1 00:00:00,519 --> 00:00:01,850 [TV static drones] 2 00:00:01,919 --> 00:00:05,091 [bright tone] 3 00:00:14,466 --> 00:00:17,366 [serene music] 4 00:00:17,435 --> 00:00:20,002 ♪ ♪ 5 00:00:20,071 --> 00:00:21,704 - Growing up in Houston, 6 00:00:21,773 --> 00:00:23,372 oil has always been synonymous 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,441 with what it means to be a true Texan. 8 00:00:25,510 --> 00:00:26,641 [explosion] 9 00:00:26,710 --> 00:00:30,246 In 1901, history was made with the eruption 10 00:00:30,314 --> 00:00:33,548 of the state's first gusher at the Spindletop oil field. 11 00:00:33,617 --> 00:00:36,351 It spewed black gold for nine days 12 00:00:36,420 --> 00:00:39,287 and changed the economy of Texas forever. 13 00:00:39,356 --> 00:00:42,524 But who really profited from this oil economy? 14 00:00:42,593 --> 00:00:44,761 As the state with the largest Black population 15 00:00:44,829 --> 00:00:46,461 in the country, 16 00:00:46,530 --> 00:00:48,296 how has the Black community been impacted 17 00:00:48,365 --> 00:00:50,665 living in the energy capital of the world? 18 00:00:50,734 --> 00:00:54,069 Is oil an identity that we truly inherited, 19 00:00:54,138 --> 00:00:56,372 or is the story much deeper than that? 20 00:00:56,441 --> 00:00:58,373 [babbling] 21 00:00:58,442 --> 00:00:59,609 - Is there something you want to say? 22 00:00:59,677 --> 00:01:01,677 - [laughs] - Say hi. 23 00:01:01,746 --> 00:01:03,446 - Yeah. - Say "my".. 24 00:01:03,515 --> 00:01:04,580 - My... 25 00:01:04,649 --> 00:01:06,715 - Name... - Name... 26 00:01:06,784 --> 00:01:09,686 - Is... - Is... 27 00:01:09,754 --> 00:01:11,820 My name is Alex Stapleton. 28 00:01:11,889 --> 00:01:15,624 And for 20 years, I've been a Texan in exile. 29 00:01:15,692 --> 00:01:18,995 My family has been here for seven generations, 30 00:01:19,063 --> 00:01:21,964 so leaving home was a really big deal. 31 00:01:22,033 --> 00:01:23,666 But I left because I wanted to become 32 00:01:23,735 --> 00:01:26,235 a documentary filmmaker. 33 00:01:26,304 --> 00:01:28,403 I filmed all over the world, 34 00:01:28,472 --> 00:01:30,472 telling other people's stories. 35 00:01:30,540 --> 00:01:33,442 But this is the first time I'm using my craft 36 00:01:33,511 --> 00:01:36,378 to tell the story of where I come from. 37 00:01:36,446 --> 00:01:38,513 It's really important to me coming back home 38 00:01:38,582 --> 00:01:40,849 to get the perspectives and the point of view 39 00:01:40,917 --> 00:01:45,054 and the history on camera and share with my people, 40 00:01:45,123 --> 00:01:48,190 my family, and just Americans, you know. 41 00:01:48,259 --> 00:01:51,961 We have to start incorporating different histories 42 00:01:52,029 --> 00:01:55,231 into what we know about ourselves. 43 00:01:55,299 --> 00:01:57,366 I want to know why my ancestors have been left out 44 00:01:57,434 --> 00:01:58,833 of the history books 45 00:01:58,902 --> 00:02:02,137 and how my family today can continue to live 46 00:02:02,206 --> 00:02:04,406 in one of the wealthiest parts of the world 47 00:02:04,475 --> 00:02:06,809 without ever having the same opportunities. 48 00:02:06,878 --> 00:02:10,646 ♪ ♪ 49 00:02:10,714 --> 00:02:13,319 Where is the Black story in Texas? 50 00:02:14,685 --> 00:02:17,553 And where is the Black story when we talk about oil? 51 00:02:17,622 --> 00:02:21,523 ♪ ♪ 52 00:02:21,592 --> 00:02:23,025 Yes, sir. - [speaks indistinctly] 53 00:02:23,094 --> 00:02:24,263 - Huh? 54 00:02:24,862 --> 00:02:26,632 - I'm doing a documentary. 55 00:02:28,965 --> 00:02:31,803 - 'Cause I'm talking about Black people and oil and gas. 56 00:02:34,005 --> 00:02:35,407 - Exactly. 57 00:02:36,541 --> 00:02:37,743 - Yes, sir. 58 00:02:41,012 --> 00:02:43,912 [upbeat music] 59 00:02:43,981 --> 00:02:46,982 ♪ ♪ 60 00:02:47,051 --> 00:02:49,918 [train-crossing bell dinging] 61 00:02:49,987 --> 00:02:56,963 ♪ ♪ 62 00:03:05,469 --> 00:03:07,469 In order to understand where Black Texans 63 00:03:07,538 --> 00:03:09,671 fit into the oil and gas story, 64 00:03:09,740 --> 00:03:14,443 we have to go back in time, before Spindletop. 65 00:03:14,511 --> 00:03:16,512 This is the San Jacinto Monument. 66 00:03:16,580 --> 00:03:18,680 In school, we learned this is the battlefield 67 00:03:18,749 --> 00:03:22,017 where Texas independence was fought and won. 68 00:03:22,086 --> 00:03:24,786 What we were not taught was that the Texas Revolution 69 00:03:24,855 --> 00:03:28,523 was fought over the debate to keep slavery. 70 00:03:28,592 --> 00:03:30,192 So I thought this would be a great place 71 00:03:30,261 --> 00:03:31,527 to start the journey, 72 00:03:31,596 --> 00:03:33,628 because, to me, it signifies 73 00:03:33,697 --> 00:03:37,532 the tall tale of Texas, the partial truths. 74 00:03:37,601 --> 00:03:39,467 And I met up with Larry Wright, 75 00:03:39,536 --> 00:03:42,204 who writes about how this causes many of us 76 00:03:42,273 --> 00:03:44,773 to struggle with our Texan identity. 77 00:03:44,842 --> 00:03:47,910 - So much of Texas history revolves around, 78 00:03:47,979 --> 00:03:50,545 you know, what happened to the Black story. 79 00:03:50,614 --> 00:03:53,015 You know, it's gotten written out of our history. 80 00:03:53,084 --> 00:03:55,618 And yet you've been a part of it since the beginning. 81 00:03:55,687 --> 00:03:56,718 - I know. 82 00:03:56,787 --> 00:03:59,155 Well, that's been the big part of telling the story, 83 00:03:59,223 --> 00:04:00,589 and the journey of telling this story is-- 84 00:04:00,657 --> 00:04:02,625 you know, it's not in our schoolbooks. 85 00:04:02,694 --> 00:04:05,689 - Mm-hmm. - It's hard to find. 86 00:04:05,758 --> 00:04:07,196 Yeah, it's complex. 87 00:04:07,265 --> 00:04:09,398 And I'm not proud of the ugliness of it, 88 00:04:09,467 --> 00:04:11,833 but I feel compelled... 89 00:04:11,902 --> 00:04:15,371 to share the story and that this needs to be written 90 00:04:15,439 --> 00:04:16,838 into the history of the state. - Right. 91 00:04:16,907 --> 00:04:18,969 Be folded into the narrative. - It needs to be folded in. 92 00:04:19,038 --> 00:04:22,010 - And then you feel more at home. 93 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:23,245 - Yeah. 94 00:04:23,314 --> 00:04:26,015 Coming home, thanks to... 95 00:04:26,083 --> 00:04:27,582 to reading your book, actually, 96 00:04:27,651 --> 00:04:30,285 it's like I'm being rehabilitated. 97 00:04:30,354 --> 00:04:33,556 [laughter] - I hope for the best. 98 00:04:33,625 --> 00:04:35,023 - I'm being rehabilitated. 99 00:04:35,092 --> 00:04:38,094 But reading your book kind of made me think of Texas 100 00:04:38,162 --> 00:04:39,729 in a very different way, 101 00:04:39,797 --> 00:04:41,429 because through reading your book-- 102 00:04:41,498 --> 00:04:43,265 even though you and I have 103 00:04:43,334 --> 00:04:44,967 completely different backgrounds-- 104 00:04:45,036 --> 00:04:46,168 - Totally, totally different. 105 00:04:46,237 --> 00:04:47,836 - Completely different backgrounds. 106 00:04:47,904 --> 00:04:51,340 But there's so much that you hit in your writing 107 00:04:51,409 --> 00:04:54,410 and describing this very complex relationship 108 00:04:54,478 --> 00:04:57,446 and identity, you know, that we have as Texans, 109 00:04:57,515 --> 00:04:59,409 that we all struggle with. - Right. 110 00:04:59,478 --> 00:05:01,184 - Or at least that you wrote about your struggle with it. 111 00:05:01,253 --> 00:05:02,250 - Yeah. 112 00:05:02,319 --> 00:05:03,519 - And that gave me comfort 113 00:05:03,588 --> 00:05:08,457 because I realized that-- 114 00:05:08,525 --> 00:05:11,863 that there's something bigger that binds us all. 115 00:05:13,465 --> 00:05:16,560 [upbeat music] 116 00:05:16,629 --> 00:05:23,109 ♪ ♪ 117 00:05:25,943 --> 00:05:28,778 We are headed out to Crosby, Texas. 118 00:05:28,846 --> 00:05:31,113 When I was 11, I went from being 119 00:05:31,182 --> 00:05:34,383 in the inner city in Houston to moving out to the boonies. 120 00:05:34,451 --> 00:05:39,288 There's, like, horses, cows, everything out here. 121 00:05:39,357 --> 00:05:41,693 It was quite culture shock. 122 00:05:42,726 --> 00:05:44,059 I want to go visit my mom today 123 00:05:44,128 --> 00:05:47,096 because she's kind of the family historian 124 00:05:47,165 --> 00:05:51,137 and she has managed to learn where our people came from. 125 00:05:52,470 --> 00:05:54,803 My mom grew up when segregation, 126 00:05:54,871 --> 00:05:56,838 you know, Jim Crow laws, were still in effect. 127 00:05:56,906 --> 00:06:00,676 And in the early '70s, when she was in high school, 128 00:06:00,744 --> 00:06:02,477 she was a part of busing and forced integration, 129 00:06:02,546 --> 00:06:04,514 because the schools weren't mixing. 130 00:06:04,582 --> 00:06:06,949 That's how she met my dad. 131 00:06:07,018 --> 00:06:09,617 And then my mom had me. 132 00:06:09,686 --> 00:06:12,822 And a few years later, my parents divorced. 133 00:06:12,890 --> 00:06:16,191 And my mom revealed to my dad that... 134 00:06:16,260 --> 00:06:18,460 she was a lesbian. 135 00:06:18,529 --> 00:06:20,729 We just had a different type of Texan family, 136 00:06:20,797 --> 00:06:22,765 but as nice as things were at home, you know, 137 00:06:22,834 --> 00:06:24,433 I ran into a lot of problems 138 00:06:24,501 --> 00:06:26,872 growing up in a state like this. 139 00:06:29,239 --> 00:06:32,574 This environment, you know, being out here in Crosby, 140 00:06:32,643 --> 00:06:35,711 it was pretty brutal to have gay parents 141 00:06:35,780 --> 00:06:39,482 and to also have a mixed-race family, 142 00:06:39,551 --> 00:06:41,250 but we survived. 143 00:06:41,318 --> 00:06:44,220 [gentle music] 144 00:06:44,289 --> 00:06:49,024 ♪ ♪ 145 00:06:49,093 --> 00:06:50,596 Okay. 146 00:06:51,861 --> 00:06:55,531 Okay, so I want to tell the story about Black people 147 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:56,966 and our history. 148 00:06:57,035 --> 00:06:59,235 And we've been here for how many generations? 149 00:06:59,303 --> 00:07:01,203 - I can go back to 1840. 150 00:07:01,271 --> 00:07:04,006 - So out of all this stuff, like, where does it start? 151 00:07:04,075 --> 00:07:07,510 - The story starts with Richard Willis. 152 00:07:07,579 --> 00:07:08,744 Oh, here's Richard Willis. 