From 1902-1987, a midwestern wood treatment plant provided railroad ties to support the expanding industries of that century. The plant largely employed men from the nearby black neighborhood of Carbondale, Illinois as Generations later, as residents piece together a pattern of fatal malignancies in the neighborhood, and begin to conduct their own investigations into environmental racism, a company from out of town promises to produce clean energy on the contaminated brownfield.
This is a trailer for a 40-60 min documentary that tells the environmental justice story of the tie yard plant in Carbondale Illinois, and its impact on the health and land of local black families. The brownfield between us speaks to differentials of historic trauma, or ghosts, that lead to differentials of risk. In the context of city government and land management, these differences are translated into positions of obliviousness regarding the health and safety of a town, its people and the land they occupy. There will also be a short PSA to be written by members of Concerned Citizens of Carbondale.