Climate gentrification

Global heating is causing sea-level rise. The better-off people in the prosperous parts of Miami (mostly whites) want to move west to higher ground, into neighborhood now inhabited mainly by blacks. To facilitate this, redevelopment projects tear down old housing projects and build new housing, most of which is rented out for more than the old inhabitants can afford.

Because of the extent of racism in the US, this phenomenon has a racial tinge. The wealthier people who drive poor people out of higher ground are more often white, and the poor people driven out tend to be nonwhite.

But that detail is not what makes this an injustice. If the people moving in were the same mix of races as those being driven out, only richer, the injustice would be the same. A good society is not cruel to anyone.

Governments ought to buy out every residence in what is or will be a flood zone, and build new flood-safe rental housing for tenants to move to. And help people move out of regions such as Florida, which are going to be too hot and wet whether inundated or not. That is what progressive officials would do -- while reducing the size of this problem by vigorously curbing global heating.