153 00:07:08,813 --> 00:07:10,512 And he came here from Maryland, 154 00:07:10,581 --> 00:07:13,415 him and two brothers, and they sailed into Galveston 155 00:07:13,484 --> 00:07:15,451 in maybe 1840. - Mm-hmm. 156 00:07:15,519 --> 00:07:16,785 - And they just became merchants 157 00:07:16,853 --> 00:07:20,122 and owned all kinds of businesses in Galveston. 158 00:07:20,191 --> 00:07:22,324 He owned slaves. - Mm-hmm. 159 00:07:22,392 --> 00:07:24,927 - And my great-great-grandfather 160 00:07:24,996 --> 00:07:26,528 was his son. 161 00:07:26,597 --> 00:07:29,297 On the slave records, he spent his whole life with him. 162 00:07:29,366 --> 00:07:31,433 - Mm-hmm. - His name was Qype. 163 00:07:31,501 --> 00:07:33,802 And this is Richard's slave record. 164 00:07:33,871 --> 00:07:37,707 He didn't own very many, but here's Qype, age 10. 165 00:07:37,776 --> 00:07:39,908 He has a 10-year-old mulatto. 166 00:07:39,976 --> 00:07:43,811 Qype was born in 1840, so 1850, he would have been 10. 167 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:46,243 Qype spent his life being his carriage driver. 168 00:07:46,311 --> 00:07:48,717 When I was growing up, I always knew 169 00:07:48,785 --> 00:07:52,320 that Qype had children, which is my great-grandmother, 170 00:07:52,389 --> 00:07:54,957 his daughter, Ella Willis. 171 00:07:55,026 --> 00:07:56,058 - That's Mama Ella. 172 00:07:56,127 --> 00:07:59,161 - It's one of the only photos I have of Qype's family. 173 00:07:59,230 --> 00:08:00,796 I don't have a picture of Qype, 174 00:08:00,865 --> 00:08:02,164 but, anyway, that's his daughter, 175 00:08:02,232 --> 00:08:03,431 my great-grandmother. 176 00:08:03,500 --> 00:08:05,701 - I'm conflicted hearing this history. 177 00:08:05,770 --> 00:08:07,569 While I find great pride 178 00:08:07,638 --> 00:08:09,738 learning that I'm a descendant of Qype, 179 00:08:09,806 --> 00:08:13,542 the hard truth was that his father was his enslaver, 180 00:08:13,610 --> 00:08:16,148 and that is very painful to accept. 181 00:08:18,181 --> 00:08:21,316 After successfully tracking down this part of our family, 182 00:08:21,385 --> 00:08:24,354 my mother was able to go back and trace our paternal line 183 00:08:24,422 --> 00:08:26,454 to John Thomas. 184 00:08:26,523 --> 00:08:28,757 John was enslaved by Michel Menard, 185 00:08:28,826 --> 00:08:33,695 a white settler who founded the city of Galveston in 1836, 186 00:08:33,764 --> 00:08:36,866 immediately after Texas became a republic. 187 00:08:36,935 --> 00:08:39,035 His home, the Menard House, 188 00:08:39,103 --> 00:08:41,270 is a historical site here in Texas 189 00:08:41,339 --> 00:08:44,306 and is another place I visited as a young schoolgirl 190 00:08:44,375 --> 00:08:46,108 on field trips to Galveston. 191 00:08:46,177 --> 00:08:49,145 But as a kid, I had no idea this is where 192 00:08:49,213 --> 00:08:52,614 my great-great-grandfather also lived. 193 00:08:52,683 --> 00:08:54,644 - The founder of Galveston... - Uh-huh. 194 00:08:54,713 --> 00:08:56,251 - That was his house. - This is the Menard Mansion. 195 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:00,722 - Yeah, where John Thomas... both: Was a slave. 196 00:09:00,790 --> 00:09:02,424 - And they actually still have the slave quarters 197 00:09:02,493 --> 00:09:04,759 in the back, if you go on a tour. 198 00:09:04,828 --> 00:09:07,429 - And what do they say when you go to the slave quarters? 199 00:09:07,498 --> 00:09:09,098 - This is where the slaves stayed. 200 00:09:09,167 --> 00:09:10,466 - Wow. 201 00:09:10,534 --> 00:09:13,769 Do they even have photos up or any recognition of the slaves 202 00:09:13,838 --> 00:09:15,404 that came from there? - No. 203 00:09:15,473 --> 00:09:17,239 - But, again, that's, like, my point. 204 00:09:17,307 --> 00:09:18,540 Our history doesn't matter. 205 00:09:18,609 --> 00:09:20,810 I didn't grow up with any of this history. 206 00:09:20,879 --> 00:09:21,776 - Right. - Like, when you go 207 00:09:21,845 --> 00:09:23,778 to these places, they never talk about slaves. 208 00:09:23,847 --> 00:09:27,449 That's, like, one of the most famous buildings 209 00:09:27,518 --> 00:09:29,952 on the Gulf Coast, and it's celebrated, 210 00:09:30,020 --> 00:09:31,253 and you go there, and there's pictures 211 00:09:31,321 --> 00:09:33,556 of all the slave owners and all the white people. 212 00:09:33,625 --> 00:09:35,391 And we're just-- 213 00:09:35,460 --> 00:09:37,693 we have no history. 214 00:09:37,762 --> 00:09:39,298 - Right. - [clicks tongue] 215 00:09:40,865 --> 00:09:43,132 - When Texas was a republic, 216 00:09:43,201 --> 00:09:45,100 it was a lot bigger than it is now. 217 00:09:45,169 --> 00:09:49,638 It extended up all the way through parts of Colorado, 218 00:09:49,707 --> 00:09:52,308 and it went all the way up to Wyoming. 219 00:09:52,376 --> 00:09:56,778 Because there were slaves and labor was free 220 00:09:56,847 --> 00:09:59,749 and cotton is incredibly labor-intensive, 221 00:09:59,818 --> 00:10:02,484 Texas became a cotton state. 222 00:10:02,552 --> 00:10:04,887 And once it became a cotton state, 223 00:10:04,956 --> 00:10:08,357 there was an investment in keeping slavery. 224 00:10:08,425 --> 00:10:10,125 Now, our days as a republic, 225 00:10:10,194 --> 00:10:12,027 which was actually just a decade-- 226 00:10:12,096 --> 00:10:13,528 we had a choice. 227 00:10:13,597 --> 00:10:14,963 We could have stayed a republic. 228 00:10:15,032 --> 00:10:18,700 Great Britain, which had just outlawed slavery itself, 229 00:10:18,768 --> 00:10:22,171 was willing to recognize Texas as a republic 230 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,339 if we renounced slavery. 231 00:10:24,408 --> 00:10:25,808 And we chose not to. 232 00:10:25,877 --> 00:10:27,742 It was a conscious decision 233 00:10:27,811 --> 00:10:30,512 on the part of the white settlers in Texas 234 00:10:30,581 --> 00:10:34,120 to keep slavery and enter the Union. 235 00:10:35,647 --> 00:10:38,453 - Slavery was finally abolished in 1863, 236 00:10:38,522 --> 00:10:42,258 when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. 237 00:10:42,326 --> 00:10:44,293 This is the history we've been taught, 238 00:10:44,362 --> 00:10:47,564 but what's often left out is that many enslaved populations 239 00:10:47,632 --> 00:10:49,932 remained in bondage. 240 00:10:50,001 --> 00:10:52,267 Here in Texas, slaves were not freed 241 00:10:52,336 --> 00:10:57,373 until 2 1/2 years later, on June 19, 1865. 242 00:10:57,441 --> 00:11:00,042 Juneteenth was created to commemorate this moment. 243 00:11:00,110 --> 00:11:01,811 And the campaign to make Juneteenth 244 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:04,614 an official state holiday was led in part 245 00:11:04,682 --> 00:11:06,376 by my family, 246 00:11:06,445 --> 00:11:08,487 the descendants of John Thomas. 247 00:11:09,754 --> 00:11:11,821 So now slavery has ended. 248 00:11:11,889 --> 00:11:13,856 Then what happens to our family? 249 00:11:13,925 --> 00:11:15,725 - Okay, so our family's in Galveston, 250 00:11:15,794 --> 00:11:18,761 and John Thomas is no longer a slave. 251 00:11:18,830 --> 00:11:21,497 He drops the Menard name. 252 00:11:21,566 --> 00:11:22,664 He had two children. 253 00:11:22,733 --> 00:11:26,368 He had a son named William, who is my great-grandfather. 254 00:11:26,437 --> 00:11:29,872 William married Maddy Peachy. 255 00:11:29,941 --> 00:11:32,602 - Then we have Granddaddy. - Yeah. 256 00:11:32,671 --> 00:11:36,979 So William Thomas-- this is my grandfather. 257 00:11:37,047 --> 00:11:38,747 He became a Pullman Porter. 258 00:11:38,816 --> 00:11:42,118 Then he had 10 children, and he lived in Fifth Ward. 259 00:11:42,186 --> 00:11:44,753 - What kind of place was Fifth Ward? 260 00:11:44,821 --> 00:11:48,590 - It was a Black neighborhood near downtown. 261 00:11:48,659 --> 00:11:51,060 You basically had shotgun houses... 262 00:11:51,128 --> 00:11:53,829 - Mm-hmm. - Or houses on stilts. 263 00:11:53,898 --> 00:11:55,831 You didn't have foundations. 264 00:11:55,900 --> 00:11:58,600 His kids grow up there, go to school. 265 00:11:58,669 --> 00:12:00,903 And then I guess some developer 266 00:12:00,972 --> 00:12:03,338 created a new neighborhood-- Pleasantville. 267 00:12:03,407 --> 00:12:06,241 They moved there, I think, in 1949. 268 00:12:06,310 --> 00:12:08,945 And Pleasantville was, at the time, 269 00:12:09,013 --> 00:12:10,913 the step up for Blacks. - Mm-hmm. 270 00:12:10,981 --> 00:12:12,982 What did it mean to Granny and to Granddaddy 271 00:12:13,050 --> 00:12:16,285 that they could live in a community like Pleasantville? 272 00:12:16,354 --> 00:12:18,453 - They felt like it was a great achievement. 273 00:12:18,522 --> 00:12:20,723 You had a lot of professionals in Pleasantville, 274 00:12:20,791 --> 00:12:22,758 like doctors and attorneys. 275 00:12:22,827 --> 00:12:24,454 And you had everything contained 276 00:12:24,523 --> 00:12:25,628 right there in the neighborhood. 277 00:12:25,697 --> 00:12:27,930 You had a dentist, a Laundromat. 278 00:12:27,999 --> 00:12:29,765 You could just walk down the street, 279 00:12:29,834 --> 00:12:31,300 and everything was right there. 280 00:12:31,368 --> 00:12:33,570 And they had a mortgage. 281 00:12:33,638 --> 00:12:34,971 That was the difference. 282 00:12:35,039 --> 00:12:36,572 That was one of the major differences. 283 00:12:36,641 --> 00:12:38,007 You owned your home. 284 00:12:38,075 --> 00:12:41,277 - There's me and Granny. - Mm-hmm. 285 00:12:41,345 --> 00:12:43,812 - And this is Granny in Pleasantville. 286 00:12:43,881 --> 00:12:45,715 - Yeah, that's her in Pleasantville, 287 00:12:45,784 --> 00:12:47,316 at our house they bought. 288 00:12:47,384 --> 00:12:49,351 - You love taking pictures of Granny. 289 00:12:49,420 --> 00:12:51,987 - Mm-hmm. I photographed her for 10 years, 290 00:12:52,056 --> 00:12:54,056 the last 10 years of her life. 291 00:12:54,125 --> 00:12:56,525 ♪ ♪ 292 00:12:56,594 --> 00:12:58,660 - Here's you and Granny. - Yeah. 293 00:12:58,728 --> 00:13:00,729 - And you grew up in that house. 294 00:13:00,797 --> 00:13:03,466 both: At first. - Yeah, until I was older. 295 00:13:03,535 --> 00:13:05,271 Yeah, till we moved later. 296 00:13:06,437 --> 00:13:07,870 - After World War II, 297 00:13:07,939 --> 00:13:10,138 the GI Bill provided mortgage loans 298 00:13:10,207 --> 00:13:12,407 that allowed veterans to buy homes, 299 00:13:12,476 --> 00:13:15,010 creating the great American middle class. 300 00:13:15,079 --> 00:13:17,112 We've all heard that story. 