Parriva
mark! Lopez has been there from the beginning. He was born and raised in a "family of activists where community organizing is a family trade," as mentioned in his bio. From a young age, he participated in every protest his grandparents or parents took him to. It was there that he cultivated his passion for helping and organizing the community.
The problem of pollution from Exide has been part of his life for many years. He went to study at UC Santa Cruz, and upon returning to Los Angeles in 2008, during a visit to his grandparents, his grandmother told him, "hey, you know, Exide is still right here." Lopez smiles when talking about how long it has taken to address the damage caused by the Exide battery factory, which contaminated a significant part of the surrounding neighborhoods.
"It has been disastrous. A combination of several things, the company's lack of responsibility, the state authorities' absence of commitment to cleaning up the contaminated areas, and a lot of misinformation," says Lopez, who won the Goldman Prize in 2017 for his leadership in providing comprehensive lead testing and cleanup of East Los Angeles homes contaminated by a battery smelter.
In response to Senator Alex Padilla's proposal to designate the affected neighborhoods as a Superfund site, which would provide federal funds from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this community organizer is optimistic. "I have faith that we will get the funds. I don't personally know Senator Padilla, but I don't think he has a choice. We have a well-organized community that will demand he fulfill that commitment," says Lopez. "But the problem, in addition to receiving the funds, is establishing the mechanism to implement it. Knowing the actual extent of this contamination and how it will be resolved," he adds.
In recent weeks, Senator Alex Padilla traveled from Washington to the Exide-affected neighborhoods to announce his intentions to federalize this problem, once and for all, to eliminate the danger that residents face.
Lopez clearly understands the issues. When asked if this problem has persisted due to indifference and bureaucracy because these are low-income Latino neighborhoods, he is emphatic in his response.
"One hundred percent. There have been similar problems in other non-Latino areas that receive more attention. Here, the indifference of the state and the company has been evident. It's as if we don't matter. They don't want to spend money; they don't know where the pollution ends, and they are afraid of how far it will spread," he says.
"What Exide Technologies has done to our community is tragic and unacceptable. Politically connected polluters can't be free to walk away while working-class families pick up the pieces," said Congressman Robert Garcia. "Senator Padilla and I have called for the EPA to designate this environmental catastrophe as a Superfund site, and we cannot wait around while our community and people suffer the consequences."
mark! Lopez jokes about some government proposals, which essentially advise residents not to go outside and to avoid potentially contaminated areas.
"Can you imagine! They tell our community, used to going out, not to do it, to stay indoors. Our people like to garden in their yards, to go outside. What we've been promoting are small gardens where they can continue doing what they love. We also turn to ancestral remedies; we encourage people to eat cilantro that is grown in soil that is not contaminated so it can pull soil from our blood," says the activist.
Contaminated Communities: Urgent Cleanup Call for Exide Plant Site
