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This community fought against environmental racism after decades of pollution sickened community
Environment Sep 18, 2020
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For each step on his morning run, Rodney Everett takes a deep breath. The air in his lungs is fresh for the first time in 50 years. “You come out in the morning and see the sky is yellow, and you smell this smell,” said Everett. The smell came from the largest oil refinery on the east coast, Philadelphia Energy Solutions. The refinery sat a few blocks from Everett’s South Philadelphia neighborhood. “This little pocket right here is called the ‘Forgotten Bottom,’ Everett said of his community, tucked in the shadows of the refinery that operated for 157 years. “They was able to operate, because we was kept in the dark for so long.” The refinery was emitting chemicals into the sky; chemicals that became a slow-moving poison. “We buried nine people in one month. In one month, and these were young people,” said Everett. He and his neighbors now collect the obituaries of their loved ones. A snapshot of the community that should have been. “This was my daughter’s mother, 60 years old. Suffered for about seven years fighting cancer,” he said, holding up Sharon Johnson’s obituary. “My brother he suffered from colon cancer. My mother suffered from […]
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