Industrial toxic emissions on the South Baltimore Peninsula are among
the highest in the nation. Because of the concentration of factories and
other chemical industries in their neighborhoods, residents face
elevated rates of lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses in
addition to heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular disease, all of
which can lead to premature death. Fighting to Breathe follows a
dynamic and creative group of high school students who decided to fight
back against the race- and class-based health disparities and inequality
in their city. For more than a decade, student organizers stood up to
unequal land use practices and the proposed construction of an
incinerator and instead initiated new waste management strategies. As a
Baltimore resident and activist-scholar, Nicole Fabricant documents how
these young organizers came to envision, design, and create a more just
and sustainable Baltimore.