I imagine that a higher percentage of POC live in metropolitan areas as well. The air is much cleaner where I live in the country than the air where I work in Chicago. Something about 8 million people packed into a small area causes a lot of air pollution.To be honest, there is a little something to that. But I’d say that its more an issue of poverty than specifically race. Making energy and making stuff is dirty. No one wants dirty in their back yards. Residential areas adjacent to industrial areas are often the cheapest areas to live because of that. So the poorest people often can only afford the areas with the dirtiest air.
Of course living anywhere around Louisville you’ll be smelling some nasty air no matter on which side of the tracks.