ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND CONCERNS EAST OF THE ANACOSTIA RIVER: JUSTICE OR JUST US?

1 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. GE 235 .W18 E58 1994 ANACRU. ANACOSTIA MUSEUM. CONFERENCE. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND CONCERNS EAST OF THE ANACOSTIA RIVER: JUSTICE OR JUST US?. Saturday,. June 18,. 1994. The conference was held at the Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church, 2498 Alabama Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C.,. at 9:00 a.m.. PRESENT: THERESA ALEXANDER KISHI ANIMASHAUN DOROTHY ASHLEY JAMES BANKS JOANNA BANKS FERIAL S. BISHOP GOD BUIDIN ROBERT BOONE VENITA BOYD. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



2 PRESENT. (Continued): PONCE BROWN RACHELLE BROWNE JAMES BUTLER ROSS CAMPBELL RONA CARTER HERBERT CHAMBERS ADDIE COOK ZORA MARTIN FELTON DOROTHEA FERRELL DEEOHN FERRIS MAURICE K.. FOUSHEE. LIZ GILCRIST ROBERT E.. GULDIN. MARLUIN HALL JIM HANNAHAN HANNAH.. M.. HAWKINS. LOUVENIA HOLMES GUSTAV JACKSON DEBRA JONES THERESA JONES ABSOLON JORDAN JULIA S.. KERR. ROBERT J.. KNOX. ALLISON M.. KOLWAITE. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



3 PRESENT. (Continued): GRAHAM KUSIMA KWELISMITH ADAORA LATHAN ARNE LEONARD LEON G.. LIPSCOMB. DELLA LOWERY LOUISE MADISON JODEANE MARKS TOM MARTIN VERONICA MIDDLETON LINDA MOODY KEMI MORTEN ELAINE C.. MOSBY. ANTHONY MOTLEY FRIEDA MURRAY STEVEN NEWSOME RETHO P.. NOBLE. JAMES O'CONNOR PHIL PANNELL ROSA PINDERHUGHES CHUCK D.. RAMSEY. ROBERT RICHARDSON JOE RODGERS PAUL RUFFINS. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



4 PRESENT. (Continued): RICK RYBECH JEWELL SAUNDERS ROGER SMALL JEROME SMITH SYDNEY SMITH GERALDINE TWITTY GROVER L.. TYLER. EVAN VALLIANATOS JULIA WASHBURN PAULA WELCH ADRIAN WHITE DARRYL O.. WHITE. JERALD L.. WHITE. WILLIAM WINER. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



5 CONTENTS PAGE 6. Paul Ruffins Rachelle V.. 45. Browne. James O'Connor. 47. Geraldine Twitty. 65. Ferial. 72. S.. Bishop. Robert Knox. 82. Deeohn Ferris. 93. James Banks. 108. Theresa Jones. 119. Evan Vallianatos. 122. Rev.. 134. Anthony Motley. Rona Carter. 143. Robert Boone. 147. Kemi Morten. 159. Rev.. 164. Herbert Chambers. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



6 PROCEEDINGS. 1. (9:45 a.m.). 2 3. MR.. RUFFINS:. 4. (Applause.). 5. MR.. Thank you.. RUFFINS:. I. recognize. some. friends. 6. here,. people who I've seen at other places.. 7. a course in environmental racism at the Institute for. 8. Policy. 9. speaking on today is a very much continuation of the. Studies. about. five. years. ago,. and. I taught. what. I'm. 10. work that I've done over the past five years,. writing. 11. about environmental. 12. involving the Afro-American community in environmental. 13. justice.. justice and the political issues. If we start from a basic question, which is. 14 15. to. say. 16. people who are at the bottom — in many cases we can. 17. say. 18. happen to be. 19. highest. 20. People. 21. that was beginning to be thought of. 22. but. 23. good materials.. at. in. a. the. bottom. that. of. have. it's. an. unjust. ecological. also the people who. begun. been. specifics,. is. the. concentrations. 24 25. society. to. of. notice. terms. I'm. not. of. very. food. now.. This. chain. —. idea. in 1988 and. '89,. There's. going. to. was. hazards. an. Washington, much. the. exposed to the. environmental. articulated now.. In. are. society,. a variety of. D.C., go. into. the the. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



7. 1. specific technical things of pollution in Washington,. 2. D.C.. 3. are going to speak who know that better than I,. 4. I'd like to refer you to this document,. 5. Share,. 6. Capitol.". 7. American. 8. associated. 9. Center for Energy, Ecology and Community, the National. I know there are other people in this room who but. "Our Unfair. a Survey of Pollution Sources in our Nation's It was recently published by the African Environmentalists with. the. 10. Association. of. 11. Wildlife Federation.. group. Association, I'm. with,. Neighborhoods,. which. which. and. the. is. is. the. National. And to read for you, if you really want to. 12 13. know. what. are. 14. environmental. 15. motor. 16. compliance with the federal Clean Air Act, and it does. 17. not. 18. compliance with that without some very serious changes. 19. made,. 20. control in not just the District, but also in Virginia. 21. and Maryland.. vehicle. seem. that. much. considered. issues air. it. more. in Washington. pollution.. will. be. intense. able. car,. Urban water runoff.. 22. the. The. to. most in. 1994,. city. be. serious. is. one. is. out. of. brought. automobile. into. emissions. Every time it rains,. 23. when you ask yourself,. "Where does the rain go?. Where. 24. does the rain on the roofs, where does the rain on the. 25. streets, where does the rain that cannot soak into the. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



8 1. ground go?" it runs off, and unfortunately a lot of it. 2. runs of literally downhill into the Anacostia River;. 3. okay,. 4. is one of the most polluted urban rivers in the United. 5. States.. 6. polluted rivers.. some into the Potomac, but the Anacostia River. It's. supposedly. one. of. the. Everything you throw out,. 7. antifreeze,. fourth. worst. batteries,. oil. 8. from your car,. 9. the streets get washed by the rain into the rivers. Then. 10. the. these things that go into. question. 11. overflows.. 12. handle the rain,. 13. ultimately goes into the rivers.. of. When you get big rains, and where does. combined. sewer. can the. sewers. that water go?. Drinking water contamination.. 14. it was. in December there was. I'm sure you. 15. remember. 16. people to,. 17. had been a mistake made in the reservoir uptown.. you know,. now that. the. an alert. for. boil their water because there. Lead exposure.. 18. It. I'm sure many of you are. 19. aware. really. 20. exposure,. 21. black. 22. buildings,. 23. that the rate of lead poisoning,. 24. — we used to think the lead was just in the paint.. 25. Now we realize the. particular. children, who. urban. Hispanic live. serious. problem. children,. children. lead is. lead. particularly. who. near highways.. of. live. It's. in. old. estimated. not just lead paint. also in the air,. in the. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



9. 1. soil,. in the waters. A. 2. is. lot an. of. people. 5. the. 6. things. 7. I'm a middle. 8. have. 9. children because my house is one of the 25 percent of. to. ones. have done,. in. my money. 10. the. 11. unacceptably high,. Washington. When. 12. person. So one of the. buying. the. water. lead. for. levels. we. talk. when you figure in things. 15. and in fact,. 16. live in Southeast,. 17. have their water tested.. 18. a. 19. poorest people.. afford. about,. cleaning. you up. know,. the. can. environment,. like having to buy water,. probably most of. the black people who. in this part of the thing,. is. the. Okay?. should. This is a case where. disproportionately. can afford bottled water,. borne. but. by. the. I'm sure. many people cannot,. 22. so. 23. crazy.. 24. straight because their brains have been poisoned.. and we're concerned about why do. young black. people. Part of it is. make. choices. that. seem. some of them are not thinking. Another thing is. 25. my. are. 21. many. I. and that's just a cost.. 14. I. is. where. average. 20. a lot of. but one of the things. on. 13. disproportion. in your. I've had to buy bottled water.. class person,. spend. lead.. look. for. basement next to where your water meter is, is. you. house,. 4. into buildings. if. my. example,. I. and. —. 3. service. old house,. have. illegal dumping.. As. it. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



