Finding Justice (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - The Lead Paint Crisis - full transcript

In 2017, a Reuters investigation
discovered

3,810 U.S. areas
with lead poisoning

double that of Flint, Michigan.

I really didn't know
that it was happening

in other places besides Flint.

I really didn't know that.

It's happening in places
that folks are the poorest.

It's not coincidental.

It's a whole generation
of people being poisoned.

I think we've always lived
in poisonous environments,

but I think there's now,
more than ever, less attention,



less resources,
and less support.

You look at
all of these inner cities

where the people
are being exposed

to them high levels of lead --
Baltimore, Flint,

Detroit, Cleveland, Newark --

and you ask yourself,
"What do they have in common?"

And the first answer
off the top of my head

would be they have a large
density of a black community.

Just off the top of my head.

A new study has discovered

3,000 neighborhoods in America

where children suffer
from lead poisoning.

We have over 4 million kids
right now living in environments

where there is lead-based paint.



A common problem
in places like Baltimore,

where most inner-city housing
was built

before Congress
banned lead paint.

Lead paint and lead pipes,

they're concentrated
in poor communities,

which gets to a more
fundamental question,

which is, "What makes a community
poor in the first place?"

Racism in planning,

racism in zoning,
racism in development

concentrated black folks
in neighborhoods

with lead-based paint,
and then there were no resources

to address those
lead-based paint issues.

It's intentional neglect.

We don't care about
black neighborhoods,

and that's why
it's an emergency.

You cannot have life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness

if your communities
are injected with toxins

that are literally
poisoning your families.

If this was white children,
it would be solved immediately.

My son Ryan was diagnosed
with lead poisoning

at approximately 2 years old.

We were informed by
his primary care physician

that we needed to evacuate
the property that we were in

because that was the possible
source of the lead exposure.

And we moved and, unfortunately,

moved into another place
that also had lead in it.

My son goes through
the anger rages.

He knows that he has some stuff
going on

that prevents him
from being logical sometimes.

The lead affects
my attention span.

I have, you know,
trouble focusing.

I find myself stuttering
a lot, too.

Korryn -- my daughter,
his sister,

we never got any notice that she
even had a problem with lead.

Driver's license
and registration.

Is there a crime
being committed?

Sometimes her ability
to reason was off.

I did not know what these things
could have meant,

and we didn't find out
until much later.

The damage is already done.

She was poisoned with lead.

Phew.

I promised myself
I wouldn't get emotional.

Man, look at these homes
over here.

Yeah, let's check this out.
Let's test this wall.

Oh!
Oh, shit.

Oh!
3,000 PPM.

That's terrible.

The lead that's on the surface
of the wall

deposes and falls off.

That's the scary part.Mm-hmm.

Oh, man.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

It's a direct link.

What lead poison is doing
to black and brown children --

it's devastating.

Even at small levels
of exposure,

if you take three granules
of sugar

and put them on your fingertip
and you ingest it,

that's enough
to poison a child's mind.

And the terrible thing
is that lead tastes sweet.

Lead paint tastes
like candy to kids.

You're a 6-year-old kid
in the 'hood...

There's so many different ways
you can be exposed to lead --

through paint,
through dust, through water.

Now we have lead in soil.
Now we have lead in the air.

When you're talking about,
like, the water you drink,

people's homes, the playgrounds
our children play in,

those are just the most basic,
basic...

freedoms,

just like the right to life,
you know,

the right to grow.

How can you damage black minds

and expect children
to reach their full potential?

We need to get lead
out of the environment.

Research shows
that lead poisoning

impairs people's ability
to control their emotions,

leads to severe damage
in terms of people's ability

to regulate how they respond
to situations.

Children with lead poisoning
don't present

with any obvious symptoms,
most of the time.

But it does cause
developmental delays.

It can stunt IQ,
it can stunt brain development.

It can really put a cap
on someone's potential.

And that's irreversible damage.

Say bye!

Bye!

We need to encourage people to
want to care about their issues,

because you know it's not
just some kid over there

down the street
who's dying from lead poisoning.

It's your brother,
your sister, your mom.

Just abandoned home
after abandoned home.

Welcome to Baltimore.

See this?

Lead.

And then,
if you look up there...

Yeah ...you can see the
paint peeling off the wall.

Yeah.

In regard to the lead issue,
I'm coming in.

This is above my pay grade.

But, you know, when you look
at what happened in Flint...

Flint lives matter!

