Commentary

COMMENTARY: Clean Air Is a Human Right

LOS ANGELES SENTINEL — My baby brother suffered from acute asthma his entire childhood, and witnessing his pain was tough on me, but even more so for my parents. It was disheartening to watch him suffer and miss school when he had trouble breathing. My parents, Mexican immigrants with limited education, worked multiple low-wage jobs to make ends meet. They often had to skip work to take care of him, which also hurt our ability to purchase appropriate treatments for him. For low-income families like mine, having health issues presents hard decisions about priorities and survival.

Published

4 years ago

May 8, 2019

brandon

By Noemí Gallardo, Senior Manager of Public Policy, Sunrun Inc.

My baby brother suffered from acute asthma his entire childhood, and witnessing his pain was tough on me, but even more so for my parents. It was disheartening to watch him suffer and miss school when he had trouble breathing. My parents, Mexican immigrants with limited education, worked multiple low-wage jobs to make ends meet. They often had to skip work to take care of him, which also hurt our ability to purchase appropriate treatments for him. For low-income families like mine, having health issues presents hard decisions about priorities and survival.

This is not a unique story. Asthma is a debilitating, life-threatening ailment that is only getting more common and costly in the U.S. Asthma costs $56 billion each year, directly hurting both the health and financial security of those afflicted. Our nation’s productivity also takes a hit, with 10.5 million missed days of school and 14.2 million missed days of work annually.

Poor air quality caused by dirty, fossil-fueled power plants is a significant contributor to the growth of this serious disease, and polluting power plants are overwhelmingly located in low-income and minority communities. According to the NAACP, approximately 68 percent of African Americans live or have lived within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant. Meanwhile, a report by the Clean Air Task Force found nearly 2 million Latinos, like my family, live within a half mile of existing oil and gas facilities. My brother and I were born and lived just miles from the now-shutdown power plants located in Oxnard, California. Luckily, he overcame the asthma — not everyone does.

There is a direct connection between replacing fossil fuels with solar energy and the reduction of the risks of asthma, heart attacks and other ailments, according to research from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Health. Replacing these power plants with solar power is one important step we can take as a nation in curbing asthma as a public health epidemic.

A disproportionate burden

Asthma impacts some communities more than others. According to the above NAACP study, an African American or Latino child is twice as likely to die from an asthma attack compared to a Caucasian American child. African Americans in particular have much higher asthma rates than the general population, with nearly 17% of African American children having asthma, the highest rate among racial and ethnic groups and one that affects both educations and careers.

These are inequities with real consequences, but also a phenomena that is entirely preventable. We have the tools and technology today to reduce the prevalence and danger of asthma for all—especially for our children.

The right way forward

In a recent report, Sunrun outlined the potential to change the standard of living for residents and create cleaner, fresher air by displacing gas peaker plants in Los Angeles with home solar and batteries. This could bring both electricity savings and clean energy to 25,000 homes and 2,500 apartment buildings in traditionally underserved and low-income communities. These are areas with low solar penetration, and also areas most likely to host gas-fired power plants. Using solar can address smog issues today in the communities most affected by the lack of clean air.

Solar battery technology has improved which is important for energy storage and the cost for households to have solar has steadily been dropping over the last two decades. As the cost of solar drops, the opportunity opens up for everyone to have access regardless of socioeconomic status.

Smart policy and green bank financing provide financial support for lower-income residents to buy or lease solar systems. For example, the non-profit GRID Alternatives leverages additional funds to reduce project costs and provide workforce development opportunities for disadvantaged communities. These efforts must be supported by smart state policies that empower innovative companies to expand access to solar, such as redirecting low-income energy bill subsidies into grants that eligible customers can apply to home solar and battery systems.

Clean air should be a human right—not a luxury for the wealthy. My family’s experience has inspired me to become an advocate for low-income communities, ensuring that children like my brother won’t continue to suffer from asthma. On this World Asthma Day, let’s mobilize to fight the disease at its cause. Cleaner air equals healthier lungs, and with solar power, we can move towards fresh air and a healthier planet.

This article originally appeared in the Los Angeles Sentinel

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Oakland Post: Week of September 27 – October 3, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 27 – October 3, 2023

Published

1 day ago

September 29, 2023

Oakland Post

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 27 - October 3, 2023

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Black History

Remembering the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

The “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” brought an unprecedented throng to the National Mall on Aug. 28, 1963. From every corner of the U.S., marchers came to demand fair wages, economic justice, an end to segregation, voting rights and long overdue civil rights. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his incomparable “I Have a Dream” speech on that day.

Published

3 days ago

September 27, 2023

Oakland Post

March on Washington, August 1963

By Gay Elizabeth Plair Cobb

Gay Plair Cobb

Editor’s note: The “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” brought an unprecedented throng to the National Mall on Aug. 28, 1963. From every corner of the U.S., marchers came to demand fair wages, economic justice, an end to segregation, voting rights and long overdue civil rights. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his incomparable “I Have a Dream” speech on that day. Below, Gay Plair Cobb shares her remembrance.

“Sleepy eyed, joining the early morning-chartered bus ride from New York City to Washington, DC … exhilarated, but not knowing what to expect in the late August heat

…. the yearning for justice, solidarity with others on the journey, the possibility of new legislation, and also the possibility of violence … We just did not know.