10 1. gets more expensive to legitimately dispose of things,. 2. people. 3. friend of mine who. 4. Rhode Island Metro Station literally came to his job. 5. one morning and couldn't get in because someone had. 6. dumped, without exaggeration,. 7. pile of tires as wide as this room and ten feet high,. 8. in the alley leading to his place of business,. 9. don't know how much it's going to cost him to get rid. 10. have. been. subject has. to. midnight. a photo. dumping.. studio. A. over by the. 500 tires,. you know,. a. and I. of them.. 11. So. those. 12. issues right here in D.C.. 13. political. 14. supporting — the current mayor and also the former. 15. mayor — are. 16. Circle. 17. Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge, all right, which will help. 18. bring. 19. Virginia into downtown in a more efficient manner.. implications.. lot. some. of. Project,. people. of. the. right now. You. supporting the. Freeway. a. are. These all have. know,. the. mayor. creation of. which. from. environmental. is. the. right. Maryland. Barney. over. and. is. the. possibly. 20. But when we have to ask ourselves what does. 21. that mean to the people who live here, okay, what does. 22. it mean. 23. would suggest that we need to ask ourselves are a few. 24. construction jobs,. for people who. have. to. breathe. air,. I. okay, worth it.. It used to be that people say,. 25. the. "Well, you. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



11 1. know,. the. 2. it," or two-thirds of it or three-quarters of it, but. 3. is that money that you get from the federal government. 4. for. 5. construction jobs?. 6. have on the people who have to live here?. six. federal. or. government. eight. months. is. or. paying for. two. years. worth. 8. detailed.. 9. detailed. of. the. What is the impact that's going to. Anyway, I recommend this to you.. 7. half. It's new.. It's very. It's got a lot of good,. information. on. what. 10. pollution in Washington, D.C.. 11. good job.. are. the. very. sources. of. I think they did a very. What I'm going to specifically speak on are. 12 13. four ideas.. 14. going to discuss the black patron saint of recycling,. 15. and then I'm going to talk about some ideas that we. 16. don't really usually consider environmental.. 17. thing that I'd like to talk to you about is crime as. 18. an environmental issue because part of what we want to. 19. speak. 20. Washington, D.C.. 21. we begin to look at an environmental consciousness and. 22. ask. 23. environmentally help us deal with some of these other. 24. problems,. 25. night,. on. I'm going to tell you two stories.. is,. you. ourselves. like. know,. there. are. no. I'm. The last. buffalos. in. There are no spotted owls, but when. how. I'm. sure. can. if. thinking. we. had. this. of. things. meeting. at. all of us would be paranoid about walking out. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



12 1. of here, walking into the parking lot, because we see. 2. these kinds of guestions. People have said not that long ago — it. 3 4. was. not too. long,. 5. people. 6. have more pressing things to worry about,. 7. or like feeding ourselves every day.". aren't. 8. My. 9. environmental. 1966,. 1985,. 1987. concerned. about. the. contention issues,. to. and. you. the. —. "Well,. black. environment.. is. like crime. that. things. We. these. that. we. are will. 10. learn in the environmental movement can be applied to. 11. try to deal with. 12. justice guestions.. some of. these very serious. social. 13. The first thing I'm going to speak on —. 14. these are just chapters of my book — is the history.. 15. One. 16. movement, what I would say is the birth of the modern. 17. African. 18. movement,. 19. think. 20. incident in the civil rights movement — this is when. 21. Martin Luther King comes to prominence.. 22. they win.. 23. these stories.. of. critical. American. of. and the. I. incidents. involvement would. say. Montgomery. Okay?. in the. in. the. in many. bus. environmental. environmental. cases. boycott. as. if a. people. critical. This is when. This is when Rosa Parks — we know. Well, the equivalent of the Montgomery bus. 24 25. the. boycott is the Warren County,. North Carolina,. major. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



13 1. demonstration. in. 1982,. in. 1982,. and partly how that. 2. comes to happen is a good way to get a picture of how. 3. dumping — we've been hearing that black communities. 4. have been cited for dump sites,. 5. the example of how that happens.. and Warren County is. What happens, it starts with a crime.. 6 7. happens. is. on June. 8. night. a man named Burns,. 9. truck. out. of. a. North. 24th,. Raleigh,. 11. Okay.. 12. transformers,. 13. parts. 14. distribute electricity?. of. are. okay,. all. called. Carolina,. oils. in the middle of. a man named Burns,. company. 10. PCB. 1978,. to. Ward. are. industrial. used one of. the. takes. Transformer. dispose. widely. which. What. of. PCB. in. in. oils.. electrical. the most. societies.. a. How. basic. do. you. If you look out on electrical poles and you. 15 16. see those big,. gray canisters,. 17. you know,. 18. are. 19. five or. 20. come into your house at. 21. what appliances run on.. they're this. transformers. six,. they look like,. big and they're. They. maybe. okay,. step. 2,000. the. volts,. 110,. round.. current. and the. They. down. from. things. that. which is much saver and. Inside those transformers, at least most of. 22 23. the. old. 24. they're. 25. They. ones,. is. useful.. don't. a. thing. called. PCBs.. They're very good. break. down.. They. Okay?. And. in transformers.. don't. explode.. They. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



14 1. don't burn at normal temperatures. However,. 2 don't. the. 3. they. break. 4. environment forever.. 5. hundred years. 6. stable.. 7. them. 8. environment.. So. useful. fact. down. that. means. Well,. they. they. stay. to. same. burn,. in. the. let's just say a couple of. before they break down.. the. don't. chemical. electricity. They're very. properties. make. them. that. toxic. in. make the. 9. And what had happened was that in 1976, the. 10. Toxic Substance Control Act basically said that these. 11. were cancer causing.. 12. we're going to stop manufacturing them in the United. 13. States.. 14. Day,. 15. have to be more careful if we're going to get rid of. 16. this. 17. indiscriminately.. This. is. We know they're dangerous,. a decision that's. made. after Earth. after the society begins to say things like,. stuff,. okay?. just. can't. make. these. "We. things. We're going to put a stop to that.". Okay.. 18. We. and. In. '76 they say we're not going to. 19. make anymore.. Later on — that's the Toxic Substances. 20. Control Act.. 21. stuff, but there's still thousands, possibly millions. 22. of. 23. States. 24. worth of this oil.. Okay.. transformers. hanging. containing. Now,. 25. It'll illegal to manufacture this. around. billions. what. happens. of. is. all. over. dollars,. that. this. the of. United gallons. guy named. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



15 1. Ward. decided. he. 2. opportunity in recycling,. 3. right,. 4. Burns. 5. What. 6. company. 7. transformers,. 8. stuff on his property.. and this thought. happens. thought. he. would. was. this. was. a. business. recycling these materials,. other gentleman. making. go. — no,. into. guy. excuse me. business. name. Ward. transformers. —. recycling.. had. and. a. large. repairing. and he had about 12,000 gallons of this. In 1978,. 9. there. they also passed a law that says. 10. that you now have to dispose of them in EPA approved. 11. or approved toxic waste sites.. 12. good. 13. doing something that was probably a good thing to do.. 14. It was a good thing to stop making this stuff.. 15. a good thing to decide to be more careful in where it. 16. was. 17. through and begin to say,. 18. dispose of. example. because,. disposed,. but. it?. on. they. Okay.. one. Now,. hand,. didn't. the. think. it. this is a. society. all. is. It was. the. way. "Well, where are we going to. What are we going to do with it?". So what you have now is this man Ward has. 19. 20. a. problem.. He's. got. 12,000. gallons. 21. that's very expensive to get rid of.. 22. what to do with it.. 23. what to do with it.. 24. I'm going to recycle it.. 25. business. of. this. stuff. He doesn't know. This man Burns says,. "Ah,. I know. I'm going to warehouse the stuff.. collecting. Okay.. these. I'm going to start a. things,. collecting. this. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