Flint lives matter!

You know, we must
never forget that.

Someone consciously decided
to send dirty water

into a poor community.

I think about lead poisoning

and the effects of lead
being in my community

and for how long
it's been doing it.

I want to be a part
of the solution.

My dreams came true for me
on these Baltimore streets

in the form of a show on HBO
called "The Wire."

I felt like this city
was misrepresented.

There were jokes that, you know,

you only drove
through Baltimore.

Or you only came to Baltimore
if you were in the drug game.

After coming to the city
and getting to work here...

I learned so much about
my people, my culture.

I spent eight years here
on "The Wire,"

but it feels like
it's gotten maybe,

dare I say, a bit worse?

For a lot of people, yeah,
it's gotten worse.

You can't really talk
about housing in Baltimore

without diving into the
lead paint, lead poisoning issue

because the two just
sort of go hand in hand.

Do you think a lot
of these landlords

even are aware
of the lead poisoning issue

in their properties
that they own?

Oh, yeah. There's one landlord
here in Baltimore,

he's been sued over 500 times
for lead paint poisoning.

The thing is, in order --

And there's documented
people being sick

living in his residences. Yeah, absolutely.

And he's not in jail.
No.

How is that possible?
How is that legal?

Because there's no
criminal penalty

for poisoning
poor black children.

I honestly don't know
where the blame lies.

Dare I say government?

Actually, the federal government
is responsible in this space.

They're making a decision

that either a child's life
has value or it doesn't.

That's what makes me angry.

Mustafa Ali is the former head

of the EPA's
Environmental Justice Program,

who resigned last week to protest
the agency's new direction.

Today we stand
against an administration

that places profits over people!

Mustafa Ali. - Mustafa Ali.

After 25 years
at the EPA, why leave?

I needed to stand up and say

that the choices
that were being made

would not be beneficial
to the communities

that I've dedicated my life to.

Get up! Stand up! - Get up! Stand up!

Stand up for your rights!
Stand up for your rights!

The programs that have been cut

have devastating effects
for our communities.

The Environmental
Protection Agency,

Housing and Urban
Development, CDC --

all of these folks have
responsibility for the impacts

that are happening
in relationship to lead.

Their actions
literally cause more people

to lose their lives prematurely.

Ladies and gentlemen,
the 17th Secretary of Housing

and Urban Development,
Dr. Ben Carson.

HUD's mission is to ensure
Americans have access

to fair, affordable housing

and opportunities
to achieve self-sufficiency,

thereby strengthening
our communities and nation.

Sir, you have indicated
that there will be

substantial cuts to the budget
that HUD has.

I'm showing that it's about
$6 billion, is that correct?

That's about right.

Is that about 13% of the budget?
Yes.

How much from Housing Vouchers,
Mr. Carson?

Uh...

How much from Community
Development block grants,

Mr. Secretary?

I'm not gonna go
through the list

this much,
this much, and this much.

I think that's not --

I'll move on,
Mr. Carson.

I accept your lack of knowledge.

Secretary Carson comes
from these communities.

He should understand the dynamic
that is going on.

You're an African-American male
who touts that you grew up

in public housing.

Dr. Carson, as you know,
one major problem

is lead exposure.

I'm talking about the most
vulnerable in our society.

More than 7 million children
rely on HUD for housing.

Yet you advocated
cutting the budget.

It would give people
more skin in the game

and encourage them to --

to bring in more income
into their household.

I think poverty,
to a large extent,

is also a state of mind.

You take somebody
with the wrong mind-set,

you can give them
everything in the world.

They'll work their way back down
to the bottom.

Dr. Ben Carson
should be ashamed of himself.

It's not right, it's not fair,

and we're gonna do
something about it.

The CDC reported
that of 434,000 children

suffering from lead poisoning,

60% were black
while only 17% were white.

434,000 children.

60% were black.

You know, we can continue to say

that our nation
does not have racism,

but statistics
and facts don't lie.

This country will see to it

that our black and brown
populations are not safe.

And if that means putting them
in an area that is not safe,

then that's what this country
will do.

They will see to it that
they do not feel secure

because they are not welcome
in the United States of America

right now.

I think that's ridiculous.

If you care about
black and brown people,

then you would take care
of spaces like Baltimore.

Why is it that certain types
of housing exist

in certain communities
and not in other communities?

Well, it's because
of the disinvestment

in certain communities,

and we can go down the list
of those who people put value in

and the ones that folks
don't put value in.

