• About Us
  • Paper Locations
  • Contact
Hispanic News || Shirley Ann Flower Shop || RS Deer Ranch
March 23, 2023
MEDIA KIT
African American News and Issues
63 °f
Houston
  • National
  • Local
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Health
  • Politics
  • Announcements
  • Afram TV
  • Events
  • Entertainment
No Result
View All Result
African American News and Issues
  • National
  • Local
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Health
  • Politics
  • Announcements
  • Afram TV
  • Events
  • Entertainment
No Result
View All Result
African American News and Issues
No Result
View All Result
  • AframNews Media Kit
  • About
  • Paper Locations
Home African American News & Issues

“Cancer Cluster” Hits Hard in The Fifth Ward/Kashmere Gardens Community.

aframnews by aframnews
8 months ago
in African American News & Issues, Community, Local
0
“Cancer Cluster” Hits Hard in The Fifth Ward/Kashmere Gardens Community.
87
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedIn

By: Kenneth Payne

You might also like

Wonder Woman Conference Returns May 10-13, 2023

SHERIFF ERIC FAGAN AWARDS $39,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS

HSPVA Black Alumni Network presents….The Wiz Emerald City Experience

People living around the polluted cancer cluster area in Fifth Ward/Kashmere Gardens has been a silent tragic epidemic in this community for many years and counting.

The Greater Fifth Ward is one of the oldest wards in Houston, originally Fifth       Ward had many ethnic groups during the early 1800s mainly to the Irish and Jews. By the mid-1880s after the Abolitionist Movement many Blacks migrated there as the Jews and Irish residents moved out. After settling down, Blacks united in the community and made a living for themselves either working at the ship channel or owning countless bars, restaurants, and businesses.

Kashmere Gardens is historically an African American neighborhood right down the street from Fifth Ward, just five minutes away. Both communities are married not only due to how close they are from each other but they’re adjacent to the cancer-causing Union Pacific rail yard. Kashmere Gardens was also the first community to have a local hospital placed on Lockwood Drive, which serves both historic communities.

Do people of the Black community really think government agencies will come to their aid? Or is it a tactic to depopulate and push Black people out in return to gentrify the historical Black communities they’ve always called home?

But what is “Cancer Cluster” and how did it even get in Fifth Ward/Kashmere Gardens in the first place? Well, the Union Pacific Railroad of Omaha, Nebraska became the owner of the rail yard in 1996 right in the heart of the greater Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens on Liberty Road. Upon buying out the rail yard from Southern Pacific, researchers traced back years and years to find a chemical called Creosote. Creosote is a preservative considered to be a causing cancer substance, historically used as a treatment for components of seagoing and outdoor wood structure to prevent rot on bridgework and railway sleepers. The chemical was used for more than 80 years on the railroad yard upon (UPR) acquisition. Creosote treatments ceased in the 1980s and chemicals sank deep into the ground that has widely spread beneath 110 homes in the surrounding area and contaminated water flow right under the city of Houston public works nose which they still haven’t done anything about till this day.

“I’ve lived here all my life our roots are tied deep here, I watched my mom, dad, and sister all die from cancer, I believe with all my heart union-pacific had something to do with it,” said a long-time resident of the community.

And yet Union Pacific doesn’t want to take accountability for perpetuating the problem concerning health and safety of the historical Black community.

Ms. Latonya, a resident across the street from the railroad on Liberty Road went on to say, “I talk with my neighbors and people around the area and everyone I know either have some type of cancer or lost a family or friend to cancer from the hands of the railroad yard”.

Protest after protest, city halls meetings after city halls meetings, empty promises made one after another, when will this stop? Countless people that live in the community either died from the cancer cluster or watched a love one slip through the cracks repeatedly and generations after generations. The EPA found that other chemicals which makes up creosote such as arsenic is linked to lung cancer, but it doesn’t stop there! It was also found that the contaminated ground water caused skin cancer, prostate cancer, and bile duct cancer, which is a rare disease that forms in the liver slender tubes that carry the digestive fluid bile.

