was being razed to make way for new federal office space, new public housing projects in Anacostia were rising to absorb these domestic refugees. Simultaneously as the District was building public housing on this site, it also planned for a new open burning dump just to the northwest. The public housing and nearby dump were planned hand-in-hand.

From the Humanities Council of DC, “The Kenilworth Dump opened for business in 1942. A constant stream of trucks brought waste from all over the city. Every day, workers set fire to the piles of garbage, turning everything that would burn into ash and sending a great plume of smoke skyward. By the 1960’s the site was burning up to 250,000 tons of garbage a year.

Living close to the dump was not a pleasant experience. The dark smoke rising from piles of smoldering trash became an infamous landmark visible around the city. When the wind shifted just right, the smoke and smell invaded nearby neighborhoods and houses. Residents tell of fresh laundry on the line suddenly black with soot and of houses turning from a freshly-painted white to a dirty gray.”