The city of Baltimore, we have
a history of systemic racism.

There's been redlining
in housing stock

going back for decades.

Redlining was when
people were denied

lending and mortgage capital
based on their race,

or they were offered
predatory loans,

and they're charged
a higher rate.

And so, because of that, black
homebuyers or black renters

didn't have the money
to actually abate the lead

in their properties.

In the early 20th century,
Baltimore was the first city

in the country
that allowed race-based zoning.

Blacks got steered into
certain neighborhoods.

Baltimore is really a Category
5 hypersegregated city.

So our redlining
is very intense.

You're talking about 50-plus
years of bad public policy.

This isn't something
that just started.

We should focus not
just on lead as a symptom.

We have to focus on, how do
we address structural poverty?

Black and brown people
in these communities

are not able to live.

They're dying,
they're being poisoned

and are largely invisible
to our government.

They just ignore those problems
or brush them under the rug

or pay somebody to cover it up
because they matter less.

That is what
environmental racism is.

The reason black folks
get shot with lead bullets

is the same reason black folks
are more likely

to have lead pipes.

There's a direct relationship

between the economic drivers
of the infrastructure

and the legacy of racism
and enslavement in America.

In regards to lead poisoning
and the redlining,

you mix those two together,

and it's a nasty, nasty
little recipe for disaster.

Baltimore is burning, rioters
clashing violently with police.

This violence is really
about the death

of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.

Freddie Gray.

Freddie Gray grew up in a house
based in lead paint.

Lots of dust that was suspected
to be contaminated with lead.

Freddie Gray is arrested
after a police foot pursuit.

You have this sort of
impact of living

in these
disinvested neighborhoods,

where you're gonna be
consistently exposed

to this sort of
heavy metal neurotoxins.

And in that type of environment,

that's where Freddie Gray
comes along.

Freddie Gray was documented
with massive lead poisoning.

He was poisoned at 36 micrograms

per deciliter of lead
in his blood.

And what that means
is severe brain damage.

The collision of police,
of redlining, of subpriming,

of a child who was now a young
adult poisoned by lead --

that's the story
of Freddie Gray.

Young kids like Freddie Gray,

their bodies are used
to absorb these toxicants,

and then we forget about them.

The governor has declared
a State of Emergency.

The mayor calls for peace.

Poverty, racism,

police violence,

no access to mental healthcare,

a community that's riddled
with lead poisoning --

all of these intersections
meet in black, poor communities.

The young people were uprising.

That was about Freddie Gray

and about the spirit

of what would end up
being Korryn Gaines.

I think about
my daughter every day.

It's so painful.

At the end of the day,
if you don't know

that the problem exists,
how can you treat something?

Like, I don't understand
why we don't make more noise

about, you know, our children
even being affected.

I mean, if you ask me,
lead paint in Baltimore

explains a lot, you know,
with the crime

and the shootings, you know,
because everybody's just angry.

August 1st, I got a text,

and she said somebody's
banging on her door.

This is for anybody
who want to know what I'm doing.

The devil at my door,
and he's refusing to leave.

She said the police
basically opened her door.

And I said, "Well,
do they hear the children?"

And then I said to her,
"Please don't do anything."

Lead poisoning leads to damage
in terms of cognition.

I ain't trying to hurt nobody.
I've never hurt anybody.

And when people
get pushed to the edge

in these hypersegregated,
redlined, subprime environments,

that's where Korryn Gaines
comes along.

Video of the six-hour standoff
quickly went viral,

as Korryn Gaines live-streamed
the confrontation

with Baltimore County Police.

I'm just doing what I need to do
to protect myself and my child.

Phew.

Police say after
six hours of negotiation,

she threatened to kill them.

An officer fired first.

I remember the officer.

When I asked him, I said,
"You know my baby?"

And he said, "She's gone."

Just like that.

Jurors found Baltimore County
Police Office Royce Ruby

did not act reasonably when he
shot and killed Korryn Gaines.

A couple hundred
gathered here tonight

to talk about Korryn Gaines.

There's not a day
that goes by that, you know,

my heart doesn't break
for my sister.

I think about her every day.

Korryn is still with me.

I wear this everywhere I go,
every day.

I want the world
to remember my sister.

She didn't even have the shotgun
on-hand anymore.

They shot my sister
while she was making

a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich for my nephew.

It was an unjustified shooting.

