Gabriella Sheffler Final Research Blog

Introduction of Topic

My project is about the 1987 protest in Vernon by the Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA) to block an incinerator's construction and how this event relates to environmental racism and ecofeminism. The Mothers of East Los Angeles is a group of Latina mothers dedicated to the cause of environmental justice. In 1987, MELA took on the California Thermal Treatment Center on their decision to place an incinerator in the heart of the South Coast Air Basin. The incinerator would be placed within 7,500 feet of a predominantly Latino community. This incident of targeting a minority community is an example of exclusionary zoning, a tool used to sustain discrimination in government policy. MELA used their position as mothers to advocate for a safe environment for their children. Additionally, their position as women, specifically, women in a minority community, allowed their message to be effective in protesting an instance of environmental racism. MELA was effective in their fight for environmental justice because of the many different ways they fought for their cause. MELA protested in person, attended press conferences, and worked with other interest groups to pass legislation. This topic is a historical project because it focuses on the history of an interest group engaging in activism. Additionally, this project is an environmental project because it describes the environmental impact an incinerator would have on a community.

Research Process

For my research, I began studying the history of environmental racism in Los Angeles. Robert D. Bullard's “The Threat of Environmental Racism” includes data that reveals the presence of environmental racism and discriminatory practices in policy-making. Using the example of MELA, the author argues Latino communities are especially vulnerable to environmental racism. From there, I researched the history of MELA and how they were successful in their efforts to stop the incinerator. Mary Pardo's "Mexican American Women Grassroots Community Activists: Mothers of East Los Angeles" includes detailed interviews from members of MELA and their experience in the 1987 protest. Through testimonies of women in MELA, the author argues that the Mexican-American community in Los Angeles has become victim to the environmental consequences of development focused solely on profit. Next, I used an LA Times news article from 1989 to contextualize the event and investigate the tactics MELA used to successfully protest and how it was revolutionary at the time. From this source, it became clear that MELA used their position as women, mothers, and members of the Latino community to push their environmental justice movement. This led me to my next source, Delores Delgado Bernal's “Grassroots Leadership Reconceptualized: Chicana Oral Histories and the 1968 East Los Angeles School Blowouts.” An assessment of this source revealed the long history of ecofeminism in the Latina community. Next, I used Kamala Platt's “Chicana Strategies for Success and Survival: Cultural Poetics of Environmental Justice from the Mothers of East Los Angeles" to review the relationship between popular narratives of environmental justice and actual accounts of protesting environmental racism. This source gives insight to ecofeminism and how MELA was successful in their search for environmental justice. My next source is an LA times article, titled “To Protect the Children of East L.A.”, reflecting on the impact of MELA. This article was written in 1992 when the group was very active in pushing for environmental reform. This article is helpful in setting the scene for how MELA was successful. I then wanted to research more about the environmental aspect of my project. My next source is “Health Effects Associated with the Disposal of Solid Waste in Landfills and Incinerators in Populations Living in Surrounding Areas: A Systematic Review”. This journal assesses the impact that incinerators have on human health. This is significant to my projects because the Mothers of East Los Angeles were fighting the construction of an incinerator in Vernon. I then went to research more about the ecofeminist side of my project. This next source is “Socialist and Cultural Ecofeminism: Allies in Resistance.”, a journal article about the theories behind ecofeminism. This article explores the topic of ecofeminism and the strategies behind activism.The next set of sources I found was through the Juana Beatriz Gutierrez Mothers of East Los Angeles Collection and are further analyzed in the image analysis section.

Historical Analysis

MELA was successful in their efforts to block a toxic waste incinerator in their community due to their position as mothers, women, and members of a minority community. Each of these factors is significant to their success and are important to evaluate separately as a means to understand MELA as a whole.

