Nicknamed the ‘arsenic triangle’, located just a few blocks from Little Earth, arsenic in the ground and air pollutants in this area make up large sources of pollution that adversely impact residents (5). The uninhabited Roof Depot warehouse building had been designated as a Superfund site for nearly 10 years when the city of Minneapolis purchased the property in 2016 with plans to demolish the structure, which raised concern about the arsenic release and air pollution that would occur as a result (6). The long-standing awareness of the pollution and environmental issues that occur because of the city’s negligence in addressing environmental racism led to the establishment of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) in 2014. EPNI is a collective of Little Earth residents who sought to transform the area by buying the Roof Depot from the city of Minneapolis. The concern of worsening pollution and other environmental conditions for residents of Little Earth and East Phillips compelled the collective to organize for decolonizing spaces in favor of Indigenous health and cultural agency. 

NIMBY colonialism, or “Not-in-My-Backyard” colonialism, functions at the intersection of urban aesthetics and a governmental refusal to address health and humanitarian issues head-on from a white settler standpoint; using a place deemed unimportant as a site for toxic waste and hazardous material. While often used to refer to removed drop points of nuclear tests or toxic waste, NIMBY colonialism is just as active in the metropoles of American life. The placement of Little Earth and the historic redlining of Minneapolis that subjected citizens of color to worse environmental and living conditions is one unfortunate example (7). The Indigenous population of Minneapolis is concentrated in a neighborhood that is considered to have some of the worst air pollution and is next to a superfund site, concentrated with hazardous materials (8). Nicole Perez, of Red Lake Nation and a Little Earth resident, said that “Little Earth wide, everybody has something — asthma, COPD, heart disease, triple-bypass surgeries” (9). The Minnesota Department of Health found that neighborhoods 3 miles apart in Minneapolis could lead to a difference of 13 years in life expectancy (10). The largely Indigenous population has extreme rates of lead content in their blood and an exceptionally high amount of asthma cases per capita (11). Lower life expectancy, environmental-related causes of death, and poor air quality have all contributed to a larger problem; the continued genocide of Indigenous people in the United States. Stripping and restricting Native communities’ agency and access to health resources has further perpetuated anti-Indigenous policy and sentiment, bolstering harm through environmental racism and political negligence.  

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The impacts of environmental racism in Minneapolis have been widely ignored; it was revealed in November 2023 that the Smith Foundry violated the Clean Air Act in nine ways between 2018 and 2023 (12). Historically, harm against Indigenous communities has been so standardized that their protection and safety are not prioritized in legislative action, and the health of Native people has continually been disregarded. The Roof Depot and other properties in the arsenic triangle of East Phillips have contributed to the staggering statistics that are patterned across the state of Minnesota: communities of color in the Twin Cities have five times as many asthma-related emergency room visits resulting from PM2.5 pollution and an over 350% increase in asthma-related emergency room visits resulting from ozone pollution (13). A leader in the EPNI movement, Cassie Holmes of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe and a lifelong Little Earth resident lost her son, Trinidad Flores, to a heart condition he developed at age 14 from the pollution in East Phillips (14). NIMBY colonialism persists because state and municipal governments do not want to address issues concerning toxic waste; and they exploit the opportunity to ignore health hazards in low-income, BIPOC communities that have been subjugated to redlined neighborhoods and poor environmental conditions. The testimonies and stories of EPNI community leaders in their fight to gain ownership of the Roof Depot land repeat the same sentiment; Native health and cultural wellness have long been ignored, and the only community that can be trusted with this work is Little Earth and East Phillips residents.

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EPNI took a radically transformative plan to take on the Roof Depot. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Roof Depot “is in the 97th percentile of the state or above for general particulate matter air pollution, diesel particulate matter air pollution, traffic proximity and volume, and hazardous waste proximity,” (15). In 2014, East Phillips leaders came together and created a multifaceted project that would shift the neighborhood’s spaces (16). Instead of releasing more pollution, as suggested by the Minneapolis plan to turn the site into a Water Maintenance facility, EPNI proposed an indoor farm and housing project that would sustain and promote the health of the community (17). The project would take back colonized spaces, ultimately allowing Indigenous communities the agency to advocate for their needs. The restoration of Indigenous health metrics is intrinsically tied to the restoration of the self; calling for “a return to tradition, to the symbols, rituals, and ceremonies found therein” (18). Without addressing the need for stronger medical and socioeconomic resources in Little Earth; health, and consequently agency and tradition; cannot be fully addressed.