But the behavior and the logic
and the lack of rationalization

kept her in a situation
that ended up in her demise.

This idea that children
who are exposed to lead

might become more aggressive
or more violent

and, therefore, more likely
to get shot by the cops

is a form
of "Blame the victim" here.

It's too simple to say,

"Lead poisoning gave her
behavioral issues,

and her behavioral issues
caused her death."

No.
Lead poisoning alone

isn't going to create
a hostile environment

when it comes to
people's relationship

with law enforcement.

In this country, officers
are not trained properly

to deal with
mental health crises.

That is a mix for disaster.

These police officers,
they get to choose to not kill,

and that day,
they chose to kill.

For many of us,
Korryn was a hero.

Black lives matter! Black lives matter!
Black lives matter!

The fact that Freddie Gray
and Korryn Gaines

lived and died the way they did

represents just how dirty
and dark this thing is.

It runs deep.
It runs very deep.

Good morning! - Good morning!

Thank you for coming out
to the kickoff

for Lead Prevention Week.

It's gonna be really interactive
and engaging.

Black Millennials 4 Flint's
mission

is to create a lead-free
U.S.A.

Part of the kickoff
includes visiting homes

that have lead paint violations.

So part of the work is just
to tell people, "Did you know?"

The other part of that
is knowing your rights

so that they can hold
their landlords accountable.

It makes me angry that no one
is being held accountable.

I didn't know the seriousness
of it or anything,

until, you know,
my sister was killed.

Today, I'm walking around
the city spreading the awareness

about lead poisoning
in the community.

I want to give my energy
to things

that could create solutions.

Hey, how you doing?
Hi, ma'am, how are you doing?

The Baltimore City
Health Department

has this property listed as
having a lead paint violation.

We need to spread awareness

because you have people living
on contaminated properties.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Most of us in the communities
nowadays are renters,

and, you know, we don't know
what's behind those walls.

We weren't taught to even ask
those questions.

You know, "When was this place
last inspected for lead?"

I didn't know about these things
growing up.

I just found out about that.

So we want to leave you
with some information

that you men can have,
dial up your homies --

you know what I mean --
just say,

"Yo, educate ourselves about
the lead in our community,"

because it's
with our kids, you feel me?

839.
839 is right here.

Yeah, it's vacant.
Yeah.

Look at this --
peeling off the wall.

You get a shot of this in here?
Look at that shit.

Look at that.

It's just hanging.

You look at a city block,
and out of 20 homes,

18 of them are abandoned.

It's intense.

It is.
It's intense.

Should some of
the responsibility

for making sure that this place
becomes lead-free

fall on the developer
or the city or both?

I think it's both.

Right, it goes back
to accountability and oversight,

but then the other part is,
who are you supposed to,

essentially, like,
hold to the fire

to ensure that they're
doing the things

that they're supposed to do?
Very layered. Multilayered.

Just layers to our oppression.
Lord.

I'm extremely fired up right now

after spending today
in Baltimore

and seeing what's happening here
in these streets.

My brain wants to explode when I
think about the effects of lead.

Makes me want to ask
the government

and the Housing Department,

"Why in the
would you want to consciously

keep poisoning our communities?"

I'm past pissed off.

I'm in action mode right now.

Record your message
after the tone.

This is Michael K. Williams

trying to get in contact
with Dr. Ben Carson's office

one more time.

I'll try you back
a little later.

Thank you.

I'm tired of waiting for them,

so we are on our way to
Dr. Ben Carson's office

in Washington, D.C.,

to come and speak to them about
the lead situation in Baltimore.

First, I'm gonna stop by
and pick up my boy Mustafa.

Hopefully we can get a solution.

When communities are powerless,
when communities are poor,

they will get the short end of
the stick time and time again.

Make no mistake,
it is all by design.

We found a lack of regulation
and enforcement

when it comes to protecting
children from lead.

We were surprised to learn
that the federal government

is aware of lead in homes

that it rents to the poor,

but it has a policy of waiting
until a child is harmed...

...before it gets the lead out.

Not only are communities
being exposed

to toxic amounts of lead,

governments are not
cleaning it up.

We need to make
more investments here

to make sure that people
are not being exposed.

We know how to find lead paint

and lead in soil
and lead in water.

We know how to cut
that exposure.

This is
not a hopeless situation.

This can be fixed.

The solution to this problem

really is embedded in money.

