Semillas de Justicia

Abstract

Chicana activists in Chicago are at the forefront of challenging environmental racism, rethinking conventional urban design practices, and advocating for environmental cleanup of contaminated land within Latino/a/x communities. Drawing on a 30-month ethnographic case study of grassroots organizing in La Villita, a predominantly working-class Mexican immigrant neighborhood of Chicago, and 14 interviews with local community organizers and residents, Gonzales highlights how Chicana activists draw on a history of women of color organizing to transform abandoned and blighted spaces through an asset-based framework she calls Chicana environmentalism. Using this asset-based framework, Chicana activists cultivate local knowledge, skills, and strengths as seeds for justice. This includes the work done by the women-led Little Village Environmental Justice Organization around the closure and reimagining of the Fisk & Crawford Coal Plants, the cleanup of a superfund site and its later transformation into a public park, and the creation of a community garden. These activists’ efforts have led to increased resident ownership over local land, and civic activity by both community-based organizations and residents. At the same time, the author argues that their actions showcase the ability and flexibility of Chicana-led grassroots organizations in addressing larger structurally and environmentally racist development policies at the city, rather than at the neighborhood, level.