The Mothers of East Los Angeles used their position as mothers to push for environmental justice. This position was significant to their effective resistance in a number of ways. First, their position as mothers allowed MELA to connect and develop a network. Mary Pardo describes this ability to connect as through “overseeing her child’s progress in school, interacting with school staff, and supporting school activities” (Pardo 2). Pardo argues that the origins of MELA occurred through the connection mothers make in dealing with their children’s school activities. By having a mutual concern for the safety of their children, MELA was able to come together to start the environmental justice movement. Another reason their position as mothers was effective in creating this movement was because the mothers were able to get their families involved. Pardo writes that originally the movement was just women, however, “they began to invite their husbands and their children” (Pardo 3). This is significant because, as mothers, they have connections with the rest of their household. The Mothers of East Los Angeles were able to come together due to their mutual concern for their children. Additionally, they were able to expand their group by inviting members of their family to protests. Finally, the Mothers of East Los Angeles, in their fight for environmental justice, redefined what it means to be a mother. Pardo writes that MELA was able to “expand the boundaries of motherhood to include social and political community activism” (Pardo 4). This is significant as the role of mothers, especially in a minority community, is often limited to domestic issues. By changing the perspective of environmental issues as directly affecting their children’s safety, MELA was able to expand the boundaries of what was seen as motherhood. Additionally, as the group expanded beyond just the mothers, the idea of motherhood became more of a metaphor. Even those who were not mothers were participating in the protests because the idea of motherhood was expanded to protecting the community for the sake of the children. As a result, MELA became an accessible grassroots movement for environmental justice, even for those who aren't mothers.

The next reason MELA was successful in their fight for environmental justice was because they were able to mobilize the latino community. In California, Latino communities are especially vulnerable to environmental racism (Bullard 26). Additionally, it can be difficult for minority communities to mobilize as they do not have the power or influence to create change. However, Kamala Platt argues that the Mothers of East Los Angeles were successful in their efforts because they were a true grassroots movement and “grassroots organizing is more accessible to marginalized groups” (Platt 54). MELA understood their position as members of a minority community and understood that traditional means of protesting would not work to their advantage. One of the mothers of MELA who attended the Vernon protest said "They want to put these things in our area because no other community will accept such dangerous projects and because we are poor and don't have the influence of Beverly Hills" (Sahagun 1).These grass-root movements develop as a result of networking within the Latino community. Dolores Delgado Bernal writes that networking is “building a base of support and linking diverse groups that could offer legitimacy” (Bernal 124). The Mothers of East Los Angeles were able to mobilize the Latino community by working together for multiple different causes. For example, MELA “marched with Cesar Chavez to protest pesticides, lobbied for the Mexican preservation of Olvera Street, and assisted in Voter registration and Citizenship drives” (Platt 56). Furthermore, MELA built alliances with other groups within the Latino community, such as United Farm Workers (Platt 56). By involving themselves in other spheres of activism within the Latino community, MELA was able to garner support for their fight against environmental racism in Vernon. Additionally, by using their position as members in a minority community, they are able to assert a common identity within the community of working-class individuals. MELA’s ability to work with other groups, especially within the Latino community, was important to their success as a group.

The Mothers of East Los Angeles were successful in their efforts due, in part, to their position as women. Additionally, MELA’s activism ushered in a new wave of ecofeminism that has lasting impacts today. Toxic incinerators have damaging effects on those who live in the surrounding communities. A study in the International Journal of Public Health revealed  that “historically, incinerators are an important source of pollution and harm for the health of populations living nearby” (Mattiello et al. 1). Although pollution affects everyone in the surrounding area, studies have shown that women are disproportionately more affected in regards to reproductive health. Kamala Platt writes how “toxins disrupt healthy female reproduction processes and result in problems ranging from birth defects to breast cancer” (Platt 51). This is significant because it provides an incentive for protesting a toxic waste incinerator beyond the traditional idea of protecting the children. Furthermore, issues of health are often perceived as a woman’s duty to address. Mary Pardo writes “the issues traditionally addressed by women- health, housing, sanitation, and the urban environment- have moved to the center stage as capitalist urbanization progresses” (Pardo 6). Here, Pardo is arguing that as urbanization, and subsequent environmental issues, become more prevalent in communities, women are at the forefront of addressing these issues. Women are often seen as the caretakers and given domestic duties, however, MELA was able to use environmental issues as a way to implement their care-taking skills. By including environmental issues in the role of a woman, MELA has expanded the reach of women in communities and given a platform for ecofeminism to flourish. By using their position as women, mothers, and members of a minority community, MELA was successful in their efforts to block the incinerator in Vernon. Furthermore, MELA has ushered in a new generation of empowered women that are determined to fight for environmental justice.

Image Analysis

This first photo is from the Vernon protest against the toxic incinerator. This protest is the subject of my project and this photograph is essential in capturing the atmosphere at the time of the event. As seen by the photo, MELA is a group of Mothers in the Latino community using their position to advance environmental justice. In the photograph, there are also children and men included. After further research, it appears the men are the husbands of the mothers in MELA and the children are the sons and daughters of MELA mothers. This photograph is significant as it showcases the collective community action taken to stop an instance of environmental racism. Additionally, this photograph showcases how MELA used their family to advance their position and give ground for protesting against the toxic incinerator. By involving the children in the protest, there is a clear representation of the community that would be impacted by the toxic incinerator in Vernon.