If we invested in
the homes in America

that have the highest lead
hazards where children live,

we would save, in five years,
over $250 billion

that we spend on
after-the-fact care

for poisoned children today.

Intentional damage was done
to black neighborhoods.

So if we're not interested in
repairing those neighborhoods,

then there's no way we can
alter the trajectories

of the people that live
in these redlined communities.

We often hear, "Man, removing
the lead paint is complicated,

it's difficult, very expensive."

It would cost a lot of money,

and we could have done it
nationwide many times over

rather than give $1.8 trillion

to the wealthiest Americans
and corporations.

They have different
economic priorities.

What's up, man? What's up, brother?
How you doing, man?

Trying to be like me.
How are you, brother? Yeah, man.

Blessed.
Blessed.

Congratulations to you, brother,
on all your accolades, brother,

and the work you do --
real talk.

I'm just overwhelmed, you know,

by everything
that's been going on.

You know, me coming to Baltimore

and learning about
the lead situation in the soil

and in the water there,
needless to say,

I'm a little stimulated.

So we know that
in our country about,

you know, hundreds
of thousands of kids

are being impacted by lead,

and we are being
disproportionately impacted.

I often say that it's
almost like economic

and environmental apartheid

which is happening
inside of our communities.

In communities
of color, your zip code

determines how long
you will actually live,

what you will be exposed to.

Lead will lay dormant in
the bone marrow of the female

and will release upon pregnancy.
Mm.

I just found this out yesterday.

We are doomed from conception.

That's just real talk,
and that's why, one,

there has to be more education,

but, two, we got to hold
people accountable.

When they talk about
cutting the lead program,

they are doing a huge disservice
because you are literally

using people's tax dollars
to poison them.

When you have an administration
like the Trump administration

right now that is
cutting resources at EPA

in relationship to lead,

cutting resources
in relationship to HUD,

then you have to ask yourself,
"Why would you do that

if you know that we have
this problem that's going on?"

We got to hold people
accountable.

Secretary Carson has
the responsibility

as the lead for the president

to make sure that everything
is flowing properly.

We had been in communication
with his office

prior to coming up here,
but then, all of a sudden,

they just went MIA on us.

So we have to talk about
accountability

and find out, you know,
what's his plan

to eradicate the lead problem.

And so let's go knock on his
door and see what he says.

Let's get at him.
Yeah, man.

When we get in there,
what should we say?

I would talk to him
about the disproportionality

of what's going on.

What are you specifically
gonna do

for these communities of color

who are the ones who are being hit
first and worst by what's going on?

It's not like it's out of
their reach to do it, right?

That's correct. Without a doubt,
they can fix this problem.

They just have to make
the determination

that these lives
are worth investing in.

NBC News investigation
revealing that

under the Trump administration
and HUD Secretary Ben Carson,

the number of families
living in squalid conditions

in federally subsidized housing
has risen significantly.

Ben Carson, as Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development --

I mean, you think about
these issues with lead,

the buck stops with him.

As a neurosurgeon
in Baltimore for years,

Dr. Carson saw the effects
of lead poisoning

in children that he treated.

Dr. Carson, you are a highly
accomplished doctor.

We spoke at length about
the implications of lead

and lead poisoning
on our children,

and I just ask you
to commit today

that you will make sure
that HUD resources are dedicated

to dramatically reducing

the number of public
housing units

where lead is a problem.

I can assure you that I will.

The question isn't whether
Ben Carson can stop it.

The question is whether
Ben Carson is willing

to do anything
to stop it at all.

Two new government reports
reveal

that the Department
of Housing and Urban Development

has systematically failed
in its responsibility

to oversee both inspections
of public housing

with potential
lead paint problems

and also remove the lead paint
that they find.

Dr. Ben Carson

took a Hippocratic Oath
to become a doctor.

That oath says, "Do no harm."

His inaction is doing harm.

The Department of Housing
and Urban Development

just revealed it's making
Affordable Housing Work Act,

and it would require people
who get housing assistance

to pay more for rent.

Folks have to be very focused

on who is in these
political offices

and to make sure that they are
being held accountable

for the decisions
that are being made,

because they actually have
real impacts in people's lives.

HUD spent $31,000
on a new dining set

for Secretary
Ben Carson's office.

While cuts were being made
in services for Americans...

For programs to the homeless
and elderly and poor.

...money was spent freely
on furniture and decor.

I would love it if we had
unlimited money.

We could just go up and down
the street

and remediate every house.

It is HUD's job to help end
housing discrimination.

