Tag: MD

A perception shift is emerging due to deliberate indifference perpetrated upon citizens by those in power, which this country has witnessed in the criminal behavior in the Flint Michigan Water Crisis. Whereas ignorance and propaganda by those in power convinced citizens that those behind bars are “the worst of the worst,” we are learning that this narrative has been a tactic to distract and the truth is that the “worst of the worst” are more frequently those we entrust to protect our health and wellbeing.

Called the most contaminated site in the United States and despite a moratorium on further condo construction on Parcel A, the only part of the shipyard approved for development, the massive excavation project pictured here is currently occurring at the perimeter of the Parcel E-2 landfill. Reinstating the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) would require the Navy and EPA to explain why they are allowing this dangerous project to occur.

Tetra Tech was part of a team of contractors hired by the EPA to clean up a toxic radioactive dump in Ohio but evidence suggests EPA implemented a cover-up instead of a cleanup, creating a playbook for institutionalizing corrupted science across the nation. When Tetra Tech got busted years later for fraud at another radioactive site, in San Francisco, the EPA’s failure to demand best scientific practices was exposed again with dire ramifications for public health.

I write to you as your Black daughter, one who is three generations rooted in this city, and one who had all but given up on you. Today, however, in the spirit of Juneteenth, I am thinking I can feel the fresh breath of something new in the air. Is it hope? Should I trust it? I want to.

“Our power comes from the fact that we create the wealth. Wealth is power; we have the ability to withhold that power.” – Boots Riley, filmmaker and activist, Juneteenth 2020 ILWU shutdown Port of Oakland