16 1. stuff,. and. then. when. 2. transformers,. 3. transformers.. 4. that's what's going to happen.". you. other. simply. I'll. have. people. recycle it,. and. want it. to. by. I'll. repair. repairing. sell. it,. and. And what he does is he rents a warehouse in. 5 6. Pennsylvania,. and he's going to move this. 7. Raleigh,. 8. going to recycle it and become a millionaire.. North. Carolina,. to. Pennsylvania where. It doesn't work that way.. 9. 10. 2,000. gallons. 11. profitable.. 12. this,". of. it,. I'll. and. never. stuff from. he. make. He moves about. says, a. he's. "This. dime. is. trying. not. to. do. and then they decide to dump it. So. 13. they. what. go. happens. they. the. head. middle. for. basically. 16. put a 750 gallon tank in the back.. 17. and they take. 18. testing. range,. 19. shells.. It's. 20. isolated,. 21. tank up; they drain the stuff out; and they get rid of. 22. 750 gallons of. in. is. the. where middle. test. When. artillery. nowhere.. and they just take this tank;. He. They. North Carolina,. they of. truck.. have. They fill it up,. it to the Fort Bragg, which. they. the. 15. a regular kind of panel. —. of. night,. 23. and. in. 14. just. out. is. It's. they open the. it. goes. he. back. goes. to. back. Raleigh to. Fort. to. get. Bragg,. another. 24. load.. what. 25. thought would happen was if you just, you know,. he. let it. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



17 1. out,. it. would. 2. disappear.. 3. and he realizes there's this huge — well, he's got an. 4. oil slick.. 5. a. 6. something has been dumped here illegally.. little,. That's. small. He gets. 9. truck. drain. not what. into. the. happens.. He's got an oil slick.. 7. 8. just. caught gets. thing,. dumps. right. the. they. can. second. He. in. the. tell. load,. sand.. In. 10. later helped him pull his truck out.. 11. a crime has taken place.. 12. He. goes. back to. there. clearly. and. he. almost. happens. fact,. that. is. the. They don't know. guy and. get another truck,. 15. so that you can drive down the road.. 16. to dump it out,. 17. valve, and the stuff drains out, out of the truck,. 18. Burns. and. 19. trips. they made,. 20. rid. 21. driving. 22. Carolina, and they just drain it.. 23. drain it right out onto the road.. the. they. and they install basically a hose You don't have. son. —. but. I. don't. know. how many. in the next two weeks. they get. 9,000. gallons. by. literally. roads. outside. of. Raleigh,. the. instantly kills. the. and. exactly. grass.. I. just North. They literally just. They're pretty quickly caught.. 24. is. you just open up — you screw open a. other. along. they do. "This. 14. of. and then what. says,. isn't. his. the. police. 13. 25. going to work,". this. gets. and. Rather than being. there because what. stuck. ground. think the. The stuff grass. turns. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



18 1. like blue.. 2. and. 3. chemical. 4. PCB. 5. this guy down.. say,. You know, "What. in. analysis. the. the. on. Burns. 6. hell. it.. transformer oil.. state troopers is. It's. look at. this?". They. do. very clear that. They relatively quickly. is arrested,. it a. it's track. and originally he says. 7. that Ward has nothing to do with it.. 8. with the. 9. The guy who owns the transformer company had nothing. guy to. 10. to do with it.. 11. pay. 12. arrested.. the. say,. take the weight. legal. 13. Okay.. 14. question now is:. 15. stuff?. These. 16. clear.. I think it's. 17. Carolina. 18. birth defects.. 19. bad stuff.. fees,. and. then. he. is. it.". also. Both of these guys go to jail. what. guys. very. are we. have. The. going to do with this. polluted.. It's. not. really. like 110 miles of road in North highly. toxic. stuff. It causes skin rashes.. that. What they're. causes. It's bad;. The State of North Carolina says,. 20. for. Later Ward reneges on his promise to. guy's. with. "I'll. He makes a deal. going to do. is. it's. "We have. 21. four options.". they're. 22. going to dig up the dirt.. 23. clean up a toxic site like that,. 24. do was basically dig up about four feet wide and two. 25. feet down of 110 miles.. If you wonder how do you. Okay.. what they decide to. It's a huge amount of. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



19 1. stuff,. 2. it.. and they decide what are they going to do with. There. 3. are. four. 4. try to detoxify it at the. 5. try. 6. neutralize this. some. chemical. site.. process. stuff.. One. is. they. They were. to. see. if. can. going to they. can. That was one option.. The second option was they could have taken. 7. 8. it to a preexisting,. 9. there was one in Texas,. 10. choices.. EPA-approved landfill.. I think. and I think there was one in. Alabama. The third option was they could basically. 11. 12. burn. the. stuff. in. high. temperature. in. these. 13. kilns.. 14. to move that. 15. I don't remember all of the exact details,. 16. was a facility in New Jersey,. 17. it was prohibitively expensive.. 18. $3 million — no,. 19. million,. 20. expensive.. They thought that was too expensive. —. I. think they had one. $7 million.. huge. They had. in New Jersey. but there. but they concluded that That would have cost It would have cost. $7. and they thought that that was prohibitively. 21. So what they decided to do was bury it in. 22. the state, and then they had to decide where they were. 23. going to put it,. 24. a town of Afton in Warren County,. 25. it. just. turned. and where they decided to put it was. out. to. be. North Carolina,. extremely. poor.. It. and just. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



20 1. happened to be the county with the highest percentage. 2. of. 3. percent. 4. unincorporated county.. 5. members. 6. time in North Carolina there were no black members of. 7. Congress. 8. state. 9. say,. black. people. black.. of. in It. the. had no. Congress. "No,. to. state.. city. council.. that. area. Carolina.. go. It. was. 84. was. an. It. Obviously there were no black. from. from North. senators. entire. because. There. into the. state. at. were. no. that. black. legislature. and. we don't want this." And they decided to build the dump in the. 10 11. town.. Now,. the people in the town did not know this. 12. waste. 13. they put up fliers saying there's going to be a public. 14. hearing. 15. been made.. dump was. about. to. this,. The. 16. going. be. after. people. in. put. the. the. in. their. decision. town,. town. had. they. until. already. tried. to. 17. organize.. 18. a soil scientist, a guy name Mulchi, who said the site. 19. is. 20. things.. 21. federal EPA has laid down ten or so conditions to have. 22. a. 23. important conditions.. just. good. inappropriate. It. dump,. does. not. and. All meet. this. one. right. two. of. There the. cannot. EPA. meet. are. two. —. the. two. very. One is it's supposed to be impermeable.. 24 25. One of the things they did was they hired. it's. supposed. to. be. in. clay. because. you. don't. So. want. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



21 1. this. stuff. to. leak. 2. water. 3. particular town.. supply.. There. The. 4. out. into. was. the. very. second one was. aquifers,. little. the EPA. into. clay. in. said that. the this. any. 5. waste site had to be at least 50 feet — had to be in. 6. an. 7. below. case,. the. 8. water table was only ten feet below the surface,. and. 9. it was. all. area where. 10. the. 11. wells.. the. the. water. surface. also. people. of. table. the. was. soil.. In. a town where probably in. the. town,. was. okay,. It. 13. inappropriate. 14. North. 15. community put in several lawsuits,. 16. to try to get the thing stopped,. 17. able to get it stopped.. 18. the process.. 19. of. 20. things,. 21. and finally they lost.. site.. Carolina.. This It. did. percent of. their water. an. feet. from. environmentally. did not not. 50. stop the. stop. the. State of. EPA.. several. The. lawsuits,. and they never were. They sued.. They showed down. They finally got the — there were a lot. needed.. that. just. least this. 95. got. 12. permits. at. the. They. argued. a. lot. of. technical. design had not been designed well,. 22. This story has no happy ending.. 23. They did manage to get certain kinds of things done,. 24. which. 25. When they had originally designed this dump, they were. is. they did get the. judge to. All right?. require. a. liner.. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



