Hi everyone, I thought that given the recent events in Little Village and the fact that we are expediting a major health crisis that it would be a great time to talk about environmental racism in the Southside.

Environmental racism has been a prominent issue in our Southside communities for decades and it’s placed many of our most vulnerable populations’ health at risk.

For many parts of the Southside, the effects of environmental racism have been mostly felt through inequalities in industrial development throughout the city and higher rates of pollution in communities of color.

In 2018, the Natural Resources Defense Council released an interactive map of pollution in Chicago to discourage then Mayor Emmanuel’s industrial plans to continue adding industrial sites and activities in areas that were already burdened by pollution.

Through this map, we can clearly see how communitues of color in the southside suffer from the highest rates of pollution in the city as a result from the high concentration of industrial activity.

The exposure that these communities have to the high levels of toxins released by the industrial sites have severe effects on their health and can cause a wide variety of respiratory diseases and heart complications, lead exposure, among many others.

In 2016, a Harvard Research study that accounted for the proximity to smelting plants found that on average, Black and Latino children in Chicago had higher concentrations of lead in their blood. Lead exposure can lead to damage in the brain, kidneys, and nervous system.

Similar results that concluded that Latino and Black children had higher lead concentrations in their blood were also found by in a report released by the Illinois Department of Health (2008).

While our govt bodies are well aware of the dangers that the industrial sites place on the Southside, communities have been left to fend for themselves with little to no support from their government.

In a 2019 report from @ChicagoOIG it was found that the Chicago Department of Public Health had failed to enforce environmental regulations through frequent inspections/reports on industrial sites and have enough staff to fulfill the requirements for regular procedures.

The report by @ChicagoOIG goes on to highlight how @ChiPublicHealth failures place our communities at risk for future health and environmental violations.

Ultimately, it was as a result of the failures and shortcomings of government to include our communities’ voices in these discussions that environmental justice groups such as @LVEJO @N4EJchicago were created and it is they who continue to protect us, leading me to final point.

On April 11th, 2020, a smokestack from a Hilco coal plant was demolished. This coal plant had been permanently shut down thanks to the efforts from @LVEJO in 2012 and plant had not been touched since.

The demolition released a thick cloud of dust filled with unknown particles into Little Village and surrounding communities, possibly endangering their respiratory systems at a time when they are most vital.

Although the demolition had already been approved by the city and Alderman Mike Rodriguez ( @rodriguezfor22) had been notified a week prior to the demolition, the City of Chicago and the Alderman Mike Rodriguez failed to notify his community with sufficient time to prepare.

Since then, Hilco has come out and tried to remediate the situation by giving out coupons, face masks, and an apology letter to LV residents and @KwameRaoul has recently come out with a lawsuit against the company and we now wait for justice to be served.

While officials have already started taking matters into their own hands and begun investigations, I urge Southsiders to please always keep your eyes and ears open. Our health should always be prioritized and safeguarded by all levels of govt and our representatives

We cannot simply wait for another Hilco disaster to stand up and speak out against the environmental injustices in our communities. Everyday we breath in the air shared by multiple industrial sites all across our communities and we should have say in how they’re regulated.

Remember that there is always a way that you can speak out. You can always reach out to your local alderman, community organization, or you can file a 311 directly to the city. It is up to us to hold our city accountable for their failures and for our safety.

I would like to give a special thanks to @LVEJO, @N4EJchicago & any other environmental justice that is currently fighting for our health and safety. To our city officials, @chicagosmayor and @ChiPublicHealth, I ask that you please continue to look into this issue and protect us

Sources: https://southsideweekly.com/dumping-dirty-industry-south-side-environmental-justice/ 
https://igchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CDPH-Air-Pollution-Enforcement-Audit.pdf  http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/Lead_PhysiciansGuide.pdf 
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0bc5/9c3808a48f7f63d874971edfea01f142c706.pdf  https://www.bettergov.org/news/interactive-map-pollution-hits-chicagos-west-south-sides-hardest/ 
https://www.facebook.com/lvejo2020/