OAKLEAD

In Oakland, California, we fight to protect our children from lead poisoning in our own homes and schools – and confront over a century of environmental racism. OAKLEAD is a feature-length documentary, currently in post-production, about the longest, ongoing pediatric epidemic in U.S. history.

I picked up a camera when I learned that my neighborhood is one of 3,000 communities across the United States experiencing lead poisoning at an even higher rate than Flint, Michigan. This crisis disproportionately affects Black children and other children of color. OAKLEAD centers the communities most affected by the lead poisoning epidemic, both as part of the production team and as on-screen participants. My collaborators in OAKLEAD are my neighbors and friends. Our intended impact is to learn and document how our solidarity, in life and film production, can change our material realities and build healthy communities.