JUSTICE IN CHESTER

During the 1990s, residents in Chester, Pennsylvania, a predominantly poor, African-American community, organized a movement to stop the ongoing permitting of waste treatment facilities in their city.
JUSTICE IN CHESTER chronicles the decades-long history of increasing pollution and grievances, and the grassroots struggle to halt the city's clustering of commercial and hazardous waste facilities. Concerned citizen Zulene Mayfield and Chester Residents Concerned With Quality Living (CRCQL) filed a lawsuit that went to the Supreme Court and became the first major environmental case to argue on the grounds of a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As a result of Mayfield and CRCQL’s activism, the PA Department of Environmental Protection modified the permitting process and created a statewide environmental justice workgroup. JUSTICE IN CHESTER underscores the importance of community involvement and highlights the power of grassroots efforts to effect positive change.