By Fred Smith
AframNews
https://aframnews.com/
How many more cancer clusters do we have to see before Texas steps up and protects Black families the way it should? That’s the question people in Fifth Ward, Kashmere Gardens, Pleasantville, and Sun- nyside keep asking — and honestly, they’re tired of asking. These neighborhoods have been carrying the weight of toxic industries for decades, and everybody knows it. You can smell it in the air, you can see it in the soil, and you can feel it every time another family gets a diagnosis they never should have had to face.
People try to act like these health problems just “happen,” but they don’t. They happen because hazardous sites were put right in the middle of Black communities. They happen because the state let industry expand without asking what it would do to the people living across the street. They happen because our neighborhoods were never given the same level of protection, investment, or political concern that other parts of Houston enjoy every day.
And the worst part? Even after the state admitted there are cancer clusters — even after families shared their stories, their medical bills, their heartbreak — new chemical plants and industrial projects are still being proposed in the same ZIP codes. It’s almost like being told, “We hear you, but we’re going to do it anyway.”
Imagine if this happened in a wealthy suburb. There would be emergency meetings, lawsuits, press conferences, and every elected official within 50 miles.