22 1. going to put the cheapest dump they could design into. 2. it.. 3. the bottom installed,. 4. planned to install.. 5. a liner at the top and cover it with soil on the idea. 6. that if no rain could get into the top of it,. 7. would leach out underneath.. After several lawsuits,. which they had not. originally. All they planned to install was. They went to court.. 8 9. they did get a liner in. nothing. They did get the judge. to reguire a liner on the bottom, and they did get the. 10. judge. 11. which. 12. underneath,. 13. leave it,. 14. was. 15. They had the problem solved.. no. to. reguire. is,. I. what. guess,. they you. call. use. a. leachate. large. system,. crushed. rocks. and you can pump it out if anything does. but everything was going to be okay.. problem.. The. 16. There was. people. did. nothing. not. buy. to. it.. worry. This about.. Okay?. They. 17. were not happy about it.. 18. up. 19. Fielding from the local university and a woman named. 20. Dollie Burwell were organizing community opposition to. 21. this,. 22. several reasons.. with. it,. and. and. several. Dollie. One. 23. and. They were not going to stand. Burwell. is. she. 24. movement,. people. 25. considering violence.. people,. plays. had. a. been. were. a. named. critical. in. the. angry.. There was. man. part. civil They. a very real. Ken. for. rights were threat. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



23 1. that the people in the town were not going to put up. 2. with this,. and people were saying they were going to. 3. get. and. 4. shooting at these trucks.. guns,. they. were. going. to. If you want to know,. 5. start. there was. literally. 8,000 dump. 6. trucks full of material that was going to be put into. 7. this landfill,. 8. of the size of a dump truck,. 9. dig up 110 miles of roads,. 10. 8,000 dump trucks.. Okay.. If you think. that's what it takes to. 110 miles six feet wide by. two feet down. On the day that this happens,. 11. that they're. 12. going to begin to ship the stuff,. 13. we don't really know what the first demonstration of. 14. black people it was against the environment.. 15. find out that it happened in 1920.. 16. into our history,. 17. is the first one or what people have protested before,. 18. but. 19. demonstration against a toxic waste dump in the United. 20. States by anyone,. 21. ordinary black people.. 22. These were the farmers.. 23. consider environmentalists.. 24. fighting to protect their community.. as. far. as. And. 25. it was the first. Okay.. We may. As we look. it's very hard to know what really. we. know,. this. was. black or white,. starting. the. first. major. and these were the. These were the church ladies. These were not what we would. in. Okay?. These were people. September. 15th,. it. took. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



24 1. them about two or three weeks to truck this stuff in,. 2. 8,000. 3. were arrested,. truck. fulls.. so. hundred twenty-five people. but they finally did the dump.. Now,. 4. Five. one of the reasons why this. 5. remains. important when we. 6. the. 7. happen.. 8. our own Reverend Walter Fauntroy,. 9. Bob Lowery from SCLC came down.. environmental. movement. incident. look at our history of. is. two. important. Two people were arrested there,. things. and one was. who was with SCLC. He was arrested.. I. 10. believe his wife was also arrested, okay, on the front. 11. lines,. and Walter Fauntroy came down. And there was. 12. a. funny. story. about Walter. 13. Fauntroy because part of what happened was they said,. 14. "Well,. can you come down? Walter. 15 16. flow down.. 17. guy,. said,. Can you help us out?" "I'm. really. I've got a small plane,". "I'll be right back.. 18. (Laughter.). 19. MR.. RUFFINS:. busy,. but. I'll. and he told the. Keep the engine running.". You know,. and he went down,. 20. and he said — the Dollie Burwell said to him,. 21. you're. 22. have congressional immunity," and the story is Walter. 23. said,. 24. arrest me.". a. Congressman.. "That's right.. Well,. 25. They. can't. arrest. I'm a Congressman.. they. had. never. seen. you.. "Well, You. They can't. a. black. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



25 1. Congressman in Warren County in 1982.. 2. (Laughter.). 3. MR.. 4. RUFFINS:. And Walter. sat. down. street and was promptly arrested and taken to. in. the. jail.. Also Ben Chavis came down, the Reverend Ben. 5. 6. Chavis who was. 7. the. 8. Justice.. United. at that point the Deputy Director of. Church. of. Christ. Institute. for. Racial. He was also arrested. In the end, the demonstration did not work.. 9 10. Okay?. The dump was. 11. and. 12. soon as. 13. hold this. 14. put the cap on, they had a tremendous several weeks of. 15. rain,. 16. gallons. 17. landfill,. 18. supposed to be — this was a mound that was. 19. to be,. 20. and. 21. gullies,. the. dump was it was. there.. built,. The dump was. and. it's. tragic. completed, because. as. finished,. something that was going to. stuff forever,. literally before they could. heavy of. rain, water. all. were. figure. into. eroded. smooth,. they. they. went. right,. you know,. before. and. half. this. huge. a. million. perfectly. gullies. that. dry were. supposed. and they would landscape it, finished,. there. were. huge. and the top material was mostly washed away.. 22. And then they found that the liner of the. 23. thing, this impermeable liner they had put in began to. 24. balloon literally in places.. 25. of this thing coming off.. They could see the top. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



26 What had happened is there were,. 1. gas. deposits. under. the. site.. So. I guess,. 2. natural. the. thing. 3. begins to balloon.. 4. they went to the top and drove pipes down through the. 5. liner to. So they way they solved that was. let the gas out. So. 6. this. Cadillac. of. a. landfill. was. 7. defective from the day that it was built, and that was. 8. in 1982,. 9. there.. and to this day it is not fixed.. It's still. There's an interview with Dollie Burwell where. 10. she. says,. "Well,. every time. 11. rains I wonder what's getting down there and when will. 12. the water be poisoned." And they. 13 14. “if.". It's. 15. poisoned.. just. say a. it's. it. rains,. not. question. every time. just. of. a question of. when. will. The good thing that came out of. 16. it. it,. be. there. 17. are a few good things that came out of. 18. that was the first time — and again,. 19. time. 20. white people and the black people in the town actually. 21. got together on any significant political organizing.. trying. to. be. historically. it,. it. I use the first. correct. —. This part I will read to you.. 22 23. first chapter of my book.. 24. the. 25. County.. dump. completely In. 1982,. changed. which was. that. the. This is the. The mobilization against the. politics. Afro-Americans were. 65. of. Warren. percent. of. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



27 1. this. population,. 2. the Board of. Commissioners. 3. the. Board.. 4. demonstration,. 5. registration drive,. 6. polls,. School. but held only one of and one of. The. next. five. seats. on. five. seats. on. year. after. the. they went back and did a major voter okay,. and got people to go to the. right. Afro-Americans. 7. 8. commission. 9. Native. seats,. American. captured. and there are serving. on. three. not. the. of. two blacks. School. the or. Board.. a. The. 10. county elected its first black representative to the. 11. North Carolina house and senate,. and Dollie Burwell,. 12. the woman who helped organize it,. is the Registrar of. 13. Deeds. State-wide. 14. they consistently get 60 percent of the people to turn. 17. out to vote.. 18. came out.. 19. ten,. 20. level of community and political activity going on in. 21. that town.. African. 24. justice.. years. later,. a mobilizing thing.. that has. that's. American. Now. 25. in Warren. County. People. They lost, but they got organized, and even. So. 23. it was. but. general. 16. 22. percent,. in. elections was. So. 25. turnout. 15. 12. only. voter. the. led to. story. of. mobilization. a much greater. the. for. I'm going to talk to. first. major. environmental. a. story that. is. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



28. 1. extremely. painful. to. 2. Washington,. 3. example of where poor and powerless black people were. 4. victimized by the state and possibly by the society,. 5. where they. 6. stuff,. D.C.. me. You. said,. because. can. "Look.. see. It's. it. took. Warren. good to. place. County. in. as. an. clean up this. but you're going to get it.". 7. Okay.. 8. ban the manufacture of PCBs,. 9. to. a town.. Had the. Congress. they would not have come. None of the people. making. stuff.. in that town. 10. jobs. 11. electrical power plants.. 12. of. 13. from the creation of PCBs.. 14. have electricity.. That is probably good,. 15. but. people. 16. that's when we talk about the injustice of. that. that. never decided to. chemical.. none. of. those. in. society has. benefitted. We have lights.. got. any of. lights,. Okay?. all right,. that. but. good,. and. it.. they. have. there. 20. may. get. 21. disproportionate share of the bad stuff. Now,. produced,. but. some. what. we. the. happening again and again and again and again,. 22. essentially. We. 19. things. is. worked. pollution,. good. that. them. 18. be. and. has. of. None of them got the benefit. Maybe our. Everybody. 17. None. got any. people. I'm going to talk about D.C.. see. a. How many. 23. of you were in Washington in 1987 for the bottle bill. 24. campaign?. 25. that?. Do. you. remember. that?. Do. you. remember. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



