{"product_id":"west-side-rising-how-san-antonios-1921-flood-devastated-a-city-and-sparked-a-latino-environmental-justice-movement","title":"West Side Rising: How San Antonio's 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino Environmental Justice Movement","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn September 9  1921  a tropical depression stalled just north of San Antonio and within hours overwhelmed its winding network of creeks and rivers. Floodwaters ripped through the citys Latino West Side neighborhoods  killing more than eighty people. Meanwhile a wall of water crashed into the central business district on the citys North Side  wreaking considerable damage.  The citys response to this disaster shaped its environmental policies for the next fifty years  carving new channels of power. Decisions about which communities would be rehabilitated and how thoroughly were made in the political arena  where the Anglo elite largely ignored the interlocking problems on the impoverished West Side that flowed from poor drainage  bad housing  and inadequate sanitation.  Instead the elite pushed for the $1.6 million construction of the Olmos Dam  whose creation depended on a skewed distribution of public benefits in one of Americas poorest big cities. The discriminatory consequences  channeled along ethnic and class lines  continually resurfaced until the mid-1970s  when Communities Organized for Public Services  a West Side grassroots organization  launched a successful protest that brought much-needed flood control to often inundated neighborhoods. This upheaval  along with COPSs emergence as a power broker  disrupted Anglo domination of the political landscape to more accurately reflect the citys diverse population.  West Side Rising is the first book focused squarely on San Antonios enduring relationship to floods  which have had severe consequences for its communities of color in particular. Examining environmental  social  and political histories  Char Miller demonstrates that disasters can expose systems of racism  injustice  and erasure and  over time  can impel activists to dismantle these inequities. He draws clear lines between the environmental injustices embedded in San Antonios long history and the emergence of grassroots organizations that combated the devastating impact floods could have on the West Side.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44966791675957,"sku":"ByrdShop_1595349383","price":33.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781595349385.jpg?v=1770580593","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/west-side-rising-how-san-antonios-1921-flood-devastated-a-city-and-sparked-a-latino-environmental-justice-movement","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}