This next photograph is a photograph from 1992 of the Mother of East Los Angeles at a press conference. The leader of the group is Juana Beatriz Gutteriez, one of the founding members of MELA. Although this photograph is not from the Vernon protest, it showcases the in-person action taken by MELA in order to fight for environmental justice. MELA would speak at press conferences and describe how instances of environmental racism would threaten their community. Additionally, this photograph is significant because it involves one of the founding leaders of MELA.

This next photograph is a map of the suburban areas in Vernon. This is helpful to my project as the toxic incinerator was planned to be in Vernon and would affect the suburban areas. This is why MELA was so significant in the fight against the toxic waste incinerator. The incinerator would have had negative health effects on the areas on this map. The city of Vernon is predominantly a Latino community and MELA used their position as mothers, members of a minority community, and women to fight for their cause of environmental justice.

Finally, this image is a primary source document of a letter to the EPA regarding a hazardous waste facility from, among other signers, the Mothers of East Los Angeles. This is significant for a number of reasons. First, this image showcases how MELA collaborated with other organizations to achieve their goal. By having a group made up of Mothers co-signing legislation, it adds a community element to the protest. MELA showed their support for this letter and, in doing so, showed the community involvement of the city of Vernon. Additionally, this letter is significant because it showcases the methods MELA used in order to achieve their goals. MELA participated in protests, as shown by the first photograph, attended press conferences to discuss their platform, as shown by the second photograph, and participated in pushing for legislation that would advance their cause. These photographs show how MELA was successful in their efforts because they were involved in many spheres of protests. 

Conclusion

    MELA was significant in their fight for environmental justice in many ways. First, they used their position as mothers to create a sense of community and bring together various groups to fight for their cause. This is seen in pictures from the Vernon protest, as their children and husbands were present. Additionally, using their position as mothers creates a sense of maternal care that extends beyond their children and into the community as a whole. Furthermore, MELA redefined the traditional role of mothers to include community activism.  Next, MELA used their position in a minority community to call out an instance of environmental racism. The incinerator that was planned to be built in Vernon would have affected a community of predominantly Latino people. This instance of exclusionary zoning was called out by MELA. MELA used their position as members of a minority group and worked together with other interest groups to achieve their goal. Finally, MELA used their position as women to fight for their cause and introduced a new wave of ecofeminism that has a lasting impact today. The group understood how environmental issues disproportionately affect women and worked together to fight for their safety. MELA’s Vernon protest sparked a new, bigger movement of fighting for environmental justice.

Bibliography

Bullard, Robert D. “The Threat of Environmental Racism.” Natural Resources & Environment, vol. 7, no. 3, 1993, pp. 23–56. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40923229. Accessed 26 Jan. 2021.

 Bernal, Dolores Delgado. “Grassroots Leadership Reconceptualized: Chicana Oral Histories and the 1968 East Los Angeles School Blowouts.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, 1998, pp. 113–142. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3347162. Accessed 2 Feb. 2021.

Carlassare, Elizabeth. “Socialist and Cultural Ecofeminism: Allies in Resistance.” Ethics and the Environment, vol. 5, no. 1, 2000, pp. 89–106. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27766057. Accessed 23 Feb. 2021.

Juana Beatríz Gutiérrez and Other Members of the Mothers of East L.A. at a Water Conservation Press Conference. Photograph. East Los Angeles (Calif.), August 1992. Latino Cultural Heritage Digital Archives.

Koenenn, Connie. “To Protect the Children of East L.A.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, December 23, 1991. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-23-vw-829-story.html.

Letter to the Environmental Protection Agency from Art Torres, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Toxics and Public Safety Management, regarding the Chemclear Hazardous Waste Treatment Facility, June 19, 1991. Juana Beatriz Gutierrez Mothers of East Los Angeles Collection

Mattiello, A., Chiodini, P., Bianco, E. et al. Health effects associated with the disposal of solid waste in landfills and incinerators in populations living in surrounding areas: a systematic review. Int J Public Health 58, 725–735 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-013-0496-8

Pardo, Mary. “Mexican American Women Grassroots Community Activists: ‘Mothers of East Los Angeles.’” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, 1990, pp. 1–7. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3346696. Accessed 26 Jan. 2021.

Platt, Kamala. “Chicana Strategies for Success and Survival: Cultural Poetics of Environmental Justice from the Mothers of East Los Angeles.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies,