“In the Shadow of the Smokestacks”

As a panelist for the Freedom to Breathe Virtual Panel and Rally: "Why a Hunger Strike?" held April 2, 2026, I recited my poem "In the Shadow of the Smokestacks."

I live a mile away from the trash burner euphemistically named Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). I have been involved in zero-waste planning with my community and Hennepin County since 2021.

As part of the Zero Burn Coalition, I am calling for the incinerator to be shut down by December 2027.

The trash burner has ran for almost four decades, sending its emissions to North Minneapolis, an area with concentrated poverty and populated predominantly with African Americans and other People of Color and Indigenous residents.

I spent five years of her childhood in a housing project on the north end of Saginaw, Michigan near the Chevrolet Parts Plant. I remember watching the smokestacks of the plant spewing as I played in a nearby park.

From the smokestacks in Michigan to the smokestacks in Minnesota, racist and classist redlining keeps Indigenous, African Americans and other People of Color residing in north sides of towns under the shadow of polluting smokestacks.