301 00:13:17,181 --> 00:13:19,148 But what's often not talked about 302 00:13:19,216 --> 00:13:23,018 is how Jim Crow laws kept Black vets out of the program. 303 00:13:23,087 --> 00:13:26,889 In 1948, land developer Melvin Silverman, 304 00:13:26,958 --> 00:13:28,691 who, like other Jewish Houstonians, 305 00:13:28,759 --> 00:13:31,093 also faced housing discrimination, 306 00:13:31,162 --> 00:13:33,596 partnered with Judson Robinson Sr., 307 00:13:33,664 --> 00:13:34,897 a Black businessman, 308 00:13:34,966 --> 00:13:37,066 to create the first master-planned community 309 00:13:37,134 --> 00:13:39,638 for middle-income Black Americans. 310 00:13:41,272 --> 00:13:44,010 It was called Pleasantville. 311 00:13:45,570 --> 00:13:46,909 Residents were able to choose 312 00:13:46,977 --> 00:13:50,179 between a two-, three-, or four-bedroom home, 313 00:13:50,248 --> 00:13:52,682 whether they wanted one bathroom or two. 314 00:13:52,750 --> 00:13:54,784 Lawns were well-manicured. 315 00:13:54,853 --> 00:13:56,518 Sewers were underground. 316 00:13:56,587 --> 00:13:59,121 All things typical to a white neighborhood 317 00:13:59,190 --> 00:14:00,990 now available to Black homeowners 318 00:14:01,058 --> 00:14:02,458 for the first time. 319 00:14:02,527 --> 00:14:04,460 ♪ ♪ 320 00:14:04,528 --> 00:14:07,796 Granny, my great-grandmother, was one of the first 321 00:14:07,864 --> 00:14:10,933 to move in on one of the first streets in Pleasantville-- 322 00:14:11,001 --> 00:14:12,801 Demaree Lane. 323 00:14:12,870 --> 00:14:14,937 Her house was the center for our family 324 00:14:15,006 --> 00:14:17,043 for four generations. 325 00:14:18,610 --> 00:14:19,875 But as time passed on, 326 00:14:19,944 --> 00:14:22,344 Pleasantville began to change. 327 00:14:22,412 --> 00:14:25,815 The '70s oil boom turned a lot of men into millionaires, 328 00:14:25,884 --> 00:14:27,249 but for Pleasantville 329 00:14:27,317 --> 00:14:30,019 and other communities on the east side of Houston, 330 00:14:30,088 --> 00:14:32,921 the local expansion of refineries and chemical plants 331 00:14:32,990 --> 00:14:34,991 took a hard toll on this neighborhood. 332 00:14:35,059 --> 00:14:37,460 [dramatic music] 333 00:14:37,529 --> 00:14:39,128 - Thank you. both: Mm. 334 00:14:39,196 --> 00:14:40,495 Thank you for doing this today. 335 00:14:40,564 --> 00:14:42,365 - No problem. How y'all doing? Hello, hello. 336 00:14:42,433 --> 00:14:43,565 I'm Tracy. 337 00:14:43,634 --> 00:14:47,236 - This is Tracy, one of my cousins who I grew up with. 338 00:14:47,305 --> 00:14:49,338 I spent every weekend in Pleasantville, 339 00:14:49,406 --> 00:14:53,275 but Tracy actually grew up in Granny's house. 340 00:14:53,343 --> 00:14:57,346 As kids, we had a tribe of cousins, second cousins, 341 00:14:57,415 --> 00:15:01,350 third cousins, aunties, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas 342 00:15:01,419 --> 00:15:05,320 all watching over us as we played all over this area. 343 00:15:05,389 --> 00:15:06,855 - So yeah, man, so this Demaree. 344 00:15:06,924 --> 00:15:08,257 - Demaree. - Yes, man. 345 00:15:08,326 --> 00:15:10,259 One of the main streets, one of the first streets 346 00:15:10,328 --> 00:15:11,994 in the neighborhood. - Yep. 347 00:15:12,063 --> 00:15:16,032 - So yeah, we grew up here, man, playing baseball. 348 00:15:16,100 --> 00:15:18,067 Everybody here knows each other. 349 00:15:18,135 --> 00:15:20,706 You know, typical neighborhood. 350 00:15:22,273 --> 00:15:23,772 - Oh, look, is that someone 351 00:15:23,841 --> 00:15:25,207 pulling out from Mama Jewels' house? 352 00:15:25,276 --> 00:15:27,009 - Yeah, but no one stays at Mama Jewels' house no more. 353 00:15:27,078 --> 00:15:28,811 - Oh, well, then who's that? - I don't know. 354 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:30,382 They sold the house. - Oh. 355 00:15:32,349 --> 00:15:35,718 - From here on down, it's all new people. 356 00:15:35,786 --> 00:15:38,386 That's what I'm trying to state. 357 00:15:38,455 --> 00:15:41,023 This Ms. Winfield house. - Ms. Winfield's House. 358 00:15:41,091 --> 00:15:43,826 I'm actually named after Ms. Winfield's husband. 359 00:15:43,895 --> 00:15:45,928 - Hold up. - Alex, Alexander. 360 00:15:45,997 --> 00:15:47,396 - Oh, really? - Yeah. 361 00:15:47,464 --> 00:15:49,997 - It's very believable. We did that a lot. 362 00:15:51,769 --> 00:15:54,136 Yeah, man, this is the house, man. 363 00:15:54,205 --> 00:15:56,405 - I wonder if it has gotten any flood damage. 364 00:15:56,473 --> 00:15:58,273 - That was Granny's room... - Mm-hmm. 365 00:15:58,342 --> 00:16:00,175 - Living room, the den... - Mm-hmm. 366 00:16:00,244 --> 00:16:02,314 - You know, front door. 367 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:05,347 - I don't know if I put that sticker on there 368 00:16:05,416 --> 00:16:07,549 or you did, but I remem-- - Yeah, that's our sticker. 369 00:16:07,618 --> 00:16:09,151 - Yeah, yeah, yeah. We put that sticker on there. 370 00:16:09,219 --> 00:16:10,552 - That is our sticker, isn't it? 371 00:16:10,621 --> 00:16:12,087 - And it's still there... - It's still there. 372 00:16:12,156 --> 00:16:13,656 - Like, 30-plus years later. - Yeah. 373 00:16:13,724 --> 00:16:16,525 [upbeat music] 374 00:16:16,593 --> 00:16:18,593 - New residents live in this home now, 375 00:16:18,662 --> 00:16:22,098 but just a few blocks away, some of my extended family 376 00:16:22,166 --> 00:16:24,266 has remained in the neighborhood. 377 00:16:24,335 --> 00:16:27,235 Today the home of my great-aunt Lela 378 00:16:27,304 --> 00:16:29,738 is one of the last gathering spots we have left. 379 00:16:29,807 --> 00:16:31,908 ♪ ♪ 380 00:16:31,976 --> 00:16:33,909 She's raised four generations of kids, 381 00:16:33,978 --> 00:16:35,945 including me from time to time, 382 00:16:36,013 --> 00:16:37,312 in this home. 383 00:16:37,381 --> 00:16:39,247 But it's more than a house. 384 00:16:39,316 --> 00:16:42,217 It's sacred ground, a monument 385 00:16:42,286 --> 00:16:45,655 to represent the pride of our elders. 386 00:16:45,723 --> 00:16:48,023 - There you go. 387 00:16:48,092 --> 00:16:52,961 - We moved here October 23, 1954, 388 00:16:53,030 --> 00:16:54,700 on a Saturday. 389 00:16:56,300 --> 00:16:59,001 - I felt like we had moved to heaven. 390 00:16:59,070 --> 00:17:01,570 I was four. - Five. You were five. 391 00:17:01,639 --> 00:17:02,972 - Five. 392 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,007 We had a front yard and a backyard, 393 00:17:05,075 --> 00:17:08,944 a paved street, a full bathroom, 394 00:17:09,013 --> 00:17:11,280 so I thought we were in heaven. 395 00:17:11,349 --> 00:17:13,883 - So coming here was really nice. 396 00:17:13,952 --> 00:17:14,983 - Very. - Yes. 397 00:17:15,052 --> 00:17:16,052 - Very. 398 00:17:16,120 --> 00:17:18,354 Everything was just perfect. 399 00:17:18,422 --> 00:17:20,989 You think about it-- shiny new floors, 400 00:17:21,058 --> 00:17:23,025 painted walls, 401 00:17:23,094 --> 00:17:26,461 brand-new houses everywhere you look. 402 00:17:26,530 --> 00:17:28,697 - It's a beautiful place to live, you know. 403 00:17:28,766 --> 00:17:29,864 It really has been. 404 00:17:29,933 --> 00:17:32,796 I see some changes now, but it's the sign of the times. 405 00:17:32,865 --> 00:17:34,503 - When you come into Pleasantville 406 00:17:34,571 --> 00:17:37,906 from Market Street on Pleasantville Drive, 407 00:17:37,975 --> 00:17:40,442 they had apartments on both sides, 408 00:17:40,510 --> 00:17:43,145 but I don't remember when they got rid 409 00:17:43,214 --> 00:17:44,847 of all those apartments and everything 410 00:17:44,916 --> 00:17:46,752 and all of these warehouses came. 411 00:17:48,186 --> 00:17:50,314 - Warehouses went up everywhere. 412 00:17:50,383 --> 00:17:51,220 - Yeah. 413 00:17:51,288 --> 00:17:53,255 - There's been so much pollution. 414 00:17:53,323 --> 00:17:55,791 We've had so many chemical fires 415 00:17:55,860 --> 00:17:57,726 that have burned for days. 416 00:17:57,795 --> 00:18:00,495 And all you do is step out and look up in the sky, 417 00:18:00,564 --> 00:18:02,532 and you see all this smoke and debris. 418 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,866 [dramatic music] 419 00:18:04,935 --> 00:18:07,502 - We're from here, and we're so used to the pollution. 420 00:18:07,571 --> 00:18:09,004 I don't think you really realize 421 00:18:09,072 --> 00:18:12,307 how polluted the air is until you travel, especially abroad. 422 00:18:12,376 --> 00:18:14,243 And then you come back home, and then you realize, 423 00:18:14,312 --> 00:18:16,111 what did I just come home to? 424 00:18:16,180 --> 00:18:17,745 - But does it make you sad that-- 425 00:18:17,814 --> 00:18:19,581 I mean, this whole neighborhood means so much to us 426 00:18:19,650 --> 00:18:23,852 and the fact that it's being eaten alive by industry. 427 00:18:23,921 --> 00:18:25,521 - Right. - It's just so toxic. 428 00:18:25,589 --> 00:18:27,889 - Right, right - Like, it's not normal. 429 00:18:27,958 --> 00:18:30,058 - It's not supposed to be normal, but it is the norm. 430 00:18:30,127 --> 00:18:30,988 - Yeah. 431 00:18:31,056 --> 00:18:32,928 - It's not supposed to be normal, but it is. 432 00:18:32,997 --> 00:18:35,030 - Mm-hmm. That's true. 433 00:18:35,099 --> 00:18:37,866 - Industry changes everything. 434 00:18:37,935 --> 00:18:42,838 ♪ ♪ 435 00:18:42,906 --> 00:18:45,241 - Talking to my family reminds me of an event 436 00:18:45,309 --> 00:18:47,342 we all experienced. 437 00:18:47,411 --> 00:18:50,980 Back in 1995, a commercial warehouse caught on fire 438 00:18:51,048 --> 00:18:52,415 down the street. 439 00:18:52,484 --> 00:18:54,082 I'll never forget seeing 440 00:18:54,151 --> 00:18:56,151 the thick cloud of smoke looming above 441 00:18:56,220 --> 00:18:59,321 or the dark ash that rained down on us. 442 00:18:59,390 --> 00:19:01,656 No one told us to take shelter, 443 00:19:01,725 --> 00:19:04,359 so my cousins and I stayed outside, 444 00:19:04,428 --> 00:19:06,228 marveling at what felt like Armageddon. 445 00:19:06,296 --> 00:19:07,329 [siren wailing] 446 00:19:07,397 --> 00:19:09,797 Residents were informed much later 447 00:19:09,866 --> 00:19:12,435 that hazardous chemicals were inside the warehouses 448 00:19:12,504 --> 00:19:14,303 that burned for weeks. 449 00:19:14,372 --> 00:19:16,405 A city report also found 450 00:19:16,473 --> 00:19:20,175 that at the time, there were 45 other hazardous sites 451 00:19:20,244 --> 00:19:22,677 within 1,000 feet of Pleasantville. 