U.S. Senatorial candidate Marquita Bradshaw is someone we knew was coming. We just didn’t know how long we’d have to wait, or how many we‘d lose in the meantime.
If you were born in the 1970’s, like Bradshaw, you took your first steps right along with the EPA. It had been a decade since Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and people were still waking up to: rivers spontaneously catching fire, millions of gallons of oil spilled off U.S. shores, contaminated drinking water, and little towns where the air alone could make you sick. A bipartisan commission finally picked a day between spring break and finals to promote awareness, but for kids like Marquita, Earth Day was too little way too late.
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"I'm Marquita Bradshaw. I have spent my life as an activist, rolling up my sleeves and fighting tirelessly for criminal justice reform, equitable access to healthcare, a clean and safe environment, and a public education system that serves all children.
As a lifelong Tennessean, a working-class woman, and a single mom, I know what it's like when the government doesn't work for you. I want to change that. If you’ll take a leap of faith with me, I promise to never stop fighting to support and protect the hardworking people of this state."
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Bradshaw grew up in Memphis near a decommissioned military depot. They disposed of leaking mustard bombs and other weaponized or industrial chemicals contaminating the soil, ground water and sediment while they were at it. I’m sure they used “MilSpecs” classified as ‘need to know,’ but the military decided almost everyone affected didn’t need to know. And someone important who did, didn’t lift a finger to stop a local school from building right across from it. |
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In 1992, the 623-acre base was placed on the list of Superfund sites. That’s a twisted achievement reserved for the most heavily polluted locations in the country. It wasn’t surprising to the people who decided to dump toxic waste there since the 1940’s, but what a cruel shock to the people who lived there. They’d only been privy to how many people they lost to a strange number of ailments – and the number of young girls with uterine cancer who were told they may not have children of their own. “Don’t worry”, Federal officials kept repeating. They had two studies that proved there was nothing to fear from the Depot.
Meanwhile, Frank Johnson had a mother who developed an aggressive brain cancer. His oldest sister was diagnosed with the same. His middle sister had aggressive tumors in her uterus. His neighbor, Jasmine, had to have the same removed as well. The Taylors were blessed with twin daughters, but one of them developed a rare bone cancer. The Smiths developed four different types of cancer. Unfortunately, the Bradshaws were no different.
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In 1994, two years after the site became a Superfund, Marquita’s mother received the same letter everyone else did: finally admitting the Depot was lethal. I’m sure it was a nebulous, don’t-try-to-sue statement, but everyone got the gist. Even the soil was sick.
Mrs. Bradshaw’s grandmother practically kept a farm out back. She ate from the garden. We’re from the land of Tennessee Tomatoes, how many of us spend our summer that way? Who can’t feel the pain we all see coming? Just a few months after the fifty-year-late warning, the Bradshaws joined the long list of local families who would lose someone irreplaceable.
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In September, Marquita drove all the way from Memphis to meet us, and still found the energy to take every last question. It was dark by the time she took her last picture. She has the stamina you get growing up in the home of a community organizer. She’s spent decades becoming one herself: forging the patience to wade through scientific studies and learn the legal maneuvers needed to make sure what happened to them won’t happen to anyone else. Now she’s running for the U.S. Senate, and if we add power to all the time and effort she’s put in along the way, she could make a real difference. |
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Marquita’s life experience taught her it’s all about the jobs. Obtaining good-paying, clean jobs is the central point of her campaign. As she talked with the crowd, a man came forward with a pained expression and asked if she knew about our past, all the cases it’s easier to forget. The look they shared spoke volumes. It’s hard to think this area used to be ground zero for a notorious synthetic fiber plant. It got unnaturally quiet as a name dredged up in everyone’s mind. Enka. |
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There were actually more names for the place through the years and they all pop up when you look into Lowland, Tennessee’s past on Wikipedia. What requires a little digging is that these companies recognized the dangers of using non-biodegradable petroleum by-products, harmful chemicals, and asbestos years before they stopped manufacturing them. If you were exposed to even tiny amounts of asbestos, 10-40 years later you can expect to develop lung disease or cancer.
