Show Notes
Friendship
Malcolm Jones and Lathaniel Kirts are lifelong friends who are teaming up to deal with harmful coal dust that clouds the air in their hometown. The source: coal terminals that together form America’s largest coal export system.
For decades, residents in two Black neighborhoods in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia have complained about the coal dust that coats the inside and outside of their homes, cars and playgrounds. Dust they also breathe. Many residents are deeply concerned about the impact of coal dust on their health and lives. Others are unaware of the dust and its effects. Crosswinds puts residents at the center of the story of coal dust in Hampton Roads, and what’s unfolding now in an effort to build healthier neighborhoods and lives.
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Gentrification may be leverage needed to push environmental mitigation in neighborhoods coated in coal dust in Hampton Roads, Virginia. But changes in the neighborhood can also push residents out of their homes. And people wonder – how will the coal dust affect newcomers to the neighborhood, who may not know about the problem?
Since the earliest days of railroads in the US, Black and poor residents have covered the costs of the coal and rail industries with their health and well-being. It’s a tax they pay to wealthy fossil fuel corporations, who continue to escape accountability. This isn’t just in Hampton Roads – all along the railroad tracks, from West Virginia to Baltimore, the coal and rail industries displace costs onto neighboring residents.
There is a new study that could offer more information on the coal dust in Hampton Roads, Virginia. But will it be enough to reduce coal dust? Doubt hangs in the air. The only thing residents know for sure is they want the coal dust gone.
Residents of Hampton Roads are demanding an end to the coal dust after decades of struggle. But the road to environmental justice is long and winding, full of setbacks and switchbacks. What does it mean to have faith that change is possible and that effort is worthwhile?