The “Germ of Laziness” in Legislature: How Lowndes County is Being Blamed for Political Neglect

By Sophia Fox, Aoife Duffy, Jann Eberharter, and Katya McMullen.

Most quarters, a group of students at WWU gathers to discuss a recent book or set of podcasts about environmental justice. This post reflects our discussion of Cathrine Flowers’: Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret, in Spring 2022.

One theme our group attempted to investigate in our discussion of Chapter 2 of Catherine Flowers’ Waste is the weight names carry. This was most evident with hookworm being considered the “Germ of laziness” by southern newspapers in the early 20th century.  

Using the term lazy, creates the narrative that it is the community members fault for the things that are happening to them. Implying they wouldn’t be in this position if they weren’t “lazy”, which is an unfair and untrue judgment. This also gives the misconception that individuals who find themselves in unfortunate situations, should be left with no agency to rectify their situation . When in reality that is not the case, and is also not possible for them to individuals to accomplish alone. Additionally, this is evident when Flowers spearheads the initiative to change her high school, formerly known as Lowndes County Training School, to Central High School. “Training schools” were a common name for predominantly black schools, named by white school boards in a derogatory manner. Flowers states, “The name had always carried a stigma in the South, where Black kids attended training schools, while white children went to high schools”(Flowers, p. 39). At the end of Chapter 2, Flowers states that her classmates raised money to pay for the new name of her high school to be put on the building and when she graduated, her diploma had the new name on it. It was evident that this was an important moment in Flowers’ life, and it served to connect her to Lowndes County. 

Another notable aspect of the book, was the connection between a person and their community, and how that can be important when seeking change. The stronger connection one has with their community, the more they will be likely to fight for it, and the people of the community. In addition to this, these people will likely know a lot about the town and how it operates, and will have a better understanding of how the problems can be solved the best way possible.  

Throughout the book, Flowers addresses the importance of gaining media attention, and how it has an impact on a place like Lowndes County. By getting attention from the media, help is much easier to find and access. It can be rather difficult for certain towns and communities to gain the media attention that places like Flint, Michigan, have received. Flowers notes, sadly only certain communities get the recognition that they desperately need in order to cause lasting change due to the lack of infrastructure in place.