...Understanding this history is critical to understanding the region today, Pamela Spees, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told Insider. In the aftermath of the Civil War, white planters and politicians were able to "completely lock out Black communities from any decision-making," Spees said.

Spees said this history persisted as local officials disproportionately approved permits for new industrial plants in Black communities.

"The land-use plan that was finally adopted is a racial-cleansing plan because it actually said that these residential areas were designated future industrial," Spees said, referring to a 2014 plan that changed the fifth district from "residential" to "existing residential/future industrial."

"They don't intend for those communities to exist at a certain point and are literally wiping them off the map," she added...

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