Bayview Newspaper

October 3rd, 2001

See Also:

8/11 Dirty Power Plants VS Green Energy Battle Rages in San Francisco--Read the Fact Sheet!

5/16 Hundreds Protest PG&E Power Plant in Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco: "We Want Clean, Renewable, Affordable Energy & Conservation, Not Asthma, Air Pollution & Dirty Power Plants". See the Photos! Read the Fact Sheet!

For more information, contact:

Marie Harrison Greenaction

(415) 248-5010

For Women Under 40, Hunters Point Breast Cancer Rate Highest in U.S

Guest Editorial by Kiilu Nyasha

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Sept. 29, community residents and activists, health care providers, scientists, workers, contractors, artists, and other grassroots advocates for economic and environmental justice gathered at the Milton Meyer Gym on Kiska Road at the summit of Hunters Point Hill to voice their concerns about myriad issues affecting their lives. Representatives of these groups have joined together to form the Community First Coalition, which is battling the Navy and the City to address issues of toxic
contamination and pollution, gentrification, the high incidence of asthma, cancer, and other illnesses among residents, and a lack of jobs and affordable housing. They worked diligently to make this first town hall meeting a success. And, Im proud to say, indeed it was.

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Navy used the Hunters Point Shipyard to clean up radioactive ships, conduct experiments, and invent new weapons. One little known fact is that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of World War II came from this Shipyard. Fifty years later, the Navy still hasn't come clean with what they left behind and how to get rid of it. Now they're preparing to expand research and development efforts into the militarization of space.

Some of the strongest testimony about the gross exploitation of the Black community living near the Shipyard - many African-Americans migrated to Hunters Point from Texas, Louisiana and other Southern states in the 1940s - came from two such migrants, Jesse Mason and Willie Ratcliff. They gave brief but passionate, eloquent accounts of the Black experience in Bayview, chronicling the ongoing racism and oppression of its residents.

"No," insisted Mason, "we're not able to get the contracts the Navy is offering. We're not even able to get the contracts in construction from the City, the federal government - we're not getting any of that. We're not teaching our young people the career trades that we need so badly to have them involved in. Economically, the community is dying. And what the City is doing, they're gentrifying the community."

"The cause of gentrification, of course," said Ratcliff, "is economic discrimination. Gentrification means running Black people out of their land so (others) can develop it. That's what they're doing out here."

Some of the most disturbing and poignant remarks came from residents victimized by various illnesses resulting from the toxic mixes permeating the air, water, land and properties. Panelist Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai announced: "Now let me give you a fact that is going to startle you: In the United States of America, the highest incidence of breast cancer for women under the age of 40 is in Bayview Hunters Point."

"Cancer rates for all cancers in this country are declining," she said, so "why are African American women dying from more aggressive cancers that are coming on at an earlier age and that are not being treated at appropriate and standard levels?"

Maurice Campbell, coalition member and one of many spearheads of the campaign to clean up the Hunters Point Shipyard, summarized the broadcast as follows: "In summary, Hunters Point's forgotten residents need your help and support in getting rid of toxic and radioactive contaminants which have gravely affected their health over many decades. Community residents presently have to survive in a toxic triangle - the Hunters Point Shipyard, the PG&E power plant, and the sewage treatment plant. As a community, they have had to endure far too much ill health, various forms of cancer, asthma, diabetes, and a host of other illnesses resulting from toxic and radiation exposure. At the same time, the regulators who are assigned to protect them are not doing their job. There were no health surveys of residents after the fires (toxic fires that began burning last August and continue to date). They were simply told they weren't exposed. Is this justice? In an economically strapped community, of the more than $300 million that has been spent for the cleanup of the shipyard, the community received less than 2 percent for jobs and contracts. Is that justice? Is it fair to bypass the local residents whose families, in many cases, lost their lives and health? We invite you to support Hunters Point in any way you can. Remember! Toxins don't see color or community boundaries or economic status. It could affect you!"

Thanks to KPFA, KPFB (Berkeley) and KFCF (Fresno), this event was broadcast to listeners throughout Northern California. I've already received calls from listeners who heard the three-hour program, saying that this is community radio at its best - what KPFA should be doing more often. Hopefully, this will be the first of a series of town hall meetings that let residents' voices be heard - uncensored and live - addressing the critical problems of their community.

We must continue to speak out on these issues of environmental justice, community-controlled, affordable housing, Shipyard cleanup and local, living-wage employment, health care, gentrification, education, and other issues affecting the lives of BVHP residents.

Together we can work out solutions to all these problems. But the first step toward solving them is developing unity. Each and every one of us must become an activist, an organizer - encouraging and persuading our neighbors to get involved, to take a stand and defend our community and its future generations. One little-known fact is that BVHP has the highest percentage of home ownership in the City. We have the power. We just have to become one fist in the fight for justice and healthy living conditions.

Special thanks to our excellent panelists for all their hard work and contributions to the discussion: Lynne Brown, Maurice Campbell, Theresa Coleman, Craig J. Cohen Jr., Jill Fox, Kevin Epps, Jesse Mason, Willie Ratcliff, Cynthia Selmar, Chris Shirley, Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai, and Ray Tompkins. Thanks to Don Paul and Mike Thomas for research and publicity. Kudos to Marie Harrison, our community co-host, who did a great job in facilitating the voices of our live audience and panelists. But this broadcast wouldnít have happened without our wonderful executive producer, Doug Edwards, and co-producer Matt Martin, who attended advance organizing meetings and did a terrific job of programming. Thanks too to sound engineer Maria Gilardin, station engineer, and board ops Jim Bennett and Deverol Ross, Paulette and Doug Norberg of Collision Course for videotaping, and Jeffrey Blankfort for photography. Big props to the Bay View newspaper, especially Mary and Willie Ratcliff, for their diligence and dedication in keeping these issues alive in the best Black newspaper in the nation. And last but not least, major thanks to all those in the live audience, especially those who let their voices be heard.