{"id":5061085,"date":"2022-07-15T14:02:54","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T14:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illatinonews.com\/?p=5061085"},"modified":"2022-07-15T14:02:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T14:02:54","slug":"5061085-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/illn\/2022\/07\/15\/5061085-2\/","title":{"rendered":"ILLN Opinion+: Oscar Sanchez"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Welcome to another episode of Illinois Latino News Opinion+, where we talk about major issues the Latinx and other underrepresented communities face in the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week we spoke with Oscar Sanchez, a local activist and the Community Planning Manager of the Southeast Environmental Task Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ILLN Opinion+: Oscar Sanchez\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4g7PMgTtRFs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>Sanchez said that recognizing his privilege motivated him to become active in his community. He is the son of immigrants and was raised on the Southeast Side of Chicago. He saw the advantages that he had over other members of his family, including being documented and being lighter complected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His activism work started with advocating for undocumented people, but he says he has since taken a step back from this work and now acts as an ally in order to allow more space for people within the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve learned that the way you uplift voices of undocumented individuals is by allowing them to know that they themselves can be their own voices, they don\u2019t need anyone else,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much of his work focuses on environmental racism, defined as a form of systemic racism in which laws or policies place the burden of environmental hazards in areas that directly impact people of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sanchez said that the most polluted areas of the city overlap with areas where people experience the most respiratory issues, most often in Black and Brown neighborhoods. He called it a byproduct of segregation and housing policies formed in the 1930\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to proactively address and take action against these issues, Sanchez stressed the importance of recognizing the intersectionality between environmental issues and other major issues marginalized communities face, including labor rights and abortion rights, because there is a deep history of people\u2019s concerns being neglected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor many years we\u2019ve been silenced, or it hasn\u2019t even been considered something to be \u2018serious\u2019 or of a priority.\u201d He continued, \u201cYes it\u2019s complex, but it\u2019s intersectional. That means that if we move one part, it\u2019ll move everything else and that\u2019s why I always talk about [how] we have to do this together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Southeast Side, which runs along the Indiana border, was once a booming industrial area. <a href=\"https:\/\/interactive.wttw.com\/southside\/far-southeast\/southeast-side\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to WTTW<\/a>, the U.S. Steel Industry here once employed 40,000 people but when the industry collapsed during the \u201870\u2019s and \u201880\u2019s mass layoffs caused the economy to shift.<br><br>Sanchez was asked why he thought his community was overlooked by the media, politicians and other Chicagoans, in which he clarified that he felt the area was neglected and compared it to \u201cvibrant\u201d neighborhoods like Pilsen, which face gentrification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPeople look to be in a space that\u2019s full of joy. The Southeast Side, we can be very honest- our community members are full of joy and they\u2019re fighting that and looking to build that\u2026 but when you come outside our community you see all this scrap metal or you see all the different types of operations here you don\u2019t want to be around that and we don\u2019t either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sanchez has been fighting against environmental racism and injustices in his neighborhood since he was in his early twenties. He participated in a hunger strike to prevent metal scrapper General Iron from moving their operation to the Southeast Side. He also co-founded the Southwest Youth Alliance in 2018 to amplify opportunities for young people in his neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYouth are our living future right now and if we empower them, we give them love and we embrace them, they\u2019re the ones that are going to create the future you need,\u201d said Sanchez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Resources:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Southeast Environmental Task Force<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/setaskforce.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/setaskforce.org<br><\/a><strong>WTTW\u2019s report on the Southeast Side:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/interactive.wttw.com\/southside\/far-southeast\/southeast-side\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/interactive.wttw.com\/southside\/far-southeast\/southeast-side<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hunger strike against General Iron<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/southsideweekly.com\/stories-and-lessons-from-inside-the-general-iron-hunger-strike\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/southsideweekly.com\/stories-and-lessons-from-inside-the-general-iron-hunger-strike\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Southeast Youth Alliance on IG:<\/strong> @southeastyouthalliance<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Free water quality test kits: <\/strong>https:\/\/chicagowaterquality.org\/filters<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>List of community resources: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.chicago.gov\/city\/en\/depts\/mayor\/supp_info\/office-of-new-americans\/community-resources.html<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Housing resources guide <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicago.gov\/city\/en\/depts\/mopd\/provdrs\/hous\/svcs\/Housing_Resources_Guide.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.chicago.gov\/city\/en\/depts\/mopd\/provdrs\/hous\/svcs\/Housing_Resources_Guide.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twitter and IG handles: oso_campeon&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Southeast Environmental Task Force<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twitter: SE_TaskForce<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">IG: se_taskforce<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to another episode of Illinois Latino News Opinion+, where we talk about major issues the Latinx and other underrepresented 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