Photo Credits: Environmental Justice Is Our Cry of Defense Ricardo Levins Morales
By Ariana Thornton
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
Richmond, California,
Cancer Alley of Louisiana, and
more are covered by a funeral shroud—smoke plaguing
from nearby oil, gas, and plastic plants, festering
in low-income communities,
Black and Brown bodies,
to produce asthma,
lung disease,
heart disease,
strokes.
Take the hours-long drive to Great Falls now, and
watch comfortably spaced houses of
suburban neighborhoods dissolve into
acres of woodlands, expanses of lawns
(well-manicured, green),
beautiful mansions in the richest,
most coveted zip code in Virginia,
where well water is clear and
forest air is fresh,
where children play without a chemical factory
roaring around the corner,
where grandparents lounge outside without worry
of lung cancer.
Understand that clean air should not only
be a privilege of the affluent few.
Know that polluters of Cancer Alley are excused and
exempted, but not homeowners from early deaths.
How much longer will their lives be shrouded?
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