In his quest to end “diversity, equity and inclusion,” President Donald Trump has killed plans to address raw sewage running into yards in Alabama’s Black Belt.

“It’s not DEI, it’s just common decency,” said Stephanie Wallace, a longtime Lowndes County resident. “It shouldn’t be a black or white issue, it should be a human issue.”

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice terminated a settlement agreement that required the Alabama Department of Public Health to address problems with inadequate sanitation in Lowndes County.

“Today’s closure is another step this administration has taken to eradicate illegal DEI preferences and environmental justice across the government and in the private sector,” Trump’s Justice Department stated in a news release.

But some advocates say that framing the issue around “DEI” is dismissive of what residents are experiencing in one of the poorest regions in the nation.

Wallace, a project manager with the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, said Trump’s reasoning was confounding.

“I was shocked when I heard, like ‘what in the world?’” Wallace said. “I don’t get why Trump connected this to DEI.”

Wallace told AL.com that both Black and white residents of Lowndes County have issues with improper sanitation. The largely rural county is a little more than 72% Black, and almost 26% white, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Lowndes is one of more than a dozen counties in Alabama’s Black Belt, named for the dense, dark clay soil in the area that is good for agriculture. But that same soil makes it difficult for septic systems to function, and Lowndes County is so rural that traditional sewage systems typically aren’t feasible.

As a result, some residents have resorted to “straight piping” sewage into the ground. This practice can lead to sewage in yards, where children and pets play. The sewage can then make its way back into the house, Wallace said.

While some residents may have septic systems, the sewage backs up into their home or overflows into their yard, Wallace said.

Exposure to raw sewage can lead to health problems: one 2017 study from Baylor University showed genetic evidence of hookworm in 34% of people living in Lowndes County.

Despite the settlement ending, Alabama’s health department said it will not resume issuing criminal penalties and fines to people in Lowndes County for having inadequate sanitation. The department told AL.com earlier this month that it will continue to assist in installing septic systems under the terms of the settlement until money that has already been dedicated toward the project runs out.

Catherine Coleman Flowers, a Lowndes County native who founded the nonprofit Wallace works for, said she wasn’t surprised that the new Trump administration ended the agreement, but she was surprised by the characterization as “DEI.” She said the characterization dismisses the need for the agreement, not just in Lowndes County but across the U.S.

“I would really like to invite those people that have come to that conclusion to visit not only Lowndes County, but those other areas of rural America that are dealing with the same problem,” Flowers said. “I think that it’s easy to dismiss it in terms that are divisive when one has not seen it. But if they can go and see it, I think that their view, their humanity, would cause them to take a different view.”

Under President Joe Biden, the federal government took several steps toward addressing the problem, framing the issue as one of civil rights.

In 2021, Biden’s Justice Department began investigating the health department for potential civil rights violations related to inadequate sewage in the county, leading to the 2023 settlement, the first-ever “environmental justice” settlement under U.S. civil rights law.

Also in 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opened a civil rights investigation against the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, following a complaint from Flowers in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Flowers and her partners argued that the department’s implementation of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund discriminates against Black Belt residents. The fund is more than $1 billion in federal money for water and wastewater improvements. ADEM’s point system for allocating that money makes it nearly impossible for Black Belt counties to receive the funds, they argue.

ADEM disputes those allegations, telling AL.com the Black Belt receives funding at three times the rate other areas in the state receive.

That investigation remains pending, Flowers told AL.com last week, adding that she has not received any news recently.

Flowers argues that sanitation is a human right. The United Nations recognizes access to water and sanitation as a human right.

“The soil does not discriminate,” Flowers said. “The sea level, the rising water tables, they don’t discriminate. They don’t care which political party you’re in.”

“We have to deal with the reality that Mother Nature has a voice, and we need to work in conjunction to make sure that the American public, whether they’re in rural communities or more affluent communities, are protected. And they have access to working and sustainable sanitation.”