by Danielle Hoague
Summary
This event was held at the Watts Labor Community Action Committee Center in south-central Los Angeles on April 15th, 2022. The event, titled “Sick of It,” was organized around environmental issues about air, water, and soil pollution, specifically in the Watts community. Our main objective was to communicate complex scientific information in the form of the arts so it can be shared with community members. “Sick of It” was organized by our nonprofit organization called the Better Watts Initiative that is a group of students, activists, artists, and community members striving to improve the well-being of Watts residents.
Importance
The importance of this event was that our group of students communicated our scientific findings into legible infographics and art pieces about the environmental injustices in Watts that can be shared. Approximately 100 people attended the event. The last time that the space dedicated to environmental issues was updated was in 2015. We updated that space and art gallery containing our research in 2022. These new art pieces and scientific infographics will live at the Watts Labor Community Action Committee Center in perpetuity. Another student and I gave tours of the art space to inform and communicate our research and history of racism impacting Watts. From these tours, at least 100 people learned about the toxic environment specific to south-central Los Angeles. We brought together community members, activists, and students who are joining our initiative.
Impact and outreach
Community members from the former Ujima Village public housing development in Watts that had not seen each other in years came together and told their stories. Some community members had never heard of the contamination below their homes that they were evicted from in 2010. Some of the residents shared stories about their former homes, the cancers they developed, and the community members who had passed away possibly as a result to their exposures. We were able to reach the community members through our network of lifetime residents. We also brought together a larger group of students from UCLA who were able to engage with Watts community members that they otherwise may not have met.
Collaborations
From the event we garnered significant support from the people of Watts, USC, UCLA, and Cal State Dominguez Hills to join the BWI. Some of these volunteers are bringing their scientific research skills to the BWI to help expand knowledge about the environmental injustices happening in Watts.
My specific roles and contributions
I am the environmental science and policy research director at the BWI. I specifically conducted and communicated the scientific research about water so that the infographics could be made. I also gave multiple tours of the space so that the environmental research could be explained to non-scientists. The poster below was the flyer created for this event.
Danielle is part of the 2019-2020 INFEWS program cohort and a PhD Student in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA. Her research focuses on working towards finding the sources of lead contamination and advocating for policies that will increase the well-being of the south-central Los Angeles, specifically Watts, community.