29. 1. Well,. I'm going to. talk. about. the bottle. 2. bill which is,. 3. is also a story with no happy ending,. 4. not. 5. victimized,. 6. mind,. 7. victimized by our own people,. 8. black politicians, black public relations executives,. 9. some of whom were good friends of mine.. a. in my mind,. a terrible disgrace. okay,. This. but it is. story primarily about poor black people being. this. okay, is. a. by. people. on. the. outside.. of. these. my. story of how poor black people were black ministers,. I used to be in the PR business.. 10. In. people. personally.. okay,. So I know. 11. some. 12. basically people's. 13. nationalism were exploited,. 14. to fight an idea that would have been a good thing for. 15. our community,. 16. now.. feelings. and then I'll. of. black. Okay?. Where. solidarity. and racism was. and. exploited. start to tell the story. It should have been easy to pass a bottle. 17 18. bill. in. 1987.. Okay.. 19. people in Washington thought it would be a very good. 20. idea to put a deposit on bottles. 21. the older people, most of the people in this room,. 22. sure, who are over 50 or even — excuse me — who are. 23. my age remember —. 24. (Laughter.). 25. MR.. RUFFINS:. Seventy-two. percent. and cans.. of. the. Most of I'm. I'm sorry.. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



30 1. —. 2. people took bottles back.. 3. on bottles.. 4. in cans,. 5. did not seem like an oppressive idea.. 6. like a conspiracy against the poor.. 7. like. 8. roaches.. remember. when. we. were. Okay.. children. There was a deposit. This is before probably most things came. but there was a deposit on every bottle.. white. that. people. Okay?. trying. to. fill. It. It did not seem It did not seem your. house. with. It seemed like a good idea.. (Laughter.). 9. MR.. 10 not. seem. RUFFINS:. People. oppressive. the. bottles and cans back to the stores.. It was. 13. that had worked for years and years.. All right,. 14. that's an important thing to remember.. 15. new idea.. 18. District has some very unique — well, the District is. 19. small.. 20. not like most states that have upstate.. 21. upstate in D.C.. 22. you. 23. right.. bottle. bill. It's only 44 miles.. Okay?. build dumps.. in. '67.. All right?. The. It's. There is no. There's no rural areas where Okay.. It's. landlocked.. All. There's only two facilities to get rid of. 24 25. a. It should. have. Okay.. pass. and. This is not a. It should have been easy. to. an idea. 17. can. easy. to. take. 12. been. had. It. did. Okay.. you. it.. 11. 16. that. experienced. things.. One. is. the. Benning. Road.. Twenty-seven. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



31 1. percent of. 2. incinerator,. 3. Lorton.. the trash went okay,. Well,. 4 for. and the. other. aging Benning Road 70. percent went to. the Lorton landfill is. couple. okay,. 6. operating. 7. Virginia has. its. own. solid waste. disposal. problems.. 8. Maryland has. its. own. solid waste. disposal. problems.. 9. In. for. '80s,. of. years. the. growing. reasons.. almost full,. 5. the. a. to the. and. years. Greater. 11. Rockville was. the. 12. All. This. 13. population in this area has doubled. My. any. fastest was. place. Area. in. the. growing city. a. grew. up. here,. Gaithersburg. used. to. be. a. and. been Two,. was. '80s.. boom.. she. horse. the. country.. in the. construction. wife. it's. years.. Washington. fastest. 14. of. and. 10. right?. area. One,. said,. farm.. The. you. 15. know,. So. 16. Metro in Gaithersburg is kind of unbelievable now.. a. It should have been a perfect place for a. 17 18. bottle bill.. The District of Columbia has always been. 19. a. 20. supported rights. 21. health care coverage for everybody.. 22. gun. 23. kind of political or community that recognizes these. 24. political issues, okay,. 25. have been just our kind of issue to say,. politically. control.. progressive for. Okay?. place.. gay people.. Okay? We. have. We. have. supported. We have supported. We have traditionally been the. and what was good.. It should. "Let's clean. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



32 1. up the streets." If. 2. you. have. 3. money cleaning up the. 4. idea.. an. honest. street.. kid,. It. let. seems. him make. like. a good. It should have passed. Again,. 5. the. first poll. said. 72. 6. the people including,. 7. than 50 percent of all the black people,. 8. a bottle bill was a fine idea. Not. 9. to. which by definition means more. mention. Okay?. percent of. the. Okay. bottle. What happens? bill. had. introduced.. 11. Most people don't realize that a bottle bill has been. 12. introduced. 13. four times.. 14. introduced by the late Julius Hobson,. 15. who. 16. politician. 17. council in 1974,. 18. vote. 19. Washington,. 20. business,. 21. to Virginia and Maryland.. In. introduced. of. D.C.. at. 1974,. least. four. started in. been. 10. into. The bottle bill. thought that. times,. A. stone. to. who. least It was. was the person. progressive. introduced the bottle bill. six. at. a bottle bill passed.. it.. 1974.. into. black. the. city. and it passed the city council by a three. was. It. concerned. was that. vetoed. by. Mayor. they. would. lose. that the stores in D.C. would lose business. 22. It just turns out that Loudoun and Fairfax. 23. County in Virginia also passed bottle bills around the. 24. same time,. 25. of. in the early. '70s.. court because basically. Those were thrown out. under. a technical. thing.. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



33 1. That was. 2. could not do on its own.. a bit of. state. legislation that. a. locality. Montgomery County has a bottle bill on the. 3 4. books,. by the way.. 5. during. the. 6. County that was passed at approximately the same time,. 7. that. 8. District. 9. would go into effect.. if. campaign.. they of. Columbia. a. in D.C.,. 12. Montgomery County,. 13. that businesses. 14. the county line.. a very well is. bottle. or. in fact,. 11. is. There. passed. So,. 10. This. a. law. bill. Prince. kept. in. in. secret. Montgomery. either. George's. the. County,. it. had they passed a bottle bill. it would have instantly kicked in the one in dramatically reducing the chances. would have. lost. any business. This was never brought up.. 15. Okay.. across. Then in. 16. the mid-'80s the bottle bill was reintroduced.. 17. Mason. 18. into the city council, putting I think it was a — she. 19. and Polly Shackelton introduced a bottle bill into the. 20. city council,. 21. Okay?. 22. committee.. 23. against it.. 1984,. Hilda Mason. introduced a bottle bill. and it was bottled up by Nadine Winter.. Nadine. Winter. would. Nadine Winter was. She was. 24 25. in. Hilda. not. let. against;. working with. this. out. she was. of. just. an organization.. I. forget what it's called — the Keep America Beautiful. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.

'-"N.

