A Texas Oil Town Takes on Fracking as a Racial Justice Issue

Arlington, Texas, became one of a number of U.S. cities to pass racial equity resolutions in recent months after the police killing of George Floyd, acknowledging the “devastating impact” of Covid-19 on the African-American and Hispanic communities. The resolutions also committed to lifting up “the medical and social needs” of the marginalized.

With racial justice now prominently elevated to the top of Arlington’s agenda, it didn’t take long to test the resolutions’ political gravity. Just after the city council adopted them, what would normally be a standard fracking approval vote turned into a forum for residents’ concerns about the environmental and health ...