Erin Goodburn

Professor Hyland
In this Day and Age?!

A shuttered store in Lincoln Heights (Alana Semuels / The Atlantic)

Two fenceline communities in southern Ohio have been screaming for decades about the
oppression they are suffering, but the people in power are covering their ears. Middletown and
Lincoln Heights have been victimized for years by deliberate government inaction, exacerbated
by limited access to resources and poisonous air and water. Despite their pleas for assistance,
however, their hardships have been willfully ignored. In 2022, Middletown is suffering with no
end in sight, while Lincoln Heights residents are still contending with an open-air shooting range
and have actually been forced to create their own community garden in order to offset their lack
of access to fresh, healthful food.
Just 30 minutes north of Cincinnati, in Middletown, Ohio, people are breathing in levels
of pollution that might not have seemed unusual in the early 1900s but are truly shocking in
2022. Every day, the AK Steel facility covers the city in a toxic black blanket. Donna Ballinger,
a resident of Middletown, has complained 398 times since 2017 and the pollution has not
lessened1. According to the United States EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory program, “Middletown
is Greater Cincinnati’s 10th most polluted census tract, with 55,000 pounds of chemicals released
per acre”1. Although Ohio EPA has acknowledged AK’s violations, it does not seem that
concrete steps have been taken to reduce emissions from the plant or to remediate the damage
already done. Thus, the residents of Middletown are caught in a deadly, noxious cycle.
Simply put, AK Steel is poisoning the locals. Ballinger notes that “there’s chronic sinus
infections, itchy sore throat, especially with all these odors”1, and the health problems never seem
to resolve. These citizens are being sickened in their own homes. The lack of government
assistance means this situation will not improve.
AK Steel’s website states that their “goal is to be a responsible corporate citizen that acts
as a partner in solving community challenges and helping our communities thrive.”2 Their goals,
however, do not translate to action. AK Steel has been willfully ignorant of the concerns of
Middletown’s residents for decades. The company is, rather, hell-bent on continuing to turn a
profit at the expense of the citizens while covering up its history of disregard for state and federal
environmental protection laws.
Twenty-five miles south of Middletown, the community of Lincoln Heights has been
forced to endure the sound of incessant gunfire from the Cincinnati Police Department’s open
shooting range for over 74 years. There have been many attempts to halt the firing; none,
however, have been successful. The village is a predominantly African-American, low-income
community, and the local government pays little attention to the needs of its citizens. The
endless gunfire is as normal as “‘birds chirping, or like traffic in New York City,’ said Daronce
Daniels, 34, a Lincoln Heights councilman and fifth-generation resident.”3 What many would see
as a basic human right — a public environment free from excessive noise — has thus been
subverted to firearms training.
To make matters even more difficult, Lincoln Heights does not have a grocery store
within its city limits; the nearest one is miles away. "If you don't have a mode of transportation,
the opportunity to get fresh foods and produce is nonexistent in Lincoln Heights," Daniels said.
"On Springfield Pike, it is not a safe walk."4 So, two decades into the twenty-first century,
residents of an American community were forced to grow their own sustainable garden.
 The mayor refuses to acknowledge the situation. She “doesn't see her village as a food
desert with the nearest grocery store less than five miles away,”4 even though five miles is
equivalent to about an hour and a half walk. Citizens repeatedly voice their concerns, but those in
power do nothing in response.
The city of Lincoln Heights has been victim to countless stolen opportunities and
resources due to redlining. When Lincoln Heights was finally allowed to incorporate into
Hamilton County, the former was only allotted 10% of the originally proposed land. The new
boundaries excluded all major factories and plants and any industrial tax base the village would
have received5. Redlining has hindered Lincoln Heights economically and robbed it of many
chances for growth.
Like the citizens of Lincoln Heights, Middletown residents are also being denied the right
to protect their own future. Before the 1960s, AK Steel executives lived in Middletown.
However, they moved out as the company grew, and “absentee ownership changed everything.”6,
When the executives ceased to be neighbors, Middletown’s residents were literally and
figuratively left behind. The declining health of citizens was inconsequential to AK Steel when
billions in profits were at stake.
These communities are being attacked before our eyes. The people of Middletown want
to breathe clean air and the people of Lincoln Heights want to live in peace; are those requests
too much to ask? These victims want to control their own destinies.
The people with power do not want to help, so we have to.
We need to learn, advocate, and fight for justice in these vulnerable communities. We
need to amplify their voices to a volume that cannot be ignored. This is a fight for equal access
and power. This is a fight for human rights.

References:

1. https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/i-team/proposed-epa-rule-change-would-make-li
fe-easier-for-ohio-polluters
2. https://www.clevelandcliffs.com/sustainability/social/community
3. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/lincoln-heights-police-gun-range-progress.ht
ml
4. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/06/21/food-deserts-lincoln-heights-residents
-started-their-own-farm/7510708002/
5. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/lincoln-heights-black-suburb/3983
03/
6. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/09/why-local-money-matters-the-mid
dletown-story/279443/