In Alabama, a Landfill Operator Sues Its Black Critics Amid Civil Rights Complaints

[Omaha Steve]

Residents from Uniontown, Alabama, and the surrounding area listen during a community meeting hosted by the Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice. In 2013, several residents filed a complaint against state regulators over a nearby landfill under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the landfill's operators recently sued Black Belt Citizens organizers for posting statements criticizing the landfill on Facebook. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35986-in-alabama-a-landfill-operator-sues-its-black-critics-amid-civil-rights-complaints


Thursday, 12 May 2016 00:00
By Mike Ludwig, Truthout

Imagine a landfill in your neighborhood. Your family has lived here for generations; the landfill has been around less than a decade. Waste contaminated with heavy metals is stored there, and you suspect that it's making you sick. You also suspect the landfill was put there because your community is poor and used to being stepped on.

You begin speaking out, telling your story to anyone who will listen. You alert the media and organize local meetings. Reporters start asking questions. TV crews show up. You start getting calls from around the country, and you're even invited to testify at government hearings. Just when it seems like people are finally listening, you find yourself facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit for posting statements on Facebook.

This scenario may be difficult to imagine -- unless you live in Uniontown, Alabama. In March, the operator of a 1,200-acre landfill in Uniontown filed a $15 million lawsuit against three local activists in the rural city of 2,500. About nine in 10 Uniontown residents are Black, and attorneys representing the defendants say the town is a perfect example of a "low-income community of color overburdened with an unfair share of environmental hazards," including the landfill, a cheese manufacturer and sewage problems.

"The per capita income in Uniontown is between $8,000 and $9,000; it's implausible to think that the landfill expects to collect millions of dollars from this suit," said Marianne Engelman Lado, an attorney working with the defendants on behalf of the group Earthjustice. "For community members, it feels very much like an attempt to intimidate people."

FULL story at link.