Ms. Margaret's Lament

MM: Health is related to exposure, proximity, land use, zoning and enforcement. Those five things relate back to who will be impacted or vulnerable.

AT: Hear the call from across the bay

It’s a plea from yesterday

Yet it’s crying out today

Walk a mile in another’s shoes

You’ll be singing out the blues

But you can choose to walk away…

MM: Where I live at, don’t open up the windows in my bedroom because of the abundance of trucks that run through that main street. At any given time in West Oakland, there could be up to 10,000 truck trips a day. Then that’s not including the diesel fuel that they’re using for the cargo handling equipment, the trains and the ships. If you live in a proximity of where the trucks travel constantly opening up your windows, your house has a dark gray ring on top of your ceiling and on your window sills, on your venetian blinds and on your window sills from the trucks. People call it dirt, it’s not dirt, it’s particulate matter. It’s finer than a hair, it goes into your nose and into your lungs. So our fight has been how to reduce emissions.

AT: See the writing that’s on the wall

It’s a message for us all

If we’ll open up our eyes

Walk a mile in another’s shoes

You’ll be singing out the blues

But you can always choose to walk away

What if we all had to stay in the bed we lay

In the mess we make?

We’d figure a way to settle the strain.

MM: We know that one out of five children in Oakland into the flatlands end up in emergency hospital from the ages of zero to five. And those zip codes are 94607, 94608 and 12. All the elementary schools and middle schools, the nurse has inhalers with the students names on them. So that’s how we know that there’s still a problem with asthma. We did an overview about asthma and we went to the childcare center and 50% of the children had inhalers before they go out to play at recess they have to use the inhalers and then when they come back in.

AT: Hear the call from across the bay

It’s a plea from yesterday

Yet it’s crying out today

Walk a mile in another’s shoes

You’ll be singing out the blues

But you can always choose to walk away

What if we all had to stay in the bed we lay

In the mess we make?

We’d figure a way to settle the strain.

MM: What makes me most upset is the power. The power of the pen. Capitalism. Profiteers. I’m hurting.