You're Invited: Toxic Twins Bus Tour and Movie Screening
Let's end the year right
Happy post-Thanksgiving break!
I want to invite everyone to two very special and free events that Downwinders at Risk is hosting. I’ve previously written about Downwinders: It’s the DFW environmental justice organization whose Toxic Twins campaign aims to amortize the TAMKO asphalt shingle plant in Joppa and the GAF asphalt shingle plant in West Dallas.
Since July, when I wrote that post, Dallas council members had taken notice of the organizing efforts. In fact, on November 21, Council Members Adam Bazaldua (who represents Joppa), Laura Cadena (who represents West Dallas), Chad West, Zarin Gracey, and Paula Blackmon signed the five-signature memo to request a consultant to give Council a dollar amount for the amortization of these two plants. This item was placed on the agenda and will be discussed on Wednesday, December 10 at City Hall.
This is the necessary and first real step to this process, and it’s been a long time coming. Our work, however, is far from over. Thank you to those who have volunteered. If you want to speak at City Hall on December 10 to make sure they approve this item, let me know. We’ll have everything ready for you.
Bus tour
The first event is a bus tour. It’ll be a mix of narratives from historians and community leaders, and a chance to hang out together while learning more about our city.
Here are the details:
Date: Saturday, December 6
Time: Bus leaves at 9:30 AM
Meetup: Good Coworking at 1808 S Good Latimer Expy, Dallas, TX 75226
RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/Dallastoxictour
Movie screening
Now, the bus tour will be fun and everything, but I wasn’t involved in it. So if you can only make one event, let me sway you to join the team that I was on: the movie screening.
We will watch about 30 to 45 minutes of a documentary that Downwinders is putting together about the many ways that residents of Joppa and West Dallas have been living and resisting the Toxic Twins. Starting with the RSR lead smelter in the 1930s all the way to the current polluters of today, we will explore how the city of Dallas has willingly supported the health deterioration of black and brown neighborhoods.
Following the screening, we will have a panel of community residents and subject matter experts. We’ve also invited Council Members Bazaldua and Cadena. Will they show up? That’s the fun part! Moderating this panel in which Bazaldua may or may not be there is Matt Goodman, formerly of D Magazine and now cofounder of The Lab Report Dallas.
Here are the details for this one:
Date: Saturday, December 13
Time: 12 PM to 3 PM
Meetup: Pegasus City Brewery at 1508 Commerce St, Dallas, TX 75201
RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/ToxicTwinsDoc
See you then and let’s start saying bye to 2025 the right way!