East Palestine? Case Study of Neglect and Victimhood? Or Privilege?

The Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, OH, created a horrendous situation and definitely tells us things about the modern chemical and rail transportation industries, the vulnerability of local communities, the state of regulation, and the Biden administration response. It has become a national news story, on several levels. Right wing media are using it as a primary example to show the contempt and neglect of coastal “woke” liberals for blue collar red territories in “flyover country.” Even Donald Trump showed up to hammer that point home. I don’t know if Tucker Carlson has yet made it a “replacement theory” case study, but it has all the elements

The mainstream media is turning East Palestinians into the latest Buckeye State metaphor, the 2020s equivalent of their laid off Lordstown auto worker brethren 25 miles north and 5-10 years ago. Economically insecure, the jobs are gone, no future for the kids, feeling neglected, and now this?

And the progressive left is using it as their latest proof that the Biden administration is evil and malignant. Or incompetent. Or both. Even Gettysburg DFA’s favorite oh so progressive troll, who never posts anything except to remind us how evil Biden is, dropped by to celebrate that Buttigieg is making it easy for right wingers to score cheap points.

Make no mistake. The spill does represent a potentially serious health threat and the residents should get whatever they need. Whether environmental cleanups, spills, terrorism, or a traffic accident, the effects of modern chemicals are widespread and persistent – and it’s highly probable that the effects of this spill will cover a wider area, persist over a longer period of time, and present a  more diverse set of possible symptoms  than they’re letting on now.

But looked at another way, East Palestine is a case study of phenomenal privilege. Within the limits of “we’re from the government and we’re here to help,” it does appear that the local area is getting attention. The EPA administrator is practically living there. The federal government has promised it will be there until the problem is 1oo% fixed. The railroad has promised it will foot the bill. For everything. And, frustrating as the situation is for residents, their story at least has been national news since Day 1. Yes, the residents are frustrated. But the accumulated weight of the national media is a force multiplier at those town hall meetings.

Let’s compare this to, oh, Flint, MI. or Jackson, MS. Both are predominantly black cities where it’s known that the water is unsafe. Not suspected. Known. Not for the month. In the case of Flint, 10 years or more. Flint’s water was ruined when a Republican-authorized anti-democratic state takeover allowed a non-elected body to develop a new water source that ruined the pipes such that the water has been poisoning Flint’s residents since 2014. And it’s only recently that serious money has been spent to fix this. Living for years in a “boil, use bottled water, we think it's ok to take a shower” community isn’t a big improvement over Third World conditions.]

Neither problem is the fault of the local residents. Flint’s water crisis was the creation of a “give everything away to the private sector” Republican governor, while Jackson’s comes from the state’s benign neglect as the local tax base declines.  

And the state’s solution to Jackson’s water problem isn’t to pour in whatever it takes to fix the problem. No, their proposal is to take the water company away. And where’s the national outcry? Where’s the “here until the problem is solved” federal presence? Interesting thought: I wonder if Flint has been featured on national news as often since 2014 as East Palestine has been in the past 6 weeks. Yet, according to the local residents and the national media, the good citizens of East Palestine are the ones being neglected.

I don’t begrudge them the attention or support they’re getting. They’re going to need every bit of it — and more. But relative to other unfortunate communities beset with man-made disasters, they don’t know how good they have it.