Raya Salter remembers the yells as a child when she asked her mother to turn up the heat in the winter: “Put on a sweater. Put on two sweaters. Here’s an extra blanket. That’s gonna make it work because the heat is not going up.” For decades, many Black households have had to make those […]
utilities
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Technology
America’s Digital Demand Threatens Black Communities with More Pollution
Ninety years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and South Carolina Gov. Ibra Blackwood worked together to bring electricity to rural South Carolina. But to build the power plant that would make it happen, they destroyed the homes of 900 Black sharecropping families. With them, 6,000 graves — including those of formerly enslaved people — were […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Partner Content
‘What Corruption Gets You’: How Utility Companies Bought Support in the Black South
Former Florida state Rep. Joe Gibbons sat in the library of the Faith Community Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, trying to convince its pastor to quit promoting rooftop solar. With a lobbyist’s charm, Gibbons told the Rev. Nelson Johnson that rooftop solar, which allows customers to generate their own renewable electricity, was bad for people […]
Posted inHousing, Money
Utility Bills and Shutoffs Are Rising. Here Are a Few Tips to Protect Yourself.
Wykeisha Howe and her eight children lost their home in 2018, sold by her landlord as Atlanta’s BeltLine development project attracted luxury developments and sharp increases in home values. After months of homelessness, Howe mustered up enough money to rent a new home, but the stability didn’t last long before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted her […]