Feminist environmental justice: confronting legacies of racial segregation in Jupiter, Florida

Despite pervasive claims that the United States is a ‘post-racial’ society, racial segregation did not end after Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement. Today,
environmentally hazardous zoning and biotechnology land developments continue to
determine which families are most exposed to risks of pollution and displacement, and
which families are not. Utilizing documentation of local history and research in Women’s
Studies, Eco-Feminism, and Critical Race Studies, I examine the legacy of racial
segregation in Jupiter, Florida, by charting the biotechnology ‘cluster’ encroaching upon
the historical Limestone Creek community. In this feminist analysis are challenges to
assumptions about race, gender, class, and the environment. In solidarity with residents of color, I emphasize accountability on the part of those who have benefited from unjust
racial legacies in order to prevent further racial segregation and land exploitation of the
Limestone Creek community.