"RICHMOND, Calif. – On Aug. 6, 2012, Courtney Cummings and her family were in their front yard when a massive fire erupted just six blocks away. 'There was a big boom,' she said. 'I got really scared. I saw this big fireball go in the air and we all took off running into the house.'"

The fire was at the Chevron refinery, and the smoke and toxic fallout sent more than 15,000 Richmond residents to the hospital with respiratory problems. Many residents insist that the 2012 fire is emblematic of a willful negligence that dates back decades, at the expense of the low-income minorities who can’t afford to leave."

Michael Okwu reports for Aljazeera America February 17, 2014. [2]