In the end, there were an amazing 250,000 of us, awed and inspired by Mahalia Jackson, John Lewis, Dorothy Height, James Farmer and, of course, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Dream that became our North Star is still our North Star 60 years later and into eternity. Grateful to have been a foot soldier then. Still grateful now.”

Poster for March on Washington.

Activism

Officer Fired for Shooting and Killing Sean Monterrosa Has Termination Overturned

Michael Rains, attorney for the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association, said that “several credible sources” have told him that Detective Jarrett Tonn’s termination has been overturned in arbitration.

Published

3 days ago

September 27, 2023

Oakland Post

A billboard near Vallejo Police Department with a sketch of Sean Monterrosa and a message “Justice for Sean Monterrosa” unveiled on Sept. 27, 2020, in Solano County, Calif. (Harika Maddala/ Bay City News)

By Katy St. Clair
Bay City News

The officer who was fired for shooting and killing a man during George Floyd protests in Vallejo in 2020 could be getting his job back after prevailing in arbitration.

Tonn was dismissed from the Vallejo force after he shot Sean Monterrosa, 22, of San Francisco, outside of a Walgreens store on Redwood Street during the early morning hours of June 2, 2020.

The Vallejo Police Department has not commented on whether Tonn will return.

Tonn and two other officers were responding to alleged reports of looting at the store in an unmarked pickup truck. Body camera footage shows Tonn, who is seated in the backseat of the vehicle, stick an AR-15-style assault rifle in between the two officers and fire five times through the windshield at Monterrosa as the police vehicle approached the store.

Monterrosa died a short time later.

Vallejo police have alleged that Tonn fired at Monterrosa because he mistook a hammer in Monterrosa’s sweatshirt pocket for the butt of a gun.

The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta in May 2021 opened an investigation into the shooting, but there have been no updates in that case and Bonta’s office will not comment on open cases.

Tonn was at first placed on administrative leave for the shooting death, but was fired in 2021 by then-Chief Shawny Williams, who determined that Monterrosa was on his knees with his hands raised when he was shot.

Rains, who has represented two other officers fired by Williams — and prevailed — said the reinstatement of Tonn was the right decision. Rains said Sunday that Tonn applied a reasonable and lawful use of force in the Monterrosa case, and that Williams was wrong to terminate him.

“This is just three for three now with Williams,” he said, referring to the now three officers that have gotten their jobs back. “It demonstrates what a colossal failure he was as a chief in every respect. I’m delighted for Tonn, it’s deserved.”

Rains did not represent Tonn in this case.

But others see Monterrosa’s shooting death as a dark stain on a department known for years of shootings by officers.

The law office of John Burris filed a civil rights suit against the city of Vallejo and its Police Department for Monterrosa’s death, citing alleged tampering with evidence and acting negligently by not reprimanding or re-training Tonn previously despite a “shocking history of shooting his gun at civilians.”

Burris’ office is no longer representing the case and the family is now represented by new counsel, John Coyle, with a jury trial scheduled for January 2025, according to court records.

Nevertheless, Burris commented Sunday on Tonn’s reinstatement, saying he was disappointed but not surprised at the move, because arbitrators in these cases are “biased” toward the police.

“Even though police may have committed in this case an outrageous act, it’s not surprising that that has happened, and it happens more times than not,” he said.

When asked if he was confident that Bonta would file charges against Tonn, Burris chuckled and said that he would wait and see.

“I would not hold my breath,” he said.

Tonn had previously shot three people over five years in Vallejo while on duty, none of which were found to have had firearms, a tenth of the 32 total shootings by the department in one decade, according to attorney Ben Nisenbaum.

Vallejo civil rights attorney Melissa Nold, who represents families of people killed by Vallejo police, said the decision to bring back Tonn had been in the works the minute he was terminated by Williams.

“Unfortunately, I am not surprised at this troubling turn of events because a whistleblower notified me last year via email that Tonn was working a deal to get his job back once they threatened and ran off Chief Williams,” Nold said.

Williams resigned abruptly last November. Williams was repeatedly criticized by the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association, the offices’ union, which had previously voted “no confidence” in him and blamed him for everything from attrition to high crime in the city. But advocates for the families of those killed by police said Williams had been making progress in cleaning up a department that had gained international attention for being violent. During Williams’ tenure, there were no police shootings after the Monterrosa death.

Nold places part of the blame on Tonn’s return on the city, which she said “made no effort” to support his termination. Nold said they are still expecting Bonta to file criminal charges against Tonn and there will be a push to get him decertified as an officer as well.

“He cannot ever go back out onto the streets of Vallejo,” she said. “The liability he would create by being here is astronomical, but sadly no one in the city attorney’s office is smart enough to understand and/or are too corrupt and rotten to care.”

In May, a Solano County judge found that the Vallejo City Attorney’s Office broke the law by deliberately destroying evidence in cases related to police shootings.

The city of Vallejo did not respond to a request for comment.

Members of the family of Monterrosa and their advocates are planning on showing up to the Vallejo City Council meeting on Sept. 12 to protest the return of Tonn, Nold said.

The family will also be holding a “Justice 4 Sean Monterrosa” press conference on Thursday at 11 a.m. at Vallejo City Hall, 555 Santa Clara St., Vallejo.