We're going to continue doing what we're doing, and that is to enforce the law and be fair about it,
parasites, primarily hookworm – something most experts assumed had disappeared in
the U.S. The Alabama state health department refuses to acknowledge the validity of the test results.
more alarming: the resurgence of parasitic disease linked to poor
and it's leaking water right now. So I have to squeeze the clothes out and hang them
and terror inflicted on black people by white residents who wanted to maintain segregation.
I have no way to take care of this problem myself.
by her department. In recent years, the department has stopped taking people in
misdemeanor and fine. Sherry says the department's role in all of this is only regulatory.
ground is good for planting, but it's not good for on-site wastewater treatment.
soils of the Carolinas, and the of Alabama decided that they wanted to
to put the infrastructure in place to keep the population poor. And a lot of
County is environmental racism. When we first moved to Lowndes County in the 1960s, we had
started providing water to families in rural communities, they left out the
It make me feel bad. Because I don’t want all my stuff just coming out here and running on the ground.
get rid of their own waste. And with nearly a third of the community living
people. Behind her mobile home is a pool of human excrement. That's because she
What started out as a peaceful protest from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in
facility. An estimated 80% of residents have to pay out of pocket to
Many homes in Lowndes County are too scattered for a central wastewater
What’s that feel like?
an area of extreme rural poverty, where families who live in the epicenter of
passed. Black Americans are now guaranteed the right to vote, but if you
We are going to walk nonviolently and peacefully, to let the nation know we are tired now.
Black Americans paid for the right to vote with blood and bruises.
Ain’t nothing I can do. I can pray, 'cause I don’t have nothing.