34 1. Foundation, which is funded by Coke, Pepsi, Budweiser,. 2. Reynolds Aluminum.. 3. (Laughter.). 4. MR. RUFFINS:. 5. Okay?. People who make — and. she bottled it up.. 6. PARTICIPANT:. 7. MR. RUFFINS:. 8. let. the. 9. council.. legislation. Pardon the pun,. right?. No, but it's true.. out. of. committee. She never. in. the. city. It stayed there dead for three years. In '87, Hilda Mason came back again and she. 10 11. and Wilhemina. 12. okay,. 13. white woman,. 14. long-time. 15. introduce a bottle bill,. 16. women introduce a bottle bill,. 17. Wilhemina Rolark.. 18. we in Ward 7 or Ward 8?. 19. PARTICIPANT:. 20. MR.. 21. introduced a bottle bill. two. Rolark from across. black women okay,. a. Washington, and then. Wilhemina,. RUFFINS:. Ward. black woman. and. 8, a. D.C., in. okay,. '87,. organizers two black. Hilda Mason and. who represented — are. Eight. Who. represented. this. ward. into the city council.. Nadine Winter would not let it get. 23. out of committee.. 24. of. 25. voluntary recycling.. committee.. first. river,. Hilda Mason and Polly Shackelton,. respected. Okay.. 22. —. the. Once again it was not allowed out Okay.. They. were. talking. about. The industry did not want them. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



35 1. to put a deposit on the bottles.. 2. said,. 3. this.. 4. too much trouble.". Okay?. "Well, we can have a clean-up. Well,. The industry. Well,. it should be voluntary.. we can do. Okay.. No,. it's. She never let it out of the committee,. 5. and. 6. it was only after that in 1987 that basically three or. 7. four. 8. bill.. 9. chairman. white. environmentalists. If. you. of. want,. the. one. tried. was. Washington. to. Jim. put. it. McCarthy,. Deposit. Coalition;. on. a. who's Gene. 10. Karpinsky, head of the U.S. Office of PIRG, U.S. PIRG,. 11. which is right down on Pennsylvania Avenue. An interesting thing that Calvin Rolark has. 12 13. told. me,. that. 14. funded. through. 15. Calvin. Rolark. 16. started PIRG, which was part of Ralph Nader's research. 17. group and came out of Ralph Nader's organization, that. 18. the United Black Fund funded them because they thought. 19. they. 20. organization and that the community needed a kind of. 21. government watchdog organization.. were. was. the. one. United. said. such. And. 22. PIRG. in. a. then. of. Black. the. first. Fund.. early. good,. there. the. '80s,. things Yes,. yes,. when. they. responsible. was. a. from Environmental Action.. guy. community. named. Puth. 24. they're. 25. basically made the move to introduce the bottle bill. white. —. three. guys. who. are. Jonathan. 23. all. These. he. three. —. introduced,. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



36 1. as a referendum.. 2. initiative.. 3. know if it was actually technically an initiative or. 4. a referendum.. 5. they were responding to something that was already in. 6. the city council.. 7. take it basically to the citizens.. 9. They. it was an initiative.. I don't. It may have been a referendum because. It's not really important, but you. right,. started. and. collecting. and. they. they. primary,. 11. 20,000. 12. industry began to fight them.. signatures. easily they. Okay.. got. the. needed,. The. after 50. and. or. that.. the. '86. whatever,. immediately. metropolitan. area. liguor. went to court to keep it off the ballot, and then they. 16. began. 17. more. 18. decided. 19. Coca-Cola.. Okay?. 20. personally. name. 21. chairman of Mid-Atlantic. 22. guy in this.. people to. got fight. City. got. upset it. the. their. signatures,. about. it.. most. was. The. bad. guys,. They. more. and. people. who. from Mid-Atlantic. I'll tell you who. any. it.. but. I don't need to the. Coca-Cola was. guy. who. was. the main. bad. Okay?. And. 23. they. fought. the. 15. as. coalition. do. distributors,. —. know,. to. 14. to. you. decided. signatures. 10. 13. It was an. Let me see if I've got it right.. All. 8. No,. that's. Committee,. when. they. 24. Capitol. okay,. 25. okay, that fought the bottle bit.. formed. which. was. the the. Clean group,. It was chartered in. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



37 1. Maryland.. 2. had their first meeting,. 3. first. 4. there.. 5. Sterling Tucker was there.. 6. Tucker $10,000,. 7. denied that.. It wasn't even in D.C., okay, and when they. public. meeting,. The. people. the. people. from. okay,. Okay.. 8. okay, when they called their from. Budweiser Okay?. Coke. weren't. weren't. there.. They paid Sterling. to represent them,. and he later. They tapped into — Sterling Tucker. 9. tapped into an organization he had founded when he had. 10. been chairman of the city council, the organization of. 11. 100 black ministers.. 12. directly. 13. organizations.. to. —. he. All right?. sent. the. Sterling Tucker went. letter. to. the. minsters'. Okay?. And time after time throughout this whole. 14 15. story,. okay,. 16. community. 17. they had their. 18. hotel. 19. industry.. 20. You didn't see the chairman of Pepsi.. 21. the. 22. Institute.. 23. Ernest Gibson from Mount Rising Baptist Church,. 24. who. 25. Churches,. in. guy. had. they. leaders. to. to. fight. first. rally,. downtown, Okay?. who. went. was. you. well. the. recycling.. which was. didn't. see. held. the. black. So in. faces. when a big. of. the. You didn't see the chairman of Coke.. president. of. the. You saw Sterling Tucker.. been. respected. head. of. the. You didn't see Glass. Packaging. You saw Reverend. Washington. okay,. Council. of. coming out against recycling.. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



38 1. It was terrible.. It was a terrible thing. 2. to. 3. used black community leaders, black community people.. 4. They brought media in,. 5. I. 6. and. 7. Ultimately a very cynical group of white corporations. 8. got the black civil rights. 9. D.C.,. see,. okay,. and what happened was. in every black newspaper,. had a black newspaper spoke to. ultimately they. just about then.. — they went on the. So. I. Cathy Hughes. and went. Show.. leadership of Washington,. to fight a bottle bill. And every time you go out think about that.. 10 11. Okay?. So when you. 12. the. 13. remember that we were exploited,. 14. understand.. Black people at that point — and I know.. 15. I've. to. 16. "Well,. bottles. spoken. and. see the bottles. the. some. cans. of. in. these. the. in the parks. and. streets. you. and. okay, people did not. people.. They. said,. we didn't really know." Okay.. 17 our. They. hadn't. begun. issues. were.. understand. 18. where. 19. that. 20. public relations consultants and Cathy Hughes and the. 21. Afro to buy all of this radio and television time was. 22. a good investment.. the. environmental. to. million. But. 23. dollars. every. year. that. the. since. They. industry. we. have. thought gave. not. 24. bottle bill,. 25. a half dollars a year to pick up those bottles,. had. to. a. it has cost the city about a million and okay,. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



39 1. at. 2. workers.. 3. terrible decision,. 4. careful.. a. time. when It. we're. was. talking. a. terrible. and the. about. laying. off. decision.. It. community has. to. city. was. a. be very. I mean if there's anything that comes out. 5 6. of. it. it is. 7. for. 8. down and define what our interests really are,. 9. so. us.. that we must be very careful who. We. that. a. must. few. be. very. dollars. careful. to. black. and. speaks. seriously. newspapers,. sit. okay, a. few. 10. dollars to political consultants, and a few dollars to. 11. black television time does not constitute doing good. 12. things. for the community. That was a terrible story of that.. 13 14. Now for. the good new.. 15. (Laughter.). 16. MR.. RUFFINS:. The good news. 17. are tremendous,. 18. for solving the problems that we see.. 19. talk about,. 20. fact that people cannot find jobs?. 21. this have that,. 22. be real serious problems with young men?. 23. find jobs.. 24. decide. 25. people.. to. tremendous,. is that there. well,. about. you know,. Okay. feel. what. tremendous possibilities. crime?. You know, What. Okay.. about. men. the. What does. particularly there seem to They cannot. They cannot feel like men.. like. you. by. proving. they. So they. can. shoot. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



40. 1. Okay.. They don't have constructive work to. 2. do.. 3. began to write this,. 4. can. 5. Where can we be guided by the people who went before?. They see no future,. we. look;. 6. I. where. And. I. and I. said:. can. we. looked. said to myself when. I. where in black history look. for. around,. our. and. ancestors?. in. the. first. 7. chapter,. 8. saying that people need to remember why Martin Luther. 9. King. first. was. page. actually. of. in. my. book,. Memphis. I. started. when. he. was. out. by. killed.. 10. Martin Luther King wasn't supposed to be in Memphis.. 11. Jesse. 12. They were doing the Poor People's Campaign,. 13. come to Washington.. Jackson. and Andy. Martin. 14. Young urged. Luther. King. him. was. in. to. come okay,. Memphis. 15. support the sanitation workers on their strike.. 16. right.. In other words,. 17. up. urban. 18. troops. 19. That's why he was in Memphis when he was killed.. the. of. area,. But then. 20 21. you know,. 22. Elijah. 23. stores.. 24. businesses.. 25. consumer. could. that's. I. say. why. the. bottom. was. in. he. Make. looked back and. talked your. Get. about. own. out. consumption. to All. I. clothes.. of is. "don't. said,. this. go. into. Have. line. Memphis.. Elijah Mohammed was another person.. Mohammed. to. these people who are cleaning. you. recycling;. on.. well, Okay. those. your. consumption.. killing. us.. The. cars. own This are. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



