Toxins! Tocsin: The North Hollywood Dump in Memphis, Tennessee: A Community's Struggle Against Environmental Racism

This research describes the "voices" of Hollywood residents who are impacted by a toxic landfill in their backyard. These residents were not included in the decision-making process to get the Hollywood Dump cleaned up. The residents were not allowed to be equal political participants in the Hollywood Dump issue. The residents lacked a strong collective resistance to influence local, state and federal officials to respond to this community problem. The "voices" of the Hollywood residents provided a natural history of a social problem which represents the political, cultural, and religious concerns of grassroots individuals who agreed that the local dump was posing an environmental, and public health threat to their community. This research concluded that the Hollywood Dump issue is a classic example of environmental racism which is a form of environmental injustice.