Concerning the pervasive links between race and class in America, it is important to keep in mind the way explicit policies of government and industry have worked to shape the landscape and differential experience of justice between racial communities all across America since the end of World War II.

For example, "structural racism" has been "built in" to the historical pattern of urban sprawl. Environmental racism in this sense is manifest not only in the siting of particular toxic waste facilities, but also in the siting of all other amenities and disamenities across the landscape from parks to highways and "protected" natural space. Consider these two recent documentaries on Detroit.