Blog 3

Reading the two articles, it can be concluded that capitalistic practices marginalize already marginalized people of color, especialy the Black community. The article “Racial Capitaloscene” by Francoise Vergès, shows that the climate change movement and the notion of “anthropocene” doesn’t take into account the huge impact of colonialism and capitalism leading to the unsafe environments inhibited by largely Black and Hispanic communities; instead, generalizing the notion and erasing the racist tendencies to explain and promote the movement. The article “New York’s Invisible Climate Migrants” by Sophie Kasakove, on the other hand, explains that the impacts of the environmental disaster caused by Hurricane Sandy put the largely Black community living in Canarise at risk for moving, selling their homes, or being forclosed on, not because of the detriment of the hurricane, but because of flood insurance costs and gentrification. Therefore, it can be deduced that the capitalistic world we live in preys off of marginalized groups, especially African-Americans, under disguise.

     It’s stated in “Racial Capitalicene,” that “Sociologist Jason Moore has suggested the notion of a Capitalocene which brings back capitalism ‘as a world-ecology, joining the accumulation of capital, the pursuit of power, and the co-production of nature in dialectical unity.'” Because capitalism benefits from cheap land and resources, factories and chemical plants tend to be placed near housing projects and low-income areas, neglecting and harming already marginalized communities and exploiting the people and the areas in which they live. Similarly, in “New York’s Invisible Climate Migrants” it is stated that “Years after Sandy, those who leave the city are unlikely to blame it on climate change. They might instead cite flood insurance costs, gentrification, or lack of affordable housing.” Although government assistance programs were put in place due to the disaster, the proved to be inadequate, while people were forced out of home because of rising insurance costs, foreclosures in Canarise also rose drastically, and the rates of foreclosures were even higher in non-white areas. Again, since Capitalism benefits from preying off of cheaper land and resources, Sandy making it difficult for people to stay in the neighborhood also made it easy for developers to cash in on the area, gentrifying it, and raising the cost of living. This is also making it even harder for people to stay and continue living in Canarise, all while what is causing this trend is capitalism, and not solely the hurricane.

     In closing, we can interpret these articles to come to the conclusion that capitalistic tendencies exploit marginalized groups while hiding behind shadows.