Asthma Alley – Deepening Data Collection
NewsDoc Class of 2025
By: Laya Hartman
In early December, La Peña, a local environmental justice group, organized a craft fair in the office space of South Bronx Unite, an organization which fights for Environmental Justice in the Bronx neighborhood of Mott Haven. The women of La Peña had much to discuss beyond the clothing, jewelry, and pottery they made.
Esperanza Martell, a Puerto Rican craftswoman and environmental justice advocate, spoke of what she called discriminatory infrastructure in the Bronx since she came to the United States at five years-old. Martell, now older, is experiencing severe asthma.
“It’s not that people in the Bronx are not conscious of the environmental issue of the level of pollution, you know, which didn’t start four years ago,” said Martell.
