How Greed & Racism Brought Lead Poisoning To Indiana

In part 3 of our series about the Indiana lead contamination crisis, we ask the question that has been on a lot of viewers' minds. Was race a factor in 1972 when local, state and federal officials signed off on constructing the West Calumet affordable housing complex on the site of 3 defunct lead factories?

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Three weeks ago, West Calumet residents received a letter from the Anthony Copeland, the first African American mayor of East Chicago, Indiana, telling them that they would be forcibly removed from their homes due to lead contamination. Soon after, the EPA arrived with four trailers and set up camp, informing residents that they would soon be offering in-home clean-up operations. They put down mulch as a stop-gap measure to protect children from the lead particles embedded in the soil, put up signs, and passed out flyers about living with contamination.

"DO NOT PLAY IN THE DIRT OR AROUND THE MULCH" where you live, signed, The EPA. That's what the signs say all over West Calumet, an affordable housing complex in the industrial region of Indiana, which is being forcibly evacuated and demolished due to lead contamination.

NOTE: CAMU stands for Corrective Action Management Unit

From a fact sheet being provided to residents:

WHAT ARE THE RESIDENTS’ RIGHTS DURING RELOCATION?

By law, residents are entitled to the following:

Notice of relocation. This is normally a 90 day notice. In your case, due to the lead and arsenic contamination, HUD is not requiring the 90 day notice, citing “exigent health circumstances”;

Relocation assistance;

Comparable housing.

WHAT DOES THE RIGHT TO COMPARABLE HOUSING MEAN?

This means that ECHA has to make sure that the residents will move to an apartment that is the same or better than where you live now. The new neighborhoods residents move to must also be in the same or better condition than the neighborhood you live in now.

WHAT TYPE OF HOUSING CAN THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OFFER RESIDENTS?

ECHA can offer residents a Housing Choice “Section 8” Voucher, another public housing unit owned by ECHA, or a public housing unit owned by another housing authority.

ECHA has said it will offer residents Housing Choice “Section 8” vouchers. For those residents not eligible for a voucher or who cannot find a unit in time to use their voucher, ECHA will offer other public housing.

WHAT DOES RELOCATION ASSISTANCE MEAN?

Relocation assistance means that:

ECHA is required to provide residents with housing counseling, so they have help finding a new place to live with their Housing Choice “Section 8” Voucher.

ECHA is required to pay for all actual and reasonable moving expenses. Costs include things like renting a moving van, security deposits, and transfer or hook-up fees for landline phones and utilities.

ECHA may cover your moving expenses by actually moving you rather than paying you to move. This is allowed.

Read the rest of the fact sheet here

Special thanks to Daniel Luepker and Kit Cabello of Veracity In Defiance who attended our TYT Meetup in Chicago and the very next morning accompanied us to Indiana to help us shoot this story. Thanks also to Mia Park who helped Eric Byler with additional filming.