Escaping Environmental Disaster Zones

Demetra Turner lives in one of America's worst environmental disaster zones. East Chicago, Indiana, is home to West Calument, a public housing complex built on top of a site that used to process lead. The facility was demolished and the housing complex built in its place, but the soil still holds the ghosts of its former life. It has long been known that the area was heavily polluted, and leaders have asked the government to clean up the area several times to no avail. And although the city, state, and federal government all have knowledge of the issue, nothing was done to inform residents like Turner, who moved there in 2016. 

This is the "egregious result of poor communication between the EPA, HUD and the East Chicago Housing Authority, according to housing and environmental advocates. 'It merely reflects the glaring lack of oversight and enforcement of existing housing and environmental laws,' said Debbie Chizewer, a Chicago-based attorney at Northwestern University’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic. 'ECHA, the City of East Chicago and EPA all knew [about the lead] and did not act here to address this grave danger to this low-income community of color.'"

High profile politicians such as Vice President Pence, Scott Pruitt of the EPA, and Ben Carson of the Dept of Housing and Urban Development, have all had various ineffective responses to the problem. Turner has had to deal with issues with furniture vouchers to replace things contaminated by lead, Section 8 housing vouchers after their building was condemned, and a number of other nightmarish administrative and logistical challenges. It goes to show that government agencies on many scales have failed communities, particularly low-income communities of color, in providing safe places for families. With post-Katrina New Orleans; Flint, Michigan; and now East Chicago, Indiana, we are continually shown the disinterest of those in power to the dangers posed to disenfranchised black communities.