452 00:19:22,746 --> 00:19:25,113 Despite protests from the community, 453 00:19:25,182 --> 00:19:26,815 these sites were not removed. 454 00:19:26,883 --> 00:19:30,719 And now industry's presence has only gotten worse. 455 00:19:30,787 --> 00:19:34,156 Houston's lack of zoning laws and regulations 456 00:19:34,224 --> 00:19:36,258 have allowed oil and gas to expand 457 00:19:36,327 --> 00:19:38,664 right up to the border of Pleasantville. 458 00:19:39,797 --> 00:19:43,165 Today the city averages one chemical accident 459 00:19:43,234 --> 00:19:45,201 about every six weeks. 460 00:19:45,270 --> 00:19:51,974 ♪ ♪ 461 00:19:52,043 --> 00:19:54,877 - 2016... 462 00:19:54,946 --> 00:19:57,841 I had a flesh-eating disorder. 463 00:19:57,910 --> 00:20:01,383 Stayed in the hospital 30 days. 464 00:20:01,452 --> 00:20:06,354 Then I went to isolation at a rehab for 30 days. 465 00:20:06,423 --> 00:20:08,825 And 30 days after that, I went to rehab 466 00:20:08,893 --> 00:20:11,427 to learn how to walk again and to do things. 467 00:20:11,496 --> 00:20:14,129 I've had the cancer, 468 00:20:14,198 --> 00:20:16,131 two head surgeries, 469 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:18,404 both legs messed up. 470 00:20:19,670 --> 00:20:21,770 - It just feels like you're kind of getting hit 471 00:20:21,838 --> 00:20:24,306 with, you know, the flesh-eating disease-- 472 00:20:24,374 --> 00:20:26,642 - Necrotizing fasciitis. 473 00:20:26,711 --> 00:20:29,611 - That could also be a result-- 474 00:20:29,679 --> 00:20:31,480 I mean, you don't know where it really came from. 475 00:20:31,549 --> 00:20:34,649 - No, because we have been introduced 476 00:20:34,718 --> 00:20:37,986 to so many different environmental issues 477 00:20:38,055 --> 00:20:39,789 that could cause problems. 478 00:20:39,857 --> 00:20:42,324 And there are a lot of respiratory illnesses 479 00:20:42,393 --> 00:20:44,426 here in this neighborhood, 480 00:20:44,494 --> 00:20:47,396 because I raised my two grandkids, 481 00:20:47,464 --> 00:20:50,600 and they both have asthma. 482 00:20:50,669 --> 00:20:53,469 My mom, my youngest sister, 483 00:20:53,537 --> 00:20:57,139 my sister next to me, and myself 484 00:20:57,208 --> 00:21:00,642 have all been diagnosed with asthma. 485 00:21:00,711 --> 00:21:04,679 Talking about environmental issues that are close to us, 486 00:21:04,748 --> 00:21:08,650 because on this particular letter that we got 487 00:21:08,719 --> 00:21:11,353 from the city of Houston, it was talking about, 488 00:21:11,422 --> 00:21:15,425 if you live within a half mile of this particular site, 489 00:21:15,493 --> 00:21:17,426 you got these letters. 490 00:21:17,495 --> 00:21:21,463 If you had wells that you were using for water 491 00:21:21,531 --> 00:21:23,598 and you live within five miles, 492 00:21:23,667 --> 00:21:25,467 then you got a certified letter. 493 00:21:25,535 --> 00:21:28,570 This is something to alarm you. 494 00:21:28,639 --> 00:21:31,574 What's going on in our neighborhoods? 495 00:21:31,643 --> 00:21:33,641 ♪ ♪ 496 00:21:33,710 --> 00:21:35,944 - Part of what makes Pleasantville so vulnerable 497 00:21:36,013 --> 00:21:39,548 is its proximity to the Houston Ship Channel. 498 00:21:39,616 --> 00:21:42,417 I drove over this place 1,000 times as a kid, 499 00:21:42,486 --> 00:21:44,554 and I'll never forget the strong odors I smelled 500 00:21:44,622 --> 00:21:46,092 when crossing the bridge. 501 00:21:47,791 --> 00:21:49,758 The Ship Channel connects the bayous 502 00:21:49,826 --> 00:21:52,661 on the east side of Houston to the Gulf of Mexico. 503 00:21:52,730 --> 00:21:55,464 It was originally used to move timber and other goods 504 00:21:55,533 --> 00:21:56,833 out of the state, 505 00:21:56,901 --> 00:21:58,867 but after the Spindletop oil boom, 506 00:21:58,935 --> 00:22:02,204 this natural waterway was deepened, widened, 507 00:22:02,273 --> 00:22:05,307 and an official port was built in order to quickly move oil 508 00:22:05,376 --> 00:22:07,477 out of Southeast Texas. 509 00:22:07,545 --> 00:22:09,211 Today the Port of Houston 510 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:11,213 actually takes tourists around here 511 00:22:11,281 --> 00:22:13,715 to showcase industry's presence. 512 00:22:13,784 --> 00:22:16,085 But while some might see this as a crown jewel, 513 00:22:16,154 --> 00:22:20,388 the communities that live here feel very differently. 514 00:22:20,457 --> 00:22:22,724 I met up with another east side local, 515 00:22:22,793 --> 00:22:26,995 Yvette Arellano, the founder of Fenceline Watch. 516 00:22:27,064 --> 00:22:30,699 Yvette has designed their own toxic tour for policymakers, 517 00:22:30,767 --> 00:22:33,535 environmentalists, and anyone who will listen 518 00:22:33,604 --> 00:22:35,465 to show that communities here 519 00:22:35,534 --> 00:22:38,945 are being harmed living next to this industrial area. 520 00:22:41,645 --> 00:22:43,679 - Right here we're standing at the mouth 521 00:22:43,748 --> 00:22:45,717 of the Houston Ship Channel... 522 00:22:47,512 --> 00:22:50,417 The largest petrochemical complex in the nation. 523 00:22:51,555 --> 00:22:56,062 Altogether, it represents over 300 energy firms. 524 00:22:57,795 --> 00:23:01,124 When you're talking about chemicals, oil, 525 00:23:01,193 --> 00:23:04,433 any by-products, liquid natural gas, 526 00:23:04,501 --> 00:23:07,102 it's going to come into the Houston Ship Channel 527 00:23:07,171 --> 00:23:11,541 to be processed, refined, stored, and then exported. 528 00:23:11,610 --> 00:23:13,575 If they weren't here, 529 00:23:13,644 --> 00:23:16,245 this entire area would be covered 530 00:23:16,314 --> 00:23:20,482 in magnolias and wild fowl. 531 00:23:20,550 --> 00:23:24,419 Houston's nickname used to be Magnolia City. 532 00:23:24,488 --> 00:23:27,689 Now it's the Energy Capital of the World. 533 00:23:27,758 --> 00:23:30,026 - And while energy companies make billions 534 00:23:30,094 --> 00:23:32,595 from this sprawling, massive industry, 535 00:23:32,664 --> 00:23:34,830 the rest of us benefit too. 536 00:23:34,899 --> 00:23:37,166 A sophisticated highway of pipelines 537 00:23:37,234 --> 00:23:40,202 transport oil and gas from all over the state 538 00:23:40,271 --> 00:23:44,039 and bring it here to refineries, storage tanks, 539 00:23:44,108 --> 00:23:47,609 and plants situated all along the Ship Channel. 540 00:23:47,677 --> 00:23:50,512 Some of that oil and gas is then used to make things 541 00:23:50,581 --> 00:23:54,249 like beauty products, car parts, computer parts, 542 00:23:54,318 --> 00:23:57,954 water bottles, and thousands of other household goods. 543 00:23:58,022 --> 00:24:00,389 As industry continues to expand, 544 00:24:00,458 --> 00:24:02,792 the Ship Channel keeps encroaching further 545 00:24:02,861 --> 00:24:04,930 into the surrounding neighborhoods. 546 00:24:06,697 --> 00:24:08,696 - It is a Black and Brown issue 547 00:24:08,765 --> 00:24:11,801 when we're talking about environmental justice, 548 00:24:11,869 --> 00:24:15,470 because on one side, you have majority 549 00:24:15,539 --> 00:24:17,539 immigrant-dominated communities 550 00:24:17,608 --> 00:24:20,909 whose first language probably isn't English, you know. 551 00:24:20,978 --> 00:24:23,478 And on the opposite side, you're gonna have 552 00:24:23,547 --> 00:24:26,082 historically Black communities. 553 00:24:26,150 --> 00:24:29,718 So I'm extremely aggravated 554 00:24:29,787 --> 00:24:34,489 whenever oil and gas is perceived as Texas culture, 555 00:24:34,558 --> 00:24:38,160 whenever people think of Texas 556 00:24:38,229 --> 00:24:39,795 and all they see in their minds 557 00:24:39,864 --> 00:24:43,632 are oil derricks and black gold 558 00:24:43,701 --> 00:24:48,070 'cause that is one person's perspective from the top 1% 559 00:24:48,139 --> 00:24:51,806 that get to dominate and actually benefit 560 00:24:51,875 --> 00:24:55,845 from the wealth of extraction, of contaminating people, 561 00:24:55,913 --> 00:24:58,347 and of killing our natural resources 562 00:24:58,416 --> 00:25:00,283 and our communities. 563 00:25:00,352 --> 00:25:07,326 ♪ ♪ 564 00:25:09,027 --> 00:25:10,292 - It's not just the neighborhoods 565 00:25:10,361 --> 00:25:13,595 surrounding the Ship Channel that are vulnerable. 566 00:25:13,664 --> 00:25:15,597 You can find fence-line communities 567 00:25:15,666 --> 00:25:18,704 up and down the entire Gulf Coast of Texas. 568 00:25:20,538 --> 00:25:22,337 But one community in particular 569 00:25:22,406 --> 00:25:24,167 stands out to me. 570 00:25:24,236 --> 00:25:25,640 It's literally right next door 571 00:25:25,709 --> 00:25:28,247 to the largest oil refinery in North America... 572 00:25:29,975 --> 00:25:31,147 Port Arthur. 573 00:25:31,216 --> 00:25:33,415 ♪ ♪ 574 00:25:33,484 --> 00:25:38,387 - Here at Port Arthur, Texas, near Louisiana and the sea, 575 00:25:38,456 --> 00:25:41,323 46,000 Texans say, 576 00:25:41,392 --> 00:25:43,692 we oil the world. 577 00:25:43,761 --> 00:25:46,562 Proud of the Lone Star State-- 578 00:25:46,631 --> 00:25:49,365 young city going places. 579 00:25:49,434 --> 00:25:52,268 ♪ ♪ 580 00:25:52,336 --> 00:25:54,370 - This looks like the neighborhood 581 00:25:54,438 --> 00:25:56,405 that my family is from-- 582 00:25:56,473 --> 00:25:59,808 the same exact situation. 583 00:25:59,876 --> 00:26:03,779 Once inside the community, I saw so many abandoned homes, 584 00:26:03,848 --> 00:26:06,315 empty plots where homes used to be, 585 00:26:06,384 --> 00:26:08,049 and an industry presence 586 00:26:08,117 --> 00:26:11,323 that far superseded anything that I had ever seen before. 587 00:26:12,856 --> 00:26:15,723 Every few years, a news outlet sheds light 588 00:26:15,792 --> 00:26:18,060 on the plight of Port Arthur's residents, 589 00:26:18,129 --> 00:26:20,730 but the situation only seems to get worse. 590 00:26:20,798 --> 00:26:23,299 I met up with John Beard. 591 00:26:23,367 --> 00:26:24,732 He runs a community-based 592 00:26:24,801 --> 00:26:26,705 environmental-justice organization. 593 00:26:28,205 --> 00:26:30,372 So, John, this is where you grew up. 594 00:26:30,441 --> 00:26:31,640 - Yeah, grew up right here. 595 00:26:31,709 --> 00:26:33,809 This is the west side of Port Arthur. 596 00:26:33,878 --> 00:26:35,911 It's also known as Port Arthur Heights. 