Hyperbole
teandrevolution: Last night an oil refinery (one of the largest in the country) in Richmond, CA (a predominantly black, working-class city in the east bay, experienced several explosions and caught fire.  Residents were warned not to leave their houses overnight.  No one was killed, but over 350 people were hospitalized, mostly with breathing problems.  (source: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/92510/archives/2012/08/07/more-than-350-people-admitted-to-hospitals-in-wake-of-chevron-fire) One commenter on Chevron’s facebook page wrote: “My lungs are burning. Asthma is constricting my breathing, and inhalers are doing little to help. My throat is sore and burning. My voice is hoarse. And the thousands of dollars we’ve scraped into our extensive raised bed vegetable garden to substantially supplement our food year round — built with clean soil and compost to avoid the crap built up in our soil by decades of Richmond refinery issues — has largely gone up with the smoke, now useless. How can we eat anything produced after this — our tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, pears, radishes, persimmons, citrus, beans, greens, rhubarb, blueberries, figs, and so much else? And I’d like to think you’ll make it right somehow, but I trust you as far as I can throw you. None of us around here have any illusions that you will be a good neighbor, given your record, by righting even some of your many wrongs in this area. Right now, you haven’t even given us the courtesy of a f***ing news conference.” While clearly the pollution affects everyone in the area, it is no surprise that the people most harshly affected will be people of color.  Nimby policies in richer areas often push dangerous, toxic things like factories, and refineries into poor communities that suffer most when accidents like this happen. 

teandrevolution:

Last night an oil refinery (one of the largest in the country) in Richmond, CA (a predominantly black, working-class city in the east bay, experienced several explosions and caught fire.  Residents were warned not to leave their houses overnight.  No one was killed, but over 350 people were hospitalized, mostly with breathing problems.  (source: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/92510/archives/2012/08/07/more-than-350-people-admitted-to-hospitals-in-wake-of-chevron-fire)

One commenter on Chevron’s facebook page wrote:

“My lungs are burning. Asthma is constricting my breathing, and inhalers are doing little to help. My throat is sore and burning. My voice is hoarse. And the thousands of dollars we’ve scraped into our extensive raised bed vegetable garden to substantially supplement our food year round — built with clean soil and compost to avoid the crap built up in our soil by decades of Richmond refinery issues — has largely gone up with the smoke, now useless. How can we eat anything produced after this — our tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, pears, radishes, persimmons, citrus, beans, greens, rhubarb, blueberries, figs, and so much else? And I’d like to think you’ll make it right somehow, but I trust you as far as I can throw you. None of us around here have any illusions that you will be a good neighbor, given your record, by righting even some of your many wrongs in this area. Right now, you haven’t even given us the courtesy of a f***ing news conference.”

While clearly the pollution affects everyone in the area, it is no surprise that the people most harshly affected will be people of color.  Nimby policies in richer areas often push dangerous, toxic things like factories, and refineries into poor communities that suffer most when accidents like this happen. 

(via kristinetomaro)

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