Oberlin College Students and Faculty Take Environmental Samples in Africatown
Continuing Oberlin’s Tradition of ‘Community-Based Learning’ and Social Justice

FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015, AFRICATOWN, MOBILE, AL – Oberlin College has a long tradition of social justice, and the nearly 1,000 miles traveled for their Africatown ‘Community-Based Learning’ experience is no exception. 5 students and 2 faculty members will disembark Saturday on the 14 hour drive arriving in time for rest ahead of a busy schedule.

Sunday will see the students visit Africatown’s Union, Yorktown, and First Hopewell Baptist churches followed by a luncheon and tour of Africatown’s historic sites and the industrial incursion it is currently experiencing. Monday through Wednesday the students will be taking a variety of samples of different media testing for toxic environmental contamination long-suspected of contributing to the raft of chronic health problems from which Africatown’s residents suffer. Continue reading →

Africatown Hosts 60 Environmental Justice Leaders from Across North America
Environmental Injustices in Coastal Alabama Come Into Focus

JANUARY 30, 2015, AFRICATOWN, MOBILE, AL – As part of this weekend’s Extreme Energy Extraction Summit (E3S) in Biloxi, Mississippi, a busload of 60 frontline environmental justice organizers from across North America ventured to Africatown’s Whippet’s Den for a hearing of environmental justice concerns from the Coastal Alabama region. Africatown’s unique historical heritage was shared by local historians and storytellers while the out of town guests dined on a locally-prepared vegetarian lunch as part of a regional environmental bus tour organized by the E3S.

The speakers included Africatown historian Lorna Woods, City of Prichard Spokesperson Melanie Baldwin, Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition organizer Joe Womack, South Bay Community Alliance organizer Lori Bosarge, Church St. East organizer Marie Dyson, and Eight Mile concerned resident Jeremiah Hollins Continue reading →

***UPDATE: The community meeting went exceedingly well. You can read an account and see video from New American Journal here. The Mobile Planning Commission eventually voted to deny the re-zoning request.

Proposed Re-Zoning from Residential to Heavy Industrial in Historic Africatown Outrages Residents
Yorktown Missionary Baptist Church Hosts Community Meeting with Developer, Councilman Manzie

On Tuesday, December 16 at 6:00 PM at Yorktown Missionary Baptist Church, residents of the Historic Africatown/Plateau neighborhood will meet to discuss their concerns about Bean Properties, LLC’s proposed re-zoning of a Residential (R-1) property to Heavy Industry (I-2). Bob Collins, the sole proprietor of Bean Properties, LLC, has indicated in permit applications intentions to clear and pave most of the currently wooded fields of the 17.7 acre pair of lots immediately across the Papermill Road from the old IP site, which many residents suspect is contaminated and in need of remediation. These plans would ostensibly allow for the construction of two warehouses totaling over 125,000 square feet with offices, though once re-zoned I-2 the property could then become any number of even less desirable industrial activities. Continue reading →