597 00:26:35,980 --> 00:26:38,381 We're standing in front of where my childhood home 598 00:26:38,450 --> 00:26:39,748 used to be. 599 00:26:39,817 --> 00:26:41,850 And that's reminiscent of a lot of the city-- 600 00:26:41,918 --> 00:26:44,787 that what was here at one time is no longer here 601 00:26:44,856 --> 00:26:46,423 because of what you see right here 602 00:26:46,491 --> 00:26:47,622 with these refineries 603 00:26:47,691 --> 00:26:49,391 and the environmental contamination 604 00:26:49,460 --> 00:26:51,560 and all that comes with it. 605 00:26:51,628 --> 00:26:53,295 Ms. Scott used to live next door there. 606 00:26:53,364 --> 00:26:57,199 And the Millers lived where that driveway is. 607 00:26:57,268 --> 00:27:01,804 And the tank farm was where this parking lot is now. 608 00:27:01,873 --> 00:27:03,172 My parents told me at the time, 609 00:27:03,241 --> 00:27:04,707 when they were so close to the fence line 610 00:27:04,776 --> 00:27:05,908 near this tank farm, 611 00:27:05,977 --> 00:27:07,543 they could reach out the bedroom window 612 00:27:07,612 --> 00:27:09,145 and touch the fence. - Wow. 613 00:27:09,213 --> 00:27:11,479 - And there were times, if you had a white house, 614 00:27:11,548 --> 00:27:14,516 that you would see the side of your house stained yellow. 615 00:27:14,585 --> 00:27:15,652 Well, that's because of something 616 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:16,652 that was emitted from that plant 617 00:27:16,721 --> 00:27:18,187 during the night while you slept. 618 00:27:18,256 --> 00:27:20,789 ♪ ♪ 619 00:27:20,858 --> 00:27:22,859 - So tell me what you did for a living. 620 00:27:22,927 --> 00:27:24,726 - Yes, I worked for ExxonMobil Corporation 621 00:27:24,794 --> 00:27:27,863 for 38 years, and I was in the refining division. 622 00:27:27,932 --> 00:27:30,867 And, basically, I served as a process operator 623 00:27:30,935 --> 00:27:32,400 who makes those units that you see run 624 00:27:32,469 --> 00:27:36,738 and do what they do and keep the profits going and all. 625 00:27:36,807 --> 00:27:38,941 Part of my career was also spent in maintenance, 626 00:27:39,010 --> 00:27:40,477 to keep the equipment running. 627 00:27:40,545 --> 00:27:41,743 Without the equipment 628 00:27:41,812 --> 00:27:43,412 and without the people running the equipment, 629 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:44,780 you don't have oil and gas. 630 00:27:44,849 --> 00:27:45,981 These cars we drive don't go 631 00:27:46,050 --> 00:27:48,950 and power plants and all of that. 632 00:27:49,018 --> 00:27:52,989 - How do you feel being here and seeing your family home 633 00:27:53,057 --> 00:27:56,291 not here anymore and with industry right next door 634 00:27:56,360 --> 00:27:59,594 and knowing that you worked, you know, in the refineries? 635 00:27:59,663 --> 00:28:00,996 - Well, Alex, when you're growing up, 636 00:28:01,065 --> 00:28:03,065 you don't know what you don't know. 637 00:28:03,133 --> 00:28:05,662 But as people have gotten older and things have gone on, 638 00:28:05,730 --> 00:28:07,770 we found out that there are a lot of health risks 639 00:28:07,838 --> 00:28:09,437 from breathing some of the air here, 640 00:28:09,506 --> 00:28:12,441 from being in the plant with the fires, explosions. 641 00:28:12,509 --> 00:28:15,511 And in some ways, because of what happened historically, 642 00:28:15,580 --> 00:28:16,745 with white flight, 643 00:28:16,814 --> 00:28:18,780 with the changes in urbanization and all, 644 00:28:18,849 --> 00:28:21,150 from refocusing from downtowns in the cities 645 00:28:21,219 --> 00:28:22,985 to the suburbs and outlying areas, 646 00:28:23,054 --> 00:28:25,054 that's affected Port Arthur's population. 647 00:28:25,123 --> 00:28:27,690 It's affected the way we live. 648 00:28:27,759 --> 00:28:29,758 You look at the city's unemployment, 649 00:28:29,826 --> 00:28:32,228 which is the second highest in the state, 650 00:28:32,296 --> 00:28:34,830 with all the industrial expansion, 651 00:28:34,898 --> 00:28:39,268 with 900 million at Valero, LNG's port expansion, 652 00:28:39,337 --> 00:28:42,270 and all of this money flowing into the area, 653 00:28:42,339 --> 00:28:44,774 and yet Black and Brown communities 654 00:28:44,842 --> 00:28:46,912 don't get to share in this wealth. 655 00:28:49,113 --> 00:28:51,347 We have the second-highest unemployment in the state. 656 00:28:51,415 --> 00:28:53,883 The only area of the state that has worse unemployment 657 00:28:53,951 --> 00:28:55,283 is down in the Valley, 658 00:28:55,352 --> 00:28:57,819 where they have absolutely no industry. 659 00:28:57,888 --> 00:29:00,422 - Nationwide, the statistics are not much better. 660 00:29:00,490 --> 00:29:04,359 Despite making up 13% of the U.S. population, 661 00:29:04,428 --> 00:29:09,231 Black people only make up 6% of the oil and gas workforce. 662 00:29:09,300 --> 00:29:11,534 So what's it like for those who do make it 663 00:29:11,603 --> 00:29:13,835 into the industry? 664 00:29:13,903 --> 00:29:15,972 I decided to reach out to some family members 665 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,073 who work in plants and refineries, 666 00:29:18,142 --> 00:29:19,842 but fearing for their jobs, 667 00:29:19,911 --> 00:29:23,946 no one would go on camera to talk to me... 668 00:29:24,015 --> 00:29:25,314 except for one of my cousins 669 00:29:25,382 --> 00:29:27,853 who's an independent contractor. 670 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:31,253 This is my cousin Dennis, 671 00:29:31,321 --> 00:29:35,056 a second-generation hot-shot trucker. 672 00:29:35,124 --> 00:29:38,127 When a rig or a drill goes down out in the Permian Basin, 673 00:29:38,196 --> 00:29:42,230 he's the guy you call to take a new part out to the patch. 674 00:29:42,299 --> 00:29:45,334 His trips across the state can take up to 10 hours, 675 00:29:45,403 --> 00:29:47,403 and that's just one way. 676 00:29:47,472 --> 00:29:54,446 ♪ ♪ 677 00:30:00,984 --> 00:30:03,786 - My dad actually owned a hot-shot-trucking business. 678 00:30:03,855 --> 00:30:06,055 And ever since I was a kid, 679 00:30:06,123 --> 00:30:07,990 I always used to ride with him on the weekends 680 00:30:08,059 --> 00:30:11,026 whenever I didn't have school. 681 00:30:11,095 --> 00:30:13,562 That's how I initially got started with my dad. 682 00:30:13,630 --> 00:30:17,060 He taught me everything there is to know about hot shotting. 683 00:30:17,129 --> 00:30:20,336 ♪ ♪ 684 00:30:20,405 --> 00:30:22,205 - Down. 685 00:30:22,274 --> 00:30:24,173 Down! 686 00:30:24,242 --> 00:30:26,574 - Dennis is also a competitive roper 687 00:30:26,643 --> 00:30:30,245 and has competed in rodeos all over the country. 688 00:30:30,314 --> 00:30:33,015 It's a tradition that he picked up from my Uncle Kevin, 689 00:30:33,083 --> 00:30:35,083 who was taught by my grandfather 690 00:30:35,152 --> 00:30:37,990 Oliver Chachere, my mom's dad. 691 00:30:39,456 --> 00:30:42,892 My grandfather was the Black urban cowboy of Pleasantville. 692 00:30:42,961 --> 00:30:45,861 He even kept horses in his backyard. 693 00:30:45,930 --> 00:30:47,196 He also started one of the first 694 00:30:47,264 --> 00:30:50,198 all-Black trail riders associations in Houston. 695 00:30:50,267 --> 00:30:53,035 While this tradition skipped over my mom and me, 696 00:30:53,103 --> 00:30:54,369 Dennis ran with it, 697 00:30:54,438 --> 00:30:57,273 and he even got a college scholarship for roping. 698 00:30:57,342 --> 00:31:02,278 ♪ ♪ 699 00:31:02,347 --> 00:31:04,116 - Relax. 700 00:31:05,477 --> 00:31:07,950 - Down, down, down, down! 701 00:31:08,019 --> 00:31:10,486 - Go ahead. Tie. 702 00:31:10,555 --> 00:31:11,887 - Yes, sir. 703 00:31:11,956 --> 00:31:14,290 - [grunts] - Finish it, man. 704 00:31:14,359 --> 00:31:16,826 ♪ ♪ 705 00:31:16,895 --> 00:31:19,094 - Good job. 706 00:31:19,163 --> 00:31:21,200 - Right, but you got to put that arm out. 707 00:31:24,902 --> 00:31:26,272 - Well... 708 00:31:32,242 --> 00:31:34,777 And the guy came by my shop and told me 709 00:31:34,846 --> 00:31:37,246 he was doing the hot shotting. 710 00:31:37,315 --> 00:31:39,782 And he told me how much money he was making, 711 00:31:39,851 --> 00:31:42,218 and I was looking at what I was making. 712 00:31:42,286 --> 00:31:46,655 So I decided to change my line of work. 713 00:31:46,723 --> 00:31:50,760 I sold off the paint and body, and I went into trucking. 714 00:31:50,829 --> 00:31:52,929 Back when I started trucking, 715 00:31:52,997 --> 00:31:55,397 there was very few Blacks in it. 716 00:31:55,466 --> 00:31:59,769 The Black folks really didn't pick up on this for-- 717 00:31:59,838 --> 00:32:03,272 I bet you another 10, 20 years 718 00:32:03,341 --> 00:32:05,875 before they picked up on what was going on. 719 00:32:05,943 --> 00:32:07,810 - Yeah, but see, they didn't let them in. 720 00:32:07,879 --> 00:32:11,013 Tell it like is. You couldn't get in. 721 00:32:11,081 --> 00:32:13,015 And if you did get in, 722 00:32:13,083 --> 00:32:15,751 they give you a job that either get you killed, 723 00:32:15,820 --> 00:32:17,953 hurt, or made you quit. 724 00:32:18,022 --> 00:32:19,288 - Yeah. - Tell it like is. 725 00:32:19,357 --> 00:32:22,458 ♪ ♪ 726 00:32:22,526 --> 00:32:26,562 - The boom era that Spindletop created back in 1901 727 00:32:26,631 --> 00:32:28,197 attracted wildcatters, 728 00:32:28,266 --> 00:32:31,100 otherwise known as independent oil contractors, 729 00:32:31,169 --> 00:32:32,567 who scoured the land, 730 00:32:32,636 --> 00:32:36,108 looking for black gold, trying to strike it rich. 731 00:32:37,174 --> 00:32:38,307 There were roughnecks-- 732 00:32:38,376 --> 00:32:40,275 the men who drilled for oil in the patch 733 00:32:40,344 --> 00:32:42,044 and tended to the derricks. 734 00:32:42,113 --> 00:32:44,313 Then, of course, there were the lucky few 735 00:32:44,381 --> 00:32:46,581 who achieved tycoon status 736 00:32:46,650 --> 00:32:49,121 and founded companies like Texaco and Gulf Oil. 737 00:32:51,289 --> 00:32:53,823 What these men all had in common 738 00:32:53,891 --> 00:32:55,557 was that they were white. 739 00:32:55,626 --> 00:32:58,594 Employment opportunities for Black men in the patch 740 00:32:58,663 --> 00:33:00,129 were limited primarily 741 00:33:00,197 --> 00:33:02,460 to things like hauling equipment to the rigs, 742 00:33:02,528 --> 00:33:04,066 doing the dirt work, 743 00:33:04,135 --> 00:33:06,535 and, occasionally, an assignment on the pipeline 744 00:33:06,604 --> 00:33:07,635 or crew. 745 00:33:07,704 --> 00:33:11,541 But by World War II, as the demand for oil grew, 746 00:33:11,610 --> 00:33:13,608 more labor was needed. 