North Carolina is launching an environmental justice advisory board

In 1973, the state of North Carolina made plans to dump 31,000 gallons of the highly-carcinogenic compound polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in a landfill built in Shocco, a rural town in the northeastern part of the state. Shocco’s residents — 75 percent of whom were African American — immediately objected to the plan, fearing that the chemical would seep into their groundwater and contaminate their soil. Local leaders organized protests, laying down in front of dump trucks to prevent them from entering the town. The protests drew national attention, highlighting the disparate rate at which communities of color bear the brunt of industrial pollution and kicking off what is known as the modern environmental justice movement.