My name is Brandi Crawford-Johnson and I’m sharing my story in hoping that it will bring awareness to other families and save lives.
This chapter of my life started in 2018 when I saw an article online saying Kalamazoo has the “Dirtiest Air in the Nation!” I have severe asthma so I wondered if there was a correlation. I immediately started searching the EPA website and applied to join The Kalamazoo Environmental Concerns Committee to try and help the committee clean up the air.
After I left the meeting the committee ignored my concerns and sent a cease and desist letter to everyone that reported on our air quality.
I then realized the evil I was facing. I spoke with EGLE aka MDEQ air enforcement and they assured me everything was fine. Fast forward to May 2020. My family was moving to Florida and the pandemic hit. We could not enter the state so I had to take what money I had left to find housing and the only one I could afford was in the same neighborhood I bought my other houses. Days after the remodel was done and we moved in, I started experiencing burning eyes and my asthma started flaring worse. I started researching Graphic Packaging International again. I read that they were expanding and felt fear instantly.
How could they expand a facility that is producing strong odors and releases toxic chemicals I thought. Then I became more suspicious. I began researching and talking to anyone that would listen and give me more information. I was in a fight to save my family. The adrenaline is constant as well as the fear. Here we are living in a pandemic with nowhere to go and we have to worry about being poisoned?
I called and emailed every single person in that whole agency and the EPA trying to get to the bottom of it and I was ignored. They had meetings with me but there was no action. I started to do FOIA requests at the city to find out what they had and got copies of H2S readings. It was all there in black and white. We were being gassed by Graphic Packaging and The Kalamazoo WasteWater Plant.
The city and State thought they were slick. They tried to play off the toxic gas leaks as an odor problem and we all never thought twice about it. It makes me wonder how many other communities are getting gassed?
I kept speaking out publicly at city meetings and had zoom calls with EGLE and the EPA. One of my doctors spoke at a city commission meeting saying the neighborhood needs rezoned away from the hazardous facilities and that there are big death gaps between zip codes. His comment was ignored and not addressed. A retired employee from Graphic Packaging recently told me her whole department had cancer so I sent MIOSHA the reports as well.
Everyone blames each other. They had no resolution for us. I think it’s because they knew this was going to be another “Flint Water Crisis” scandal and they didn’t want to go to jail.
To add insult to injury, The City of Kalamazoo decided to cut down 721 trees for both toxic facilities to have our neighborhood deprived of oxygen while we were already choking on toxic air.
The stress and anxiety has been unbearable as I continue to fight to save everyone. Marijuana has helped me tremendously.
I can’t understand why it’s so heavily regulated yet toxic facilities that kill people are not! I pray that with my coalition of doctors we can get everyone help soon. The EPA says they are bringing air mobile units down next week but I’m not sure if they will relocate everyone. They had to know the only air monitor in our county was in an open air field at the county fair grounds, so I don’t trust them.
My neighborhood was redlined years ago and people cannot afford to relocate like my family just did.
The only help I can count on right now is my coalition of doctors and my lawyers I contacted to file a class action lawsuit to get help.
There is an EPA environmental justice tool that can help you identify your score of getting cancer and respiratory disease. You can enter your address. My neighborhood is in the 90th percentile and has an asthma hospitalization rate 5 times higher than anywhere in the region.
You must educate yourself on water toxins like PFAS. I just joined the state group to find out where all the PFAS are. They are chemicals that stay in our bodies forever and cause many diseases. Evil companies and certain government officials allowed this to happen.
We must fight for our own families and do our own research when it comes to our health. We cannot depend on others to protect us because they may be evil. We must educate ourselves on environmental issues, racism, and discrimination against all races and incomes. This should be taught in schools. Environmental Justice is what we all deserve. I intend to continue this fight to get Justice for us.
Peace and love to you all.
(Brandi may be reached @brandijoy4 on IG)
