Oakland’s Hmong American Mayor Is Trying to Remedy Environmental Injustice

In the 20^th century, Oakland, Calif., was shaped by the nefarious policies of urban planners and politicians. Pollutive infrastructure was built purposefully in Black neighborhoods — including three freeways in West Oakland that have brought with them the kind of toxic mix that causes respiratory illnesses, heart disease, and cancer, among other diseases. But with the election of a new mayor in January, it looks like the 21^st century in Oakland will be about undoing these racist harms.

Mayor Sheng Thao, the country’s first Hmong American mayor of a large city, has promised to “reverse decades of environmental racism” by implementing a Green New Deal for the city.

Thao, 37, is intimately familiar with Oakland’s racial and economic abuses. The child of refugees fleeing wartime Laos, Thao grew up poor in Stockton, Calif., with nine brothers and sisters. She made her way to U.C. Berkeley via community college and with welfare support for her son — after being unhoused while pregnant, in flight from an abusive relationship.

The election of Thao is why diversity matters so much in politics, and in the environmental movement. After taking office, she told NBC News that she “saw how important it was for people like me — with lived experiences like mine — be at the table when decisions are being made.”

Who knows better the injustice of environmental racism than a (formerly) impoverished woman of color?

The Climate Slate, which identifies “down-ballot races with the biggest climate impact per campaign dollar,” endorsed Thao because of her promises to “work to improve air quality by focusing on cleaning up diesel vehicles, transitioning port vehicles to electric, scaling up alternative mobility and transit options, and investing in a healthy tree canopy and green space in Oakland.”

With the announcement of Oakland’s first environmental plan, the mayor’s office is explicitly working to remedy discriminatory policies that date back to the 1940s. The damage done to communities of color were literally dictated by the Federal Housing Administration, which said that infrastructure should keep White neighborhoods away from “inharmonious racial groups.”

Aclima, a pollution and health tracker, went block by block in 2022 through the Bay Area and found that Black communities are exposed to 55 percent more nitrogen dioxide than white ones. A high concentration of NO₂ can cause severe respiratory problems. In West Oakland, emergency visits to the hospital because of asthma are 76 percent higher than in the rest of the county, The Washington Post reports.

Bay Area residents of color “definitely bore the brunt of thoughtless, damaging and absolutely racist policy decisions that were made by previous city leaders and economic interests over the course of decades,” Thao said. “And we are still dealing with the fallout.”

Thao’s environmental justice plan for the city of Oakland is open for comment until June 22.