Wilmington, CA - The pipeline runs directly through the community from the refineries.
The youth made some powerful signs. most of the residents have, or know someone who has, severe asthma and/or cancers. Most people suspect that this is related to the concentration of refineries in the area (4 in Wilmington and 3 in Carson). When the youth from Southeast LA rolled up, some of them had troubles breathing. All of us who are not from WIlmington all felt the impacts of breathing that air.
Families and local community members at the rally.
Mary Cervantes, local Wilmington resident
Mary Cervantes has lived in Wilmington, CA all her life. She has stage 4 cancer. First, it took several years before her cancer of the kidneys was even diagnosed by the doctors - they kept misdiagnosing the symptoms as menopause. Then, after they removed one kidney, about a year later, she was found to have cancer in her liver - and they cannot remove the liver. So she lives with this cancer, and takes medicines which make her feel sick, in addition to the medical treatments during which she often was so tired that she could not leave her house, and so forth. She lost an incredible amount of weight during treatment. These are the costs of this pollution in the community. A neighbor has had a breast removed, others also have cancers. In fact, when Mary went to the UCLA hospital, in the basement, she said that the people in there are from Wilmington, Carson, Long Beach. Most people in the neighborhood suspect that these illnesses are due to the chemicals emitted from the refineries. When asked what she thought the impact on her community would be if Prop 23 passes, she said, " I think it will be the end of future generations. They will be sick with asthma, with cancer." And she said, "I do this for the community - for my neighbors, the future generations, our kids and grandkids. I am strong and I will fight, because we have to."
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