Assistant Professor of History

(Fall 2027)

This project explores the intersections between environmental exposure and racial biases in the police state as they pertain to Latinos (here defined as all people of Latin American descent) in the United States. Specifically, I explain how the police state—made up of border agents and neighborhood police—combined with environmental exposure have created significant structural hazards for Latinos from the nineteenth century to today. From hanging trees for lynching ethnic Mexicans across the American West without due process in the 1890s to migrants perishing from exposure after brutal encounters with Border Patrol agents in the 1960s to Latinos dying from asphyxiation in police officer’s chokeholds in the 2020s, Latinos have faced multiple structural hazards, putting them at significant risk. Exposure to air pollution in segregated neighborhoods, where Latinos are at higher risk of respiratory illness and are also more highly surveilled by police is just one example of such double exposure. Uncovering these narratives shows how histories often framed in a white/black binary are much messier than they seem. Latinos, who can pass as white or black or fall anywhere in between have long been pursued by not one, but multiple police agencies. Too often, news and media outlets, as well as scholarly works, focus on immigration as the single issue that has affected Latinos, but other policing regimes and environmental exposure create additional challenges. By stitching together histories of border policing, patrolling of barrios, and environmental conditions for Latinos, who cross the color line, my work will unearth how when police kill or harm any person of color, it is part of a larger historical web of systemic racism, rather than a single, anecdotal event.