41 1. killing us.. 2. buried.". The bottles are killing us.. We're being. And when we consume, we are now burying our. 3 4. brothers. and. sisters. because. all. 5. trust me,. 6. they're. 7. ancestor,. 8. I almost cried when I read this.. of. the. new. dumps,. if they're not burying them in black areas,. going. to. and I. be. I. for. Carver,. and. Scientist. and. 11. Oxford University Press,. 12. are. 13. Alabama,. 14. when. 15. uneducated,. 16. Washington Carver had this idea that God had given you. 17. everything. 18. yourself.. in. to. 1900,. people. the 1895,. were okay,. you. biography. an. Symbol.. compared. scholarly. look. found an ancestor,. Washington. a. I. 10. we. It's. Hispanics.. found one.. George. 9. in. and. It. when. people people. desperate,. needed. to. make. peanuts.. wasn't. just. 21. people,. 22. one cotton farmer said,. 23. black man said,. 24. know how to farm cotton.. this.. starving,. and. better. He. where. people. the things. by. Tuskeegee,. were. okay,. a. say:. in. when. superstitious,. 20. "Look.. began to. black. And we talk about. 19. I. published. he. said. were George. life. for. did with to. If you've worn out four farms" "Don't tell me that.". these — and An old. "Don't tell me how to farm cotton.. I. I've worn out four farms.". (Laughter.). 25. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



42 MR.. 1. RUFFINS:. Right?. if you blow under the. And. “You. know,. 3. horse manure, okay, you can replenish the earth around. 4. you. " And he said,. "Don't. if. said,. 2. 5. leaves,. he. you take the. just grow cotton.. you'll stay in debt.. If. 6. you grow cotton,. 7. debt.. 8. starving because in the wintertime you'll have to go. 9. down. You'll stay in debt,. to. that. You'll stay in. and your children will be. sharecropper's. store. and. spend. that. 10. little money on fatback and molasses, okay, which are. 11. not. 12. cotton and spend that money,. 13. of vegetables,. nutritional.. —. of. to. grow. more. if you grow half an acre. and one of the things is he was very. 15. interested. 16. gender roles.. 17. extraordinarily good cook.. 18. know,. 19. rugs on the floor.. 20. of your shack.". he. did. not. have. a. lot. of. traditional. He was very good at sewing.. He was an. He said to the women,. you can take those corn husks,. "You. and you can have. You can have curtains on the walls. He said to the men,. 21. trying. your children can eat.". Okay,. 14. Instead. "If you wash that red. 22. clay,. you can wash the. 23. color. in your. 24. yourself and your children" through what we would now. 25. say recycling,. life.. red out of. You. can have. the. clay and have. a better. life for. at a time when people were desperate,. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



43 1. and they had nothing. We have so much here,. 2. and I want to end by. 3. reading you about two people in this. 4. are really doing that.. 5. Copeland,. 6. National Academy of Science,. 7. did about 20 years ago was he went into the ghettos of. 8. Caracas,. 9. conditions,. who. is. a. who. chemist,. right,. who. is. with. the. and one of the things he. Okay.. I. mean. terrible. terrible. He said,. they. okay,. One is a guy named D.K. Wesley. Venezuela.. 10. area,. took. "What resources do we have?". and. they. looked,. 11. said. 12. engineer.. 13. are magazines and newspapers and tin cans and stuff.. 14. They. 15. disposal,. 16. your. 17. disposal,. 18. door?. He looked around and,. started. a. business.. and. he. They. you know,. They. took. was. an. all we see. a. garbage. a regular garbage disposal like you have in. sink,. okay.. What. old magazines. Well,. 19. do. with. and newspapers. with. old. water. garbage. and. garbage a. and. screen. enough. 21. could run the magazines through the garbage disposal,. 22. you. 23. can make beautiful writing paper.. 24. fancy stationery.. 25. set. a. regular,. enough. a. magazines. up. a. you. 20. could. and. can. screen them out on a. small. disposal,. screen door,. in. and you. You can make very. It's extremely expensive, factor. you. this. and they. community. making. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



44 1. stationery and note paper literally out of the funny. 2. papers with a very small thing. They. 3. said,. 4. eat,". and they said,. 5. tin cans.". 6. room. 7. literally in boxes,. 8. out. 9. end,. for. of. tin. "People "All we. don't see. have. in the. They did hydroponic gardens. regular. cans.. gardens,. but. Right?. They. streets. to are. There was no. they. in wood boxes,. enough. did. tiered. hydroponic gardens. started. them. end. to. and they made everything they needed to do that. He. 10. has. an. office. in. 11. another guy who's. 12. Washington Carver of the Prisons.. 13. James Ingram.. 14. company. 15. all. literally called,. 16. They make stuff from glass.. 17. know,. 18. You. 19. these things.. of. okay,. things.. Recycle, They. The guy's name is. right,. make. There's the George. He's an industrial engineer.. called Design. kinds. downtown.. He has a. and they make. stuff. from. tires.. You can make marble,. you. kind of artificial marble from unsorted glass.. can. make. park. benches. from. plastic. milk. But what he recycles is people.. 20. Okay.. 21. has a furniture.. 22. upholstery in the Prince George's County Jail.. 23. He. 24. constructive. 25. them you can do something.. takes. guys. jugs,. He. He teaches furniture refinishing and. who. in their. have lives,. never all. done. right,. Okay?. anything. and teaches. You can do something with. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



45 1. your hands.. You don't have to just kill people.. 2. can be a productive person.. You. He has — generally about 50 percent of all. 3 4. the. guys. 5. achieved a recycling rate of about 93 percent.. 6. three percent of the guys, and they're mostly all men.. 7. I. 8. percent of the inmates who go through his program come. 9. out and go back to. don't. who. mean. go. to. to. jail. be. go. sexist. back. to. about. this.. 11. understand.". 12. doing. 13. refinishing a chair.. is. He. He. Only. has Only. three. jail today.. And what he said to me,. 10. jail.. says,. refinishing. "This. a. "This guy doesn't. guy. chair.". thinks. He. what. says,. he's. "He's. not. He's rebuilding his own life.". 14. (Applause.). 15. (Whereupon,. 16. MS.. a short recess was taken.). BROWNE:. We. have. a. luncheon planned.. 17. Lunch is only half an hour.. 18. hopefully generate. 19. panel, continue questions through lunch, and then come. 20. back for the afternoon program. As. 21. some. Steve. So we'll have the panel,. questions. indicated,. at the. the. fact. that. the. the. 22. Anacostia Museum is. 23. Chapel A.M.E. Church, it reflects a coming together of. 24. various. 25. environmental issues.. segments. convening this. end of. of. our. morning in Allen. community. to. address. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



46 1. This panel also reflects a variety of the. 2. differing disciplines and training and experience that. 3. have. 4. issues.. We. have. legal. 5. issues,. and. in. terms. 6. environmental. 7. replaced the sociologists that were so crucial in the. 8. civil. 9. scientists today are the Kevin Clarks that testified. 10. come. in the. together. to. address. justice. rights. environmental. issues.. We. of. scientists. our. movement,. movement. in. the. have. they. '50s. justice. scientific in. really. and. the have. '60s.. Our. 1954 Board of Education decision. So what. 11. scientists. I would like to do is to have the. 12. two. 13. our communities, on our children;. 14. pollution and failure to take care of our environment. 15. on. 16. drink.. the. land,. 17. address. the. air. And. we're. His. bio. the. we. health effects. and. start. introduce. on. the. first. water. with. we. Jim. 18. O'Connor.. 19. this program,. 20. of. 21. University of Maryland,. 22. the national coordinator for minority participation in. 23. the earth science program.. 24. Each. 25. is. to. us,. also the effects of. breathe,. going. on. in the materials. to. but basically he's associate professor. geoscience. at. UDC.. panelist. He's at. also. Boston. will. taught. College,. have. at. the. and he's. essentially. 15. minutes to present their topic.. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