747 00:33:13,677 --> 00:33:17,479 Some Black men landed coveted jobs in plants and refineries 748 00:33:17,547 --> 00:33:20,615 but earned much lower wages than their white coworkers. 749 00:33:20,684 --> 00:33:23,052 And have you ever wondered why you've never seen 750 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:24,854 a Black J.R. Ewing? 751 00:33:24,923 --> 00:33:26,021 Well, that's because, 752 00:33:26,090 --> 00:33:28,858 among the largest oil and gas companies in America, 753 00:33:28,926 --> 00:33:31,693 every CEO is white. 754 00:33:31,761 --> 00:33:33,863 While other industries have been put on blast 755 00:33:33,932 --> 00:33:35,764 for their lack of diversity, 756 00:33:35,832 --> 00:33:39,066 the oil and gas industry has not had the same reckoning. 757 00:33:40,504 --> 00:33:43,939 - That was the culture that we had to go through. 758 00:33:44,008 --> 00:33:46,942 I mean, I went through a lot of places 759 00:33:47,011 --> 00:33:48,677 that they told me I had too much voice. 760 00:33:48,745 --> 00:33:52,380 You need to shut up and just kind of let things happen. 761 00:33:52,449 --> 00:33:55,550 - I used to ride with him when I was a kid. 762 00:33:55,619 --> 00:33:58,688 And I know he had one customer where we went, and it was-- 763 00:33:58,756 --> 00:33:59,922 I believe it was 2008, 764 00:33:59,991 --> 00:34:02,058 'cause Barack was running for president. 765 00:34:02,126 --> 00:34:03,893 And we had his hat on the dash. 766 00:34:03,961 --> 00:34:05,261 - Yeah. - And before we-- 767 00:34:05,329 --> 00:34:07,495 look, before we rode in there, he said, 768 00:34:07,564 --> 00:34:11,033 hey, grab that hat off that dash, put it on the side. 769 00:34:11,102 --> 00:34:12,434 I was like, why, you know? 770 00:34:12,502 --> 00:34:14,203 We need to represent, you know. 771 00:34:14,271 --> 00:34:16,372 He said, not here. [laughs] 772 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:18,769 - That's the way the world is. all: Right. 773 00:34:18,838 --> 00:34:19,875 - That's right. - You're right. 774 00:34:19,944 --> 00:34:22,610 ♪ ♪ 775 00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:24,613 - Dennis' job as a hot-shot trucker 776 00:34:24,681 --> 00:34:27,215 takes him all over the state of Texas. 777 00:34:27,284 --> 00:34:29,118 But because he travels alone, 778 00:34:29,186 --> 00:34:31,086 he must carefully plan his routes 779 00:34:31,155 --> 00:34:34,056 to avoid certain areas after dark. 780 00:34:34,124 --> 00:34:36,258 Historically, these places 781 00:34:36,327 --> 00:34:39,227 are known as sundown towns-- 782 00:34:39,296 --> 00:34:41,163 places where Black folks are made to feel 783 00:34:41,232 --> 00:34:44,066 distinctly unwelcome... 784 00:34:44,135 --> 00:34:46,736 run out of town... 785 00:34:46,804 --> 00:34:48,540 or even worse. 786 00:34:50,340 --> 00:34:52,274 You might think that they're a thing of the past, 787 00:34:52,343 --> 00:34:55,311 eradicated by integration... 788 00:34:55,379 --> 00:34:57,880 but they still exist to this day. 789 00:34:57,949 --> 00:35:00,282 ♪ ♪ 790 00:35:00,351 --> 00:35:02,450 - My mom used to always tell me, 791 00:35:02,519 --> 00:35:04,320 you know, you're going through Orange, 792 00:35:04,388 --> 00:35:05,420 you know, you're going through Vidor. 793 00:35:05,489 --> 00:35:06,922 Don't never stop through Vidor. 794 00:35:06,991 --> 00:35:08,590 You know, keep going. 795 00:35:08,659 --> 00:35:10,658 You know, I never understood why, you know, 796 00:35:10,727 --> 00:35:13,996 but, you know, she kind of explained to me. 797 00:35:14,065 --> 00:35:16,231 I would say the scariest trip I had 798 00:35:16,300 --> 00:35:17,833 was through Louisiana, though. 799 00:35:17,901 --> 00:35:20,402 They got some little, small towns up there, 800 00:35:20,471 --> 00:35:23,639 and these oil rigs be back in the woods. 801 00:35:23,707 --> 00:35:25,707 You can just tell that, you know, 802 00:35:25,776 --> 00:35:27,542 a person like me shouldn't be there, 803 00:35:27,611 --> 00:35:30,679 you know, by just some of the stuff that they have written 804 00:35:30,748 --> 00:35:32,914 on the, you know, gas stations out there. 805 00:35:32,983 --> 00:35:35,517 You'll see on the sign "don't let dark catch you out here" 806 00:35:35,585 --> 00:35:37,286 or something like that, you know. 807 00:35:37,355 --> 00:35:39,625 That's one that I see a lot. 808 00:35:41,124 --> 00:35:43,759 I kind of know where they're aiming at with it, you know. 809 00:35:43,827 --> 00:35:47,629 I am smart, though, and I know when not to go somewhere, 810 00:35:47,698 --> 00:35:51,534 and I know when not to stop somewhere, you know. 811 00:35:51,603 --> 00:35:58,373 ♪ ♪ 812 00:35:58,442 --> 00:36:01,076 - While Dennis faces danger on the road, 813 00:36:01,145 --> 00:36:02,877 there are other threats to the safety 814 00:36:02,946 --> 00:36:06,448 and well-being of Black people working in this industry 815 00:36:06,517 --> 00:36:09,718 because of the nature of the jobs they tend to get. 816 00:36:09,787 --> 00:36:13,690 ♪ ♪ 817 00:36:13,758 --> 00:36:15,725 - Well, there's a contract worker 818 00:36:15,794 --> 00:36:19,161 or a potential operator 819 00:36:19,230 --> 00:36:20,629 for that refinery. 820 00:36:20,697 --> 00:36:23,398 Every day you walk through that gate, 821 00:36:23,467 --> 00:36:26,268 it's kind of like you're saying a prayer. 822 00:36:26,337 --> 00:36:29,438 - This is Rooster, a friend of my Uncle Kevin's. 823 00:36:29,507 --> 00:36:32,674 Like my cousin Dennis, he's also a cowboy and a roper 824 00:36:32,742 --> 00:36:36,412 who grew up around rodeos and trail rides all his life. 825 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:38,746 Rooster's been working in the oil and gas industry 826 00:36:38,815 --> 00:36:41,249 for two decades, doing equipment maintenance, 827 00:36:41,318 --> 00:36:44,186 including chemical and tank cleaning. 828 00:36:44,254 --> 00:36:46,055 You physically have been in contact 829 00:36:46,123 --> 00:36:48,057 with chemicals and materials 830 00:36:48,126 --> 00:36:50,492 that are very hazardous to one's health. 831 00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,461 At what point did you realize that it was really dangerous? 832 00:36:53,530 --> 00:36:56,833 - I noticed that it was dangerous... 833 00:36:56,901 --> 00:36:58,400 when I first started. 834 00:36:58,468 --> 00:37:01,203 My first day on the job, I was-- 835 00:37:01,272 --> 00:37:02,537 I was scared. - Yeah? 836 00:37:02,606 --> 00:37:05,574 - Yeah, and to actually go in a hole, 837 00:37:05,643 --> 00:37:07,176 to go in there and clean that tank. 838 00:37:07,245 --> 00:37:08,276 - Mm-hmm. 839 00:37:08,345 --> 00:37:10,812 - And if it's a, say, 300-foot tank, 840 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,149 it's completely dark, and you have to walk across, 841 00:37:13,217 --> 00:37:15,787 and all you have are tank lights on the inside of it... 842 00:37:17,722 --> 00:37:19,655 Yeah, it's-- 843 00:37:19,723 --> 00:37:22,124 you know, it kind of scares you because you got to sit there 844 00:37:22,193 --> 00:37:23,591 and you're playing with your line. 845 00:37:23,660 --> 00:37:28,296 And like I say, your life is depending on this plastic line 846 00:37:28,365 --> 00:37:30,367 that's running through all of this sludge 847 00:37:30,435 --> 00:37:32,467 to not saturate 848 00:37:32,536 --> 00:37:34,569 and, you know, get in your lungs or anything 849 00:37:34,638 --> 00:37:35,903 or breathe in any of that, so... 850 00:37:35,972 --> 00:37:38,040 - Yeah. Do you ever think about the long-term effects 851 00:37:38,109 --> 00:37:41,243 that your body might have absorbed? 852 00:37:41,312 --> 00:37:43,445 - I do, and I just pray to God 853 00:37:43,514 --> 00:37:46,581 that I haven't really... [chuckles] 854 00:37:46,650 --> 00:37:48,784 Done too much damage to myself, but-- 855 00:37:48,853 --> 00:37:50,653 - Yeah. 856 00:37:50,722 --> 00:37:53,389 ♪ ♪ 857 00:37:53,457 --> 00:37:55,958 I feel like as Houstonians, I wish more Americans 858 00:37:56,027 --> 00:37:59,494 understood the sacrifice 859 00:37:59,563 --> 00:38:01,864 that people put into this type of work. 860 00:38:01,933 --> 00:38:04,833 - Accidents--it's starting to be so common now. 861 00:38:04,902 --> 00:38:06,000 It's real scary. 862 00:38:06,069 --> 00:38:10,172 And that's just--sad to say, it's just a chance we take, 863 00:38:10,241 --> 00:38:12,307 you know, to put food on the table. 864 00:38:12,376 --> 00:38:14,577 - A terrifying chemical-plant blast, 865 00:38:14,646 --> 00:38:16,378 leaving one person dead 866 00:38:16,446 --> 00:38:18,480 and several communities outside Houston on edge. 867 00:38:18,549 --> 00:38:21,211 - Officials say a transfer line ignited 868 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:24,786 a tank full of the chemical isobutylene. 869 00:38:24,855 --> 00:38:27,084 - Me and a coworker had just went there 870 00:38:27,152 --> 00:38:29,758 to talk to the maintenance people 871 00:38:29,826 --> 00:38:33,463 about doing a tank-cleaning job there. 872 00:38:33,531 --> 00:38:35,097 The same three operators 873 00:38:35,166 --> 00:38:36,999 that were actually in the accident 874 00:38:37,068 --> 00:38:39,368 were the same three operators 875 00:38:39,436 --> 00:38:41,103 that we were over there talking to. 876 00:38:41,172 --> 00:38:42,504 - Wow. 877 00:38:42,573 --> 00:38:44,506 - And probably about 10 minutes 878 00:38:44,575 --> 00:38:46,208 after we left there, we heard-- 879 00:38:46,277 --> 00:38:48,010 You know, you could hear it. Boom. 880 00:38:48,078 --> 00:38:49,511 You know, we by refineries. 881 00:38:49,579 --> 00:38:50,813 You know, it's noise all the time. 882 00:38:50,882 --> 00:38:53,210 And then as we're getting on the beltway, 883 00:38:53,278 --> 00:38:55,517 I get a phone call from one of my guys. 884 00:38:55,585 --> 00:38:57,552 Hey, man, the plant just blew up. 885 00:38:57,621 --> 00:38:59,116 We running. We trying to get out of here, man. 886 00:38:59,184 --> 00:39:00,722 We don't know what's going on, man. 887 00:39:00,790 --> 00:39:03,025 - So many of them went running for their lives, 888 00:39:03,094 --> 00:39:04,226 going under, over, 889 00:39:04,294 --> 00:39:06,763 and even through perimeter fencing. 