That's what the law said.

You said you would
enforce these laws.

You haven't, and I think
that's the scandal

that should get you fired.

My grandmother
used to have this saying.

She said that, "When you
know better, do better."

So I hope that Secretary Carson
will do better.

I think that
the powers that be --

the Carsons and the HUDs --

that every one of those
facilities, those institutions,

they all have a hand in it.

All right, let's do this.

Hello. How are you? Good afternoon.

Who are you here
to see today, sir?

We're trying to see
Dr. Ben Carson.

Yesterday was National
Lead Awareness Day.

Mm-hmm. So we want to talk to him

about the lead situations
going on in Baltimore.

We're gonna take
care of you, okay?

Thanks so much, ma'am.

I want to say to him,
"Mr. Carson,

did you know
that there's a lead problem

and that it's fixable?

Most importantly, you can help
fix the whole **** thing.

Did you know that,
Mr. Carson?"

Hi. We're with
the Office of Public Affairs.

We've been talking
to the production company

but were not aware that...

That would be her.

Hi! Hi. My name is Andrena Hale.

Nice to meet you.Hi. Amy Thompson.

Hi. I'm Raffi Williams.

Raffi! You and I have been
going back and forth.

I know, yes. I know we've been
going back and forth,

but I didn't realize
you were coming today.

I worked inside the federal
government at all levels.

I've seen sometimes
the "okeydoke" that happens.

We'd like to, you know,
see if we can schedule

something else, later.

Is there any way you can schedule
something later on today?

Unfortunately not. No, he's booked.

You can't just look me
in the face

and say that you didn't know
we were coming.

I think maybe they felt
a little embarrassed.

We're so sorry that
this is the case

because we were looking forward
to sitting down with you guys.

Okay.
Thank you again.

We're awfully sorry.Sorry.

That was interesting just now.

They know that they went dark on
our e-mails and our phone calls.

If we stay on them, talk to
the people who have the power,

we can begin
the accountability process.

Sometimes
our elected officials forget

that people are paying
your salary and taking time off

to be able to find
some common ground

and have that hard conversation
about the things

that are happening
inside of our communities,

and we have the right
and responsibility

to hold our elected officials
accountable

for the decisions
that are being made.

The people are tired
of being lied to

and feeling like
they don't matter.

I believe that,
at the end of the day,

it's about dollars and cents.

So, Mr. Carson,
come up off them dollars,

and let's get this lead
poisoning out of our community.

This week is Lead Poisoning
Prevention Week,

and we are joined this morning
by Ruth Ann Norton,

the C.E.O. of Green & Healthy
Homes Initiative.

This week, it's all about
awareness, right,

with this program?
It is.

The only cure is prevention.

A $4 million grant project

called the Green & Healthy Home
Initiative in Baltimore

will cover lead hazard control
in 230 homes.

We have our public
health organizations.

We have our schools.
We have our landlords.

All of these folks
play a role, also,

in helping to make sure
that our children are protected.

All health departments
across the state of Maryland

are all dedicated
to lead hazard reduction.

The Baltimore City Health Department
is holding free screenings

promoting lead-free kids
for a healthy future.

Community members themselves

have to help reduce
the exposures,

making sure
they get the proper care.

There is a great need for
these children to be evaluated.

We have to get checked for
lead poisoning, all of us.

In Maryland, there are
many children at risk

who have not been
previously tested.

Test your children
and learn how to prevent

the health effects
of lead paint.

What we should be doing is
repairing black neighborhoods,

deeply allocating
resources in them,

and that's the way
that we can actually

make black lives matter.

My daughter Korryn,
she had a lead level of 22.

That's what motivated me
to come out

because we know
the damage it can do.

And I want to make sure
my family is healthy.

Oh, hey!

The federal government
needs to do more.

The city of Baltimore,
it has to do better.

With my grandchildren,
I've been vigilant

about putting them
in safe environments,

but, you know, sometimes,

certain things
you're just exposed to.

You may not even ever know.

I used to tear a room up
trying to get blood from you

when you were a kid.

Pretty bad.

Samara --
her lead level was reported

as being below detection limit.

Joli -- her lead level, as well,
was below the detection limit.

Thank you, everybody.
Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

It's a never-ending roller
coaster, missing my daughter.

But now I can reach back
and try to reach other mothers

because I just really,
really want people

to take this lead poisoning
seriously

because the lead damage
to the brain, you can't undo it.