Where I grew up, the only difference was the chemical composition of the end products. So, I was familiar with the big plant everyone works for that keeps changing its name. Eventually, you figure out it’s to hide who expensed you as the cost of cheap production. I wasn’t surprised to see that happened here. I was angry. That man in the crowd had stirred the sediment to remind us what can happen anywhere with the wrong people in charge.
Elections have consequences.
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“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” We have an industrial explosives factory pulling and dumping millions of gallons a day in the Nolichucky River. It’s been years since a local politician pretended to fight it. Years that wastewater has been gushing, day after day, all the way to Douglas Lake. It can cause birth defects if it’s not properly treated, but no one knows the last time anyone even checked.
Elections have consequences.
Another problematic fact: running 12 miles of dual pipeline is an expensive endeavor. It would be hard to imagine U.S. Nitrogen turning down money from other corporations who want to tap into their system to take more of our water in return for more waste. It’s a typical scheme, and these guys ran right over the small group of neighbors who tried to stop them the first time. After a lawyer burned through thousands, that little group that met at Papadop’s every week couldn’t even slow them down. We’ll never forget the time Eddie Bruce Overholt made international news standing up for us - and he will always be our hero - but this entire region remains an easy target.
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Marquita speaks passionately about environmental justice. She’s been on the wrong end of it, felt what that can take away from you. Some of us are probably new to the term, but that’s what we’re really talking about. These things don’t happen to people who have access to the right ear. “Not in my backyard.” It only happens to “others” who fit a powerless profile. Enka was founded by foreign capital that specifically chose the American South for its factories. Austin Powder owns U.S. Nitrogen, and is headquartered in Ohio. It’s no accident that they ended up here.
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With a Republican stranglehold on the South, it’s become downright formulaic: make whatever you want, we’ll give you political help when you need to hide things - or make them go away. Use our labor, please! We’ve kept it cheap and unorganized, just for you. Now, wrap everything up before the locals get wise that they got stuck with the time-bomb of a bill. Completely unconscionable, and identically repeated everywhere you can get the cheap political help you need to pull it off. I honestly don’t believe our Republican representatives are evil, they just have low standards. We all want to bring jobs here, but we don’t have to sell ourselves short. |
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In Tennessee, the struggle for safe working conditions often gets lost in the knife fight for a fair wage. It’s a false choice. What we need are leaders with high standards who refuse to settle for low wages or high risk jobs. We don’t have to be fodder for foreign investors. A Senator has a lot of power. That power comes from us, and we need to be careful who we give it to.
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Marquita is pushing for high quality education, Medicare-for-all, the Green New Deal and is determined to get safe, good-paying jobs invested in our area. If we want to not only survive, but thrive, we just need to set higher standards. |
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That means we don’t settle for another Trump endorsed Senator who will deregulate corporations with no concern for what happens to the people who work for them – or the people who live nearby. We need someone well-versed on these ‘green jobs’ we keep hearing about. They pay well, and don’t take it all back in medical bills as they shave decades off your time with your kids. Why aren’t Republicans talking about New Deal economic opportunities for Hamblen County? We can’t even get them to discuss expanding Medicaid during a pandemic.
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We are suffering, and these new jobs will go somewhere. Why not here? Marquita Bradshaw is the only senatorial candidate offering to fight for them – for us – and this isn’t her first time in the ring. Please, for your family, our community, do everything you can to elect Marquita Bradshaw to the U.S. Senate this November 3rd.
We deserve better, and all we have to do is vote for it!
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"Negative ads released July 16 from two separate political action committees (PACS) have revived the topic, claiming clear links between Diana Harshbarger and AIMS... "
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Saturday, October 24 6pm
Includes Buddy's BBQ Dinner
& entry into the door prize cash raffles!
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Hamblen County Democratic Headquarters
910 West Main Street
Morristown, TN 37814
Mon-Fri : 10am-2pm
423-616-0171
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