890 00:39:06,831 --> 00:39:07,863 - It was scary. 891 00:39:07,932 --> 00:39:11,333 - As I'm driving, I look over my shoulder, 892 00:39:11,401 --> 00:39:12,735 and I could see the black smoke. 893 00:39:12,804 --> 00:39:15,505 ♪ ♪ 894 00:39:15,574 --> 00:39:17,539 Back up a little bit. 895 00:39:17,608 --> 00:39:22,310 As we were there looking at the job, 896 00:39:22,379 --> 00:39:24,346 my coworker... - Mm-hmm. 897 00:39:24,414 --> 00:39:26,382 - She specifically said, 898 00:39:26,450 --> 00:39:28,651 they're gonna get somebody hurt. 899 00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:30,019 - Yeah. 900 00:39:30,088 --> 00:39:32,082 - And it's ironic. 901 00:39:32,151 --> 00:39:35,085 30 minutes later, if that much... 902 00:39:35,154 --> 00:39:37,729 - Yeah. - They have an explosion. 903 00:39:39,629 --> 00:39:42,331 - Within Texas big oil lies a paradox. 904 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:44,734 ♪ ♪ 905 00:39:44,802 --> 00:39:47,903 It is the lifeblood of so many, 906 00:39:47,972 --> 00:39:50,106 while simultaneously wreaking havoc 907 00:39:50,174 --> 00:39:53,275 on those same people's lives, the environment, 908 00:39:53,344 --> 00:39:55,944 and communities directly around them. 909 00:39:56,013 --> 00:39:57,813 ♪ ♪ 910 00:39:57,882 --> 00:39:59,781 But if you depend on big oil, 911 00:39:59,850 --> 00:40:02,685 it's heresy to bite the hand that feeds you. 912 00:40:02,754 --> 00:40:09,591 ♪ ♪ 913 00:40:09,660 --> 00:40:11,728 Now that I've been home for a while, 914 00:40:11,796 --> 00:40:13,596 I can see that Houston is a city 915 00:40:13,665 --> 00:40:16,498 that's cannibalizing itself. 916 00:40:16,567 --> 00:40:18,500 Will it ever be possible to balance equality 917 00:40:18,569 --> 00:40:21,607 and prosperity in a place like this? 918 00:40:22,807 --> 00:40:24,540 You can't have one conversation 919 00:40:24,609 --> 00:40:26,041 without the other. 920 00:40:26,110 --> 00:40:30,278 ♪ ♪ 921 00:40:30,347 --> 00:40:32,080 - Let's pull her up. 922 00:40:32,149 --> 00:40:34,683 ♪ ♪ 923 00:40:34,751 --> 00:40:39,254 - There's resistance to toeing the line of that old story 924 00:40:39,323 --> 00:40:41,857 of rugged individualism, 925 00:40:41,926 --> 00:40:45,527 and we did it ourselves, and you can do it, too, 926 00:40:45,596 --> 00:40:48,296 and look at all of this going on right now. 927 00:40:48,365 --> 00:40:50,698 This oil and gas economy-- 928 00:40:50,767 --> 00:40:52,968 it's been the greatest thing, great prosperity. 929 00:40:53,037 --> 00:40:55,704 It has not brought prosperity for all. 930 00:40:55,772 --> 00:40:58,577 It has not, you know, shared the wealth for all. 931 00:41:00,344 --> 00:41:01,510 - Often referred to 932 00:41:01,579 --> 00:41:03,846 as the godfather of environmental justice, 933 00:41:03,914 --> 00:41:06,449 Dr. Robert Bullard, a professor, 934 00:41:06,518 --> 00:41:08,518 author, and sociologist, 935 00:41:08,587 --> 00:41:10,018 has been sounding the alarm 936 00:41:10,087 --> 00:41:12,520 about environmental racism in Houston 937 00:41:12,589 --> 00:41:15,825 dating all the way back to the 1970s. 938 00:41:15,894 --> 00:41:18,126 He is currently a distinguished professor 939 00:41:18,195 --> 00:41:19,529 at Texas Southern, 940 00:41:19,598 --> 00:41:20,830 one of the nation's largest 941 00:41:20,898 --> 00:41:22,798 historically Black universities, 942 00:41:22,867 --> 00:41:25,301 located right here in Houston. 943 00:41:25,369 --> 00:41:26,501 - I guess I'm called 944 00:41:26,570 --> 00:41:27,770 the father of environmental justice 945 00:41:27,839 --> 00:41:30,104 because way back in 1978, 946 00:41:30,173 --> 00:41:34,242 I was asked to collect data and do a study for a lawsuit, 947 00:41:34,311 --> 00:41:37,613 Bean versus Southwestern Waste Management Corporation-- 948 00:41:37,681 --> 00:41:40,483 the first lawsuit challenging an environmental racism 949 00:41:40,552 --> 00:41:41,849 using civil rights law. 950 00:41:41,918 --> 00:41:45,487 And what we found is that from the '20s up until 1978, 951 00:41:45,556 --> 00:41:47,356 100% of all the city-owned landfills 952 00:41:47,425 --> 00:41:48,624 were in Black neighborhoods. 953 00:41:48,692 --> 00:41:51,121 Six out of eight of the city-owned incinerators 954 00:41:51,190 --> 00:41:52,261 were in Black neighborhoods. 955 00:41:52,330 --> 00:41:55,531 And three out of four of the privately owned landfills 956 00:41:55,599 --> 00:41:57,600 in Houston were in Black neighborhoods. 957 00:41:57,669 --> 00:42:00,736 So from the '20s up until 1978, 958 00:42:00,805 --> 00:42:03,205 82% of all the garbage dumped in Houston 959 00:42:03,273 --> 00:42:04,706 was dumped on Black people, 960 00:42:04,774 --> 00:42:07,577 even though Blacks made up only 25% of the population. 961 00:42:07,645 --> 00:42:09,778 - Wow. - That was an aha moment. 962 00:42:09,847 --> 00:42:12,882 - And after decades of research and data collection, 963 00:42:12,951 --> 00:42:15,818 he's now turned his attention to advocacy. 964 00:42:15,887 --> 00:42:17,754 - Environmental justice basically says 965 00:42:17,822 --> 00:42:19,555 it's a human-rights issue-- 966 00:42:19,623 --> 00:42:22,224 the right to breathe clean air. 967 00:42:22,292 --> 00:42:25,027 In 1979, '80, 968 00:42:25,096 --> 00:42:27,296 environmental justice was a footnote. 969 00:42:27,365 --> 00:42:30,065 40 years later, it's a headline. 970 00:42:30,134 --> 00:42:32,134 Environmental justice is a headline right now 971 00:42:32,203 --> 00:42:36,605 because of the converging issues of COVID, 972 00:42:36,673 --> 00:42:39,341 Black Lives Matter, police brutality, 973 00:42:39,410 --> 00:42:43,306 killing of unarmed Black men and women, voter suppression. 974 00:42:43,375 --> 00:42:46,248 You can almost name any social issue 975 00:42:46,317 --> 00:42:48,284 and talk about justice. 976 00:42:48,352 --> 00:42:50,853 - It's all connected. - It's all connected. 977 00:42:50,922 --> 00:42:53,322 I mean, we can provide lots of resources 978 00:42:53,390 --> 00:42:55,057 to harden the industries. 979 00:42:55,125 --> 00:42:57,560 But if the communities somehow are left vulnerable, 980 00:42:57,629 --> 00:42:59,094 then we have not addressed 981 00:42:59,163 --> 00:43:01,230 the full complexity of the problem 982 00:43:01,298 --> 00:43:02,932 and of the challenge. 983 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:04,694 - And we can talk about the fact 984 00:43:04,763 --> 00:43:07,802 that, as a city, where we're geographically located, 985 00:43:07,871 --> 00:43:10,840 we are susceptible to these volatile weather patterns 986 00:43:10,909 --> 00:43:12,540 and susceptible to climate change 987 00:43:12,609 --> 00:43:14,409 and why that's such a dangerous mixture, 988 00:43:14,478 --> 00:43:18,548 with having so many plants and refineries also located here. 989 00:43:18,616 --> 00:43:20,549 - Well, we are a hot spot. 990 00:43:20,618 --> 00:43:24,520 We're on the knife's edge when it comes to climate impacts. 991 00:43:24,589 --> 00:43:26,855 We're talking sea-level rise. 992 00:43:26,924 --> 00:43:30,827 We're talking these more severe weather events 993 00:43:30,895 --> 00:43:32,929 that will happen, that have happened. 994 00:43:32,997 --> 00:43:34,696 You know, Houston had, you know, 995 00:43:34,765 --> 00:43:39,301 three 500-year floods three years in a row. 996 00:43:39,370 --> 00:43:41,503 - Harvey taking aim at Texas. 997 00:43:41,571 --> 00:43:43,939 - A ferocious category-4 storm. 998 00:43:44,008 --> 00:43:46,508 - Spiraling in off the Gulf of Mexico. 999 00:43:46,576 --> 00:43:48,010 - I've never been through this, 1000 00:43:48,078 --> 00:43:51,113 and I don't wish it on anybody. 1001 00:43:51,182 --> 00:43:53,681 - Baby like this shouldn't be in the rain and cold. 1002 00:43:53,750 --> 00:43:56,085 - I've never experienced anything like this. 1003 00:43:56,153 --> 00:43:58,215 I didn't even imagine that it was gonna be 1004 00:43:58,283 --> 00:44:00,722 this catastrophic like this. 1005 00:44:00,791 --> 00:44:03,092 - The fact that we had a biblical flood 1006 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:05,860 called Harvey that flooded the entire city, 1007 00:44:05,929 --> 00:44:08,631 but our communities of color on the fence line 1008 00:44:08,700 --> 00:44:09,798 had to deal with the flooding, 1009 00:44:09,867 --> 00:44:11,834 but they also have to deal with the pollution coming 1010 00:44:11,902 --> 00:44:14,570 from these industries into their backyards 1011 00:44:14,638 --> 00:44:16,272 and their front yards and into their home. 1012 00:44:16,341 --> 00:44:18,807 ♪ ♪ 1013 00:44:18,876 --> 00:44:20,610 - The rising floodwater not only forced 1014 00:44:20,679 --> 00:44:22,479 people from their homes. 1015 00:44:22,547 --> 00:44:23,745 It was also tainted 1016 00:44:23,814 --> 00:44:26,214 with potentially dangerous contaminants, 1017 00:44:26,283 --> 00:44:28,450 posing a threat to health and safety. 1018 00:44:28,519 --> 00:44:31,887 The water significantly damaged the homes of my family 1019 00:44:31,956 --> 00:44:33,159 back in Pleasantville. 1020 00:44:35,325 --> 00:44:39,729 - When we noticed the water was coming in the house 1021 00:44:39,798 --> 00:44:42,697 and I was still under the doctor's care, 1022 00:44:42,766 --> 00:44:45,067 I kept trying to get folks to come out 1023 00:44:45,135 --> 00:44:48,971 to look at the house to see what we needed to do. 1024 00:44:49,039 --> 00:44:51,139 Couldn't find a company anywhere 1025 00:44:51,208 --> 00:44:55,177 that was willing to come in because of the contamination. 1026 00:44:55,245 --> 00:44:58,748 My mother and I applied with the city of Houston intake 1027 00:44:58,816 --> 00:45:01,150 for assistance. 1028 00:45:01,218 --> 00:45:04,553 That was in 2017. 1029 00:45:04,622 --> 00:45:06,589 So when you hear about programs 1030 00:45:06,657 --> 00:45:09,758 that the city of Houston... 1031 00:45:09,827 --> 00:45:13,529 is willing to help the communities with, 1032 00:45:13,598 --> 00:45:16,598 why does it take so long? 1033 00:45:16,666 --> 00:45:18,266 - My family and other residents 1034 00:45:18,335 --> 00:45:20,768 have had to turn to leaders in the community 1035 00:45:20,837 --> 00:45:23,406 in order to navigate the bureaucratic process 1036 00:45:23,474 --> 00:45:25,241 of applying for aid. 1037 00:45:25,309 --> 00:45:28,377 Mary Fontenot, the head of the Civic League, 1038 00:45:28,445 --> 00:45:31,346 has been tirelessly pushing the city and the state 1039 00:45:31,415 --> 00:45:33,616 to make sure Pleasantville will finally get 1040 00:45:33,685 --> 00:45:36,318 the assistance it deserves. 