The environmental Racism of AI

An exploration of the xAI data center in Memphis, Tennessee and how its very existence and operation is a poignant example of environmental racism. I do a deep dive on the backstory, how it relates to theories about racism and environmental pollutants from feminist theorists, and talk about the impacts and context of environmental racism with a few guests. 

Special thanks to Grace Fortson, Ethan LaRose, and Nick Toney for your help and participation in this project. 

Photo credits to Stu Boyd II, Commercial Appeal

Inspiration for this project by More Perfect Union: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJT2JeDCyw

References: 

Boyd II, S. (2025, June 17). Tigers against pollution leads march against Xai in Memphis: See photos from the protest. The Commercial Appeal. https://www.commercialappeal.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2025/06/17/protest-against-xai-in-memphis-tennessee/84248385007/ 

Chen, M. Y. (2012). Following Mercurial Affect. In Animacies: Biopolitics, Racial Mattering, and Queer Affect (pp. 189–221). essay, Duke University Press. 

Chow, A. R. (2025, August 13). Inside Memphis’ battle against Elon Musk’s Xai Data Center. Time. https://time.com/7308925/elon-musk-memphis-ai-data-center/ 

Data USA. (n.d.). Southaven, MS. Data USA. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/southaven-ms 

First-Arai, L. (2024, May 28). Pipeline through the heart: A black neighborhood’s uphill battle against oil developers. MLK50. https://mlk50.com/2020/09/10/this-black-neighborhood-is-trying-to-stop-an-oil-pipeline-theyre-running-out-of-time/ 

Hagen, L., Jingnan, H., & Nguyen, A. (2025, July 9). Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, started calling itself “Mechahitler.” NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/07/09/nx-s1-5462609/grok-elon-musk-antisemitic-racist-content 

Harris, B., Gerberg, J., & Gosk, S. (2025, May 16). Up against Musk’s colossus supercomputer, a Memphis neighborhood fights for Clean Air. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/musk-xai-colossus-supercomputer-boxtown-memphis-tennessee-rcna206242 

More Perfect Union. (2025, May 30). We Went to the Town Elon Musk is Poisoning. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJT2JeDCyw 

NAACP. (2025, June 17). Elon Musk’s Xai threatened with lawsuit over air pollution from Memphis Data Center, filed on behalf of NAACP. NAACP. https://naacp.org/articles/elon-musks-xai-threatened-lawsuit-over-air-pollution-memphis-data-center-filed-behalf 

Ontiveros, J. E., Patel, D., Zhou, W., Kourabi, A., & Barkin, M. (2025, September 16). Xai’s colossus 2 - first gigawatt datacenter in the world, unique RL methodology, Capital Raise. SemiAnalysis. https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/xais-colossus-2-first-gigawatt-datacenter

Spillers, H. J. (1987). Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book. Diacritics, 17(2), 64–81. 

Wittenburg, A. (2025, June 5). “How come I can’t breathe?”: Musk’s data company draws a backlash in Memphis. Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/06/elon-musk-xai-memphis-gas-turbines-air-pollution-permits-00317582 

Wynter, S. (1976). Ethno, or Sociopoetics? Alcheringa/Ethnopoetics, 2 (pp. 78-94).