In November, I drove to South East LA to visit the site where a charter school purchased polluted land to build a new campus. I made this trip after I had a conversation with Susie de Santiago, an activist protecting her neighborhood in Cudahy. I wanted to see with my own eyes twenty thousand square feet of heavy metal and arsenic laced dirt. After I drove around the sweet neighborhood, I was left with a question; why is it always okay for big money to generate toxic messes in non-white communities?
In September I heard neighbors were concerned that a big monied charter school was moving at breakneck speed in Cudahy. While it was alarming to the community that KIPP, a large corporate charter, would damage the cohesiveness of their small neighborhood, more disturbing was the speed at which the operators were moving. Residents were concerned as to what was being lost with this speed. Was it transparency? Proper civic diligence? Environmental justice? Lack of understanding history? The activists had real concerns.
A fellow environmental and education activist introduced me to Susie. Over Zoom, we discussed the situation in Cudahy. I noted Susie exhibited CONTINUE READING: A Toxic Mess in Cudahy. – Los Angeles Education Examiner