Why do wealthy people get to live away from pollution while others breathe contaminated air?

Because separation has always been a tool of power. Sor Juana lived in a world where privilege meant walls—literal and social. We live in that same world, just with different architecture. Wealth doesn't create the right to clean air; it creates the ability to exit. When neighborhoods near refineries, landfills, and highways are cheaper, low-income families and communities of color move there because those are the houses they can afford. Developers know this. Zoning boards know this. It's not a mysterious market force—it's how geography becomes destiny. What makes it harder to see now is that it looks like individual choice. A wealthy family 'chooses' the suburb with parks. A struggling family 'chooses' cheaper rent near the highway. But the real choice happened decades ago in planning meetings where some voices mattered and others didn't. The cost isn't just health. It's legitimacy—the feeling that your neighborhood doesn't deserve protection because it's less valuable. That's how injustice reproduces itself. It doesn't feel imposed; it feels normal. Seeing this clearly is the first step. Once you understand that pollution follows money and power, not population, you can ask better questions: Who designed this arrangement? Who profits? What would need to change? The answers are often uncomfortable. That's when real literacy begins.