1041 00:45:36,387 --> 00:45:39,621 - Harvey was one of those hurricanes 1042 00:45:39,689 --> 00:45:42,959 that literally affected everybody. 1043 00:45:43,027 --> 00:45:46,596 We were impacted because we have become a community 1044 00:45:46,664 --> 00:45:49,331 that is an aging community, 1045 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:53,169 that's tucked away and forgotten in many ways. 1046 00:45:53,238 --> 00:45:55,971 ♪ ♪ 1047 00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:58,774 When Harvey hit and they had all those funds 1048 00:45:58,843 --> 00:46:00,275 and they came in and they said, 1049 00:46:00,344 --> 00:46:02,578 okay, yes, we're gonna fix your home, 1050 00:46:02,646 --> 00:46:04,814 things were happening so quickly 1051 00:46:04,882 --> 00:46:07,015 and so many people were affected 1052 00:46:07,084 --> 00:46:10,485 that they couldn't do the proper processes 1053 00:46:10,554 --> 00:46:12,988 to make sure that the people who were coming in 1054 00:46:13,057 --> 00:46:14,924 and repairing the homes actually knew 1055 00:46:14,993 --> 00:46:17,459 what they were doing. 1056 00:46:17,528 --> 00:46:21,030 We had a lot of seniors who had to dip into their pockets 1057 00:46:21,098 --> 00:46:23,199 because they could no longer wait 1058 00:46:23,267 --> 00:46:25,433 for somebody to come out and help them, 1059 00:46:25,502 --> 00:46:27,970 or they were being denied by their insurance company. 1060 00:46:28,039 --> 00:46:30,906 So you had homeowners insurance, 1061 00:46:30,975 --> 00:46:32,642 and it covered your roof, 1062 00:46:32,710 --> 00:46:34,510 and yet after Harvey, 1063 00:46:34,578 --> 00:46:36,779 the insurance companies would come out and say, 1064 00:46:36,848 --> 00:46:39,816 no, no, we're not gonna cover this roof. 1065 00:46:39,884 --> 00:46:41,350 And it's kind of like, why? 1066 00:46:41,419 --> 00:46:43,085 Well, it's kind of old. 1067 00:46:43,154 --> 00:46:44,987 But I'm still paying insurance 1068 00:46:45,056 --> 00:46:47,156 for the insurance to cover my roof. 1069 00:46:47,225 --> 00:46:50,059 Yeah, we know, but we're not gonna cover it. 1070 00:46:50,128 --> 00:46:51,994 And by the way, we're gonna drop you. 1071 00:46:52,063 --> 00:46:55,631 And that's exactly what happened. 1072 00:46:55,700 --> 00:46:57,499 There's a lot going on. 1073 00:46:57,568 --> 00:46:59,535 So that's what we're doing with Harvey... 1074 00:46:59,603 --> 00:47:01,536 - Yeah. - And how we're trying 1075 00:47:01,605 --> 00:47:05,144 to build our community, and it's a very, very long road. 1076 00:47:07,044 --> 00:47:10,446 - Disasters will further marginalize 1077 00:47:10,514 --> 00:47:11,980 marginalized communities, 1078 00:47:12,049 --> 00:47:16,485 and disasters exacerbate inequality. 1079 00:47:16,554 --> 00:47:18,520 ♪ ♪ 1080 00:47:18,589 --> 00:47:21,858 The way that our policies are in place today, 1081 00:47:21,926 --> 00:47:23,859 federal and state policies, 1082 00:47:23,927 --> 00:47:27,563 will provide benefits that oftentimes are skewed 1083 00:47:27,632 --> 00:47:29,268 toward the more affluent. 1084 00:47:30,868 --> 00:47:33,936 There are still people in New Orleans 1085 00:47:34,004 --> 00:47:38,106 trying to get their homes and lives back in order 1086 00:47:38,175 --> 00:47:42,078 after Hurricane Katrina that happened in 2005. 1087 00:47:42,146 --> 00:47:44,647 Harvey happened in 2017. 1088 00:47:44,716 --> 00:47:47,582 In some cases, it takes longer 1089 00:47:47,651 --> 00:47:51,754 for some communities and residents to bounce back. 1090 00:47:51,822 --> 00:47:53,890 - Before my family in Pleasantville 1091 00:47:53,958 --> 00:47:55,858 could fully recover from Harvey, 1092 00:47:55,927 --> 00:47:58,160 disaster struck again. 1093 00:47:58,228 --> 00:47:59,896 While filming this story, 1094 00:47:59,964 --> 00:48:01,629 the entire state of Texas 1095 00:48:01,698 --> 00:48:04,633 was hit with another catastrophic climate event. 1096 00:48:04,702 --> 00:48:07,737 - The entire state, for the first time in weather history, 1097 00:48:07,805 --> 00:48:09,705 under that winter-storm warning. 1098 00:48:09,774 --> 00:48:11,908 - In February of 2021, 1099 00:48:11,976 --> 00:48:14,542 Winter Storm Uri hit hard, 1100 00:48:14,611 --> 00:48:18,915 causing an estimated $295 billion in damages. 1101 00:48:18,983 --> 00:48:21,550 It's the single biggest insurance-claim event 1102 00:48:21,619 --> 00:48:22,919 in Texas history. 1103 00:48:22,987 --> 00:48:25,321 [people scream] - Oh, my God! 1104 00:48:25,389 --> 00:48:29,424 - And the storm killed more than 700 people. 1105 00:48:29,493 --> 00:48:30,860 - This week, there have been more customers 1106 00:48:30,929 --> 00:48:32,360 in Texas without power 1107 00:48:32,429 --> 00:48:34,429 than there were during Hurricane Harvey. 1108 00:48:34,498 --> 00:48:37,133 - It's cold. All the power is out. 1109 00:48:37,201 --> 00:48:39,034 People are just trying to stay warm. 1110 00:48:39,103 --> 00:48:41,671 - While the storm got national attention, 1111 00:48:41,740 --> 00:48:43,271 what was not reported on 1112 00:48:43,340 --> 00:48:45,107 was how disproportionate the freeze was 1113 00:48:45,176 --> 00:48:47,977 for fence-line communities like Pleasantville, 1114 00:48:48,045 --> 00:48:49,812 who were still trying to recover 1115 00:48:49,881 --> 00:48:52,843 from previous disasters like Harvey. 1116 00:48:52,912 --> 00:48:55,184 - People ask, well, why don't they move? 1117 00:48:55,252 --> 00:48:59,121 Well, some communities have been there a long time. 1118 00:48:59,190 --> 00:49:01,724 And in other cases, people will say, 1119 00:49:01,793 --> 00:49:03,125 this is my home. 1120 00:49:03,194 --> 00:49:05,193 This is my homeland. 1121 00:49:05,262 --> 00:49:07,329 Five generations have lived here. 1122 00:49:07,397 --> 00:49:09,465 Why should I be forced to leave? 1123 00:49:09,534 --> 00:49:12,001 I was here first. 1124 00:49:12,069 --> 00:49:14,370 These neighborhoods are surrounded now 1125 00:49:14,438 --> 00:49:17,973 by industry that's killing them 1126 00:49:18,042 --> 00:49:21,177 and killing the neighborhoods. 1127 00:49:21,245 --> 00:49:23,145 Some of them don't want to be relocated 1128 00:49:23,214 --> 00:49:24,847 because that's their homeland 1129 00:49:24,915 --> 00:49:26,515 and that's where they want to be. 1130 00:49:26,584 --> 00:49:33,592 ♪ ♪ 1131 00:49:38,162 --> 00:49:41,931 [truck beeping] 1132 00:49:41,999 --> 00:49:44,266 - After four years of waiting for help, 1133 00:49:44,334 --> 00:49:45,868 the state of Texas decided 1134 00:49:45,937 --> 00:49:47,569 that instead of using Harvey funds 1135 00:49:47,638 --> 00:49:49,738 to repair my great-aunt Lela's home, 1136 00:49:49,806 --> 00:49:52,541 they would tear it down and offer to build her 1137 00:49:52,610 --> 00:49:56,278 a cheaper, smaller shotgun-style structure 1138 00:49:56,347 --> 00:49:59,215 with no garage and no covered patio 1139 00:49:59,283 --> 00:50:01,884 for her to hold those weekly Sunday gatherings 1140 00:50:01,953 --> 00:50:04,256 that are so cherished by my family. 1141 00:50:06,257 --> 00:50:09,253 - Oh... [speaks indistinctly] 1142 00:50:09,322 --> 00:50:16,302 ♪ ♪ 1143 00:50:19,532 --> 00:50:22,971 [glass shattering] 1144 00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:30,249 ♪ ♪ 1145 00:50:54,037 --> 00:50:57,106 - It happens that this is where all the resources are. 1146 00:50:57,175 --> 00:51:00,576 America obviously needs an energy source. 1147 00:51:00,644 --> 00:51:02,677 And this is what it looks like. 1148 00:51:02,746 --> 00:51:05,114 - I feel like that's actually the big quagmire. 1149 00:51:05,183 --> 00:51:07,316 - I think the more we talk about Texas, 1150 00:51:07,385 --> 00:51:09,952 the more complicated it seems. 1151 00:51:10,020 --> 00:51:12,288 And it's a moral challenge. 1152 00:51:12,356 --> 00:51:14,956 - Yeah, and part of it is understanding 1153 00:51:15,025 --> 00:51:18,127 the people that are directly impacted by this conversation. 1154 00:51:18,195 --> 00:51:19,461 And I feel like those are the people 1155 00:51:19,529 --> 00:51:21,263 that are being left out. - Yeah. 1156 00:51:21,332 --> 00:51:23,232 - And I want to be a change agent. 1157 00:51:23,301 --> 00:51:25,400 I want to document the history 1158 00:51:25,469 --> 00:51:27,336 because that will live forever 1159 00:51:27,405 --> 00:51:30,306 and that is what goes down generation to generation. 1160 00:51:30,374 --> 00:51:32,241 It goes to my son and to his children. 1161 00:51:32,309 --> 00:51:34,143 And without that, like, we're nothing. 1162 00:51:34,211 --> 00:51:37,145 And specifically as a Black woman, 1163 00:51:37,214 --> 00:51:40,449 if I don't see people that look like me, 1164 00:51:40,518 --> 00:51:42,651 you know, and all I have are these giant things 1165 00:51:42,719 --> 00:51:45,253 that will never get destroyed in a flood, 1166 00:51:45,322 --> 00:51:47,189 that are full of old white guys... 1167 00:51:47,258 --> 00:51:49,225 - Yeah. - That we use all these words 1168 00:51:49,293 --> 00:51:51,226 to say that these are the people that did everything. 1169 00:51:51,295 --> 00:51:53,095 And it's just not true. - Yeah. 1170 00:51:53,163 --> 00:51:54,764 - It's just not true. 1171 00:51:54,832 --> 00:51:56,665 These people... 1172 00:51:56,734 --> 00:51:58,733 profited off of a lot of free labor, you know. 1173 00:51:58,802 --> 00:52:01,904 - Yes, they did. - And those are my ancestors. 1174 00:52:01,973 --> 00:52:03,005 - Right. 1175 00:52:03,074 --> 00:52:04,540 - And they survived in spite of. 1176 00:52:04,609 --> 00:52:11,583 ♪ ♪ 1177 00:52:15,486 --> 00:52:18,154 As the nation entertains what a future could look like 1178 00:52:18,222 --> 00:52:20,189 without oil or gas, 1179 00:52:20,258 --> 00:52:23,725 I wonder what will happen to my city. 1180 00:52:23,793 --> 00:52:26,995 What I know now is that communities like mine 1181 00:52:27,064 --> 00:52:30,565 must have a seat at the table. 1182 00:52:30,634 --> 00:52:32,838 You cannot write out our story. 1183 00:52:34,672 --> 00:52:36,605 We exist. 1184 00:52:36,674 --> 00:52:38,106 We are here. 1185 00:52:38,175 --> 00:52:45,351 ♪ ♪ 1186 00:55:16,967 --> 00:55:19,538 [bright tone]