47 1. Jim.. 2. MR.. O'CONNOR:. Well,. good morning,. and. I. 3. want to thank Laura and Joanna for inviting me to be. 4. one of the scientific experts. I. 5. have. spent. 22. years. the. real. 6. underground of Washington,. 7. to. 8. history of this. 9. as to help you be better stewards by understanding the. 10. make. you. aware. of. the. D.C.,. studying. rich. and my job today is and. natural. side of the Anacostia River,. as well. whole role of history on this. cultural. side of the river.. And what I would like to start out with to. 11 12. get. you. in. the. 13. bring. 14. movement. 15. American poet. 16. Negro Speaks of Rivers.. 17. I. 18. rivers. 19. older. 20. in human veins.. 21. deep like the rivers.. 22. in. 23. young.. 24. Congo and it lulled me to sleep.. 25. looked upon the Nile and raised the. black. frame. is. to. go. spirituality. together. through. known. than. the. the. the. renowned. as. I. My. his. have. the. and. to. environmental. through. flow of. Euphrates. 192 6. the. rivers.. ancient. to. and. Langston Hughes,. have. back. Africanpoem The. known. world. and. human blood. soul. has. grown. I have bathed. when. dawns. were. I have built my hut near the I. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



48 1. pyramids. 2. singing of the Mississippi when Abe. 3. Lincoln. 4. and. 5. all golden in the sunset.. 6. I have known rivers,. 7. rivers.. 8. the rivers.. 9. That poem has not ended.. 10. Anacostia. 11. spirituality,. 12. today,. went. I've. area,. is this. about. down. seen. I. to. its. heard. New. the. Orleans,. muddy bosom turn. ancient,. dusty. My soul has grown deep like. and. and. it.. that's. We are now in the. the. Anacostia. what. I. want. to. is talk. your about. side related to the wonder river.. And the first thing I would like to do is. 13 14. tell. a myth.. 15. Letterman Top Ten, our river has never been cleaner in. 16. the last 20 years.. 17. changes. 18. guality judged by chemistry,. 19. the last two years, and judged by the sea birds coming. 20. in to eat those fish.. rivers. David. The last two years have seen major. in the guality of the water.. The. 21. Contrary to the American. geology story,. on. It is the best. judged by the fish over. the. bottom,. and probably. in my. however, lifetime. is. 22. another whole. it. 23. will never be cleaned up unless somebody invents a new. 24. technology to eat it and clean it in place. And the east bank is much cleaner than the. 25. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



49 1. industrial and urbanized west bank in Ward 6.. 2. Now, where am I going to start?. 3. things that was just mentioned was that science is now. 4. the social. 5. dead. 6. appropriate. 7. citizen must know the appropriate science,. 8. already seen that. 9. I'm focusing on the end of today's title,. in. studies of today.. the. Us,". Without science you're. water.. Every. science.. Let. and. a. citizen me. "Just. it's. you. 11. protect your environment.. 12. The. survival. that. of. must. repeat. little bit. 10. One of the. this. need. the. know. that.. the. Every. and you've. morning because. the. and that is. knowledge. fittest. depends. to. on. 13. those that understand the habitat that they're in, and. 14. only. 15. needs to be preserved.. 16. in the. 17. worry. 18. they're worried about theirs.. 19. There's. you. have. District about. a. neighborhood.. is. your. Every. neighborhood. Every of the 53 neighborhoods. polluted,. but nobody is. neighborhood. where. the. except. activism. you. comes. going to because. in,. and. 20. what I want to share with you today is to protect all. 21. of the good things that are already over here on this. 22. side of the river.. 23. of. 24. natural spaces are in part of the green necklace over. 25. here.. Columbia. The eastern shore of the District. is wonderful.. The best open. spaces. and. They need to be preserved for the next century,. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



50 1. and they are under stress,. believe me.. And with that what. 2 3. you through a little,. 4. the peoples. 5. here,. 6. looked at. 7. and the ugly.. and the. similar 46. quick history of. natural. to what sights. I'd like to do is take. we. seeing all of. resources. did. two. that. weeks. over here on the. are. ago. good,. over. when. we. the bad,. 8. Would you show the first slide?. 9. I'm going to run through these just to give. 10. you, again — you need an equal foundation before this. 11. afternoon.. 12. data as a map.. 13. we're all blue.. The first thing is to look at the census. And. 14. In this. within. D.C.,. is. case,. that,. everybody is blue.. keep. in. mind. 15. Washington,. 16. within the larger Chesapeake Bay context,. 17. very important context. (Simultaneous conversation.). 19. MR. O'CONNOR: what. we're. talking. 21. from. outer. space,. 22. space. What we. 23. that. just nothing but an urban oasis. 18. 20. now. So. But keep in mind now this is. about, and. it. is. one. does. foundation,. physical. 25. neighborhood. unique?. little. show. really need to. 24. but it is a. are. oasis. from. outer. understand. geography. We. up. blue. part. Why of. the. is. is. the your. Anacostia. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.



51 1. Valley,. and the whole Eastern Shore is nothing but a. 2. big, giant cliff, and all weather basically comes from. 3. this. 4. neighborhoods.. 5. pollution.. 6. but these cliffs are beautiful.. side. of. the. world. and. slams. against. your. That's all I'm going to say about air. You need to understand. the meteorology,. The other aspect is looking at what's under. 7 8. your. feet,. 9. geology that fostered George Washington Carver to play and. and. goes. that. is. back. geology,. games. 11. tropical belts. 12. clay on either side of the Anacostia River. That. 13. the. the. basic. 10. of. to. the. lathyritic. eguator,. red clay,. you. is. the. of. the. the wonderful. red. see,. soils. same. goes. all. the way. 14. along the mid-blocks from Eastern Avenue all the way. 15. down to. 16. major importance for the history of the area.. almost the tip at. This. 17. Southern Avenue.. is what it looks. like.. It. is. a. Four hundred. 18. feet thick.. It is why we have all of the bricks,. 19. only here,. 20. natural. 21. creatures.. 22. D.C.. 23. out that red clay delta higher and deeper on this side. 24. of the city.. but in the rest of the city.. resource. for. brick,. but. this. It got wiped out and burned.. dinosaur that. lives. in those. swamps. There is a rich history,. 25. is. This one. not. is our of. our. This is the that piled. but keep in mind. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.

'“N.

52 1. now. if. kids. 2. ages,. 3. found the eggs.. you. could. could. find. make. this. a. 4. (Laughter.). 5. MR.. stuff,. fortune,. O'CONNOR:. that. of. all. especially. if. you. We. and. are. just. now. 6. rediscovering some of this ancient climatic past.. 7. the. 8. University of Maryland area,. 9. and certainly out. green. line. tunnels. through. in this This. both. towards. As the. the middle of the city,. area,. is what. we. 10. and more bones.. 11. like as it comes out of the subway.. are. finding more. a dinosaur bone. looks. So there are rich histories to play with,. 12 13. but. we. really. 14. This. 15. Massachusetts,. 16. Jail in Richmond.. whole. need. belt. of. to. look. red. at. clay. people. goes. from. history.. Gay. Head,. all the way down to the Richmond City. Why be concerned?. 17. the. It is physical hazard,. 18. not chemical hazard.. 19. of. 20. you. 21. Street and Branch Avenue.. 22. a wall up here.. 23. wall off Pennsylvania Avenue.. 24. worry about the red clay.. 25. Your habitat can be moved if you wet this red clay.. the. city is. recognize. The biggest problem on this side. physics, this. not. spot?. chemistry. One. person.. How many of This. is. 0. It took $3 million to put. Most of you have probably. seen the. This is why one has to. Your house is going to go.. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W. (202) 234-4433. WASHINGTON, D C. 20005. (202) 234-4433.