When the images of desperate, hungry, thirsty, sick, mostly black people circulated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it became apparent to the whole country that race did indeed matter when it came to government assistance. In The Wrong Complexion for Protection, Robert D. Bullard and Beverly Wright place the government response to natural and human-induced disasters in historical context over the past eight decades. They compare and contrast how the government responded to emergencies, including environmental and public health emergencies, toxic contamination, industrial accidents, bioterrorism threats and show that African Americans are disproportionately affected. Bullard and Wright argue that uncovering and eliminating disparate disaster response can mean the difference between life and death for those most vulnerable in disastrous times.

Robert D. Bullard is the Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston and author of 17 books, including Environmental Health and Racial Equity in the United States.

Beverly Wright is the founding director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) at Dillard University, New Orleans and co-chair of the Environmental Justice Climate Change (EJCC) Initiative and author of Race, Place and Environmental Justice after Hurricane Katrina.