Did you know in 2014, Union Pacific offered people that lived in the area $1000 dollars, and to sign a non-disclosure to keep quiet, which enables them from filing any lawsuits against them in the future at that time?

So again, do the people of the Black community really think that any government agencies will come to their aid?  Or is it a tactic to depopulate and push Black people out in return to gentrify the historical Black communities they’ve always called home?

Why should the people of the community trust the political leaders in power to make any changes after the promises that were made over the years? But when it was all said and done people in the community were left to only find multiple knives sticking them… killing them off physically and most importantly killing off any hope for their selves and their children’s future.

More unity is needed in the Black community, and we need more people involved to help organize, properly plan, and strategize ways to protect our communities. The problem they’re dealing with cannot remain water under the bridge any longer. Everyone in Houston needs to be aware about the issues people in the historic greater Fifth Ward/Kashmere Gardens community have been going through.

 

 

 

 

 

Share35Tweet22
aframnews

aframnews

Recommended For You

Wonder Woman Conference Returns May 10-13, 2023

by aframnews
8 months ago
0
Wonder Woman Conference Returns May 10-13, 2023

Dr. La Shawn Denise Witt “The Global Strategist” will host the Wonder Woman Conference on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 – Saturday, May 13, 2023 at the Hyatt Regency...

Read more

SHERIFF ERIC FAGAN AWARDS $39,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS

by aframnews
8 months ago
0
SHERIFF ERIC FAGAN AWARDS $39,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS

Richmond, TX - This past Saturday, 26 graduating high school seniors from Fort Bend County each received a $1,500 scholarship from Sheriff Eric Fagan, Jokes and Justice, in...

Read more

HSPVA Black Alumni Network presents….The Wiz Emerald City Experience

by Crystal LaShan
8 months ago
0
HSPVA Black Alumni Network presents….The Wiz Emerald City Experience

The Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) Black Alumni Network (BAN) did an amazing job supporting the student actors and crew. Several BAN members...

Read more

Houston Family Arts Legacy

by Crystal LaShan
8 months ago
0
Houston Family Arts Legacy

Cortlandt Barrett, remember her name because soon you won’t forget it. She has dynamic talent with an array of theatrical experiences from Dreamgirls to The Wiz. Cortlandt has...

Read more

HSPVA’s The Wiz

by Crystal LaShan
8 months ago
0
HSPVA’s The Wiz

The Kinder High School for Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), The Wiz, was full of amazingly talented young artists who left everything they had on the stage. Jayla...

Read more
Next Post
Back To School

Back To School

Latest Articles

Wonder Woman Conference Returns May 10-13, 2023

Wonder Woman Conference Returns May 10-13, 2023

8 months ago
SHERIFF ERIC FAGAN AWARDS $39,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS

SHERIFF ERIC FAGAN AWARDS $39,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS

8 months ago
HSPVA Black Alumni Network presents….The Wiz Emerald City Experience

HSPVA Black Alumni Network presents….The Wiz Emerald City Experience

8 months ago

NEED PAST ISSUES?

Search our archive of past issues Receive our Latest Updates
* indicates required
  • Local
  • National
  • Community
  • Education
  • Politics
  • COVID-19
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports

ARTICLES

  • Local
  • National
  • Community
  • Education
  • Politics
  • COVID-19
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports

CONNECT WITH US

  • Home
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

  • Hispanic News
  • Shirley Ann’s Flower Shop
African American News and Issues

African American News & Issues
6130 Wheatley St
Houston, TX 77091
(713) 692-1892

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Copyright © 2023. African American News & Issues. All rights reserved. Private Policy | Terms of Use |

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Local
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Health
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Announcements
  • Events
  • Afram TV
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023. African American News & Issues. All rights reserved. Private Policy | Terms of Use |

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?