Leticia Gutierrez is a bona fide environmental justice warrior, but one who never imagined the activist life would become her life’s work. Far from it. This first-generation college grad (University of St. Thomas) was making big bank working in the securities and banking industries when, as they say, life happened.
Realizing that the health issues befalling her son were mainly due to the zip code in which Gutierrez and her extended family live, one flooded with Port of Houston industries known for their penchant for polluting the air, land, and water. She became a crusader for environmental justice.
When a position became available at Air Alliance Houston, a local organization dedicated to confronting polluters and cleaning up Houston’s air, Gutierrez took it and hasn’t looked back – much to the chagrin of countless elected officials and industry fat cats comfortable with Houston’s status quo as the nation’s leading air polluter. Why? Because Gutierrez is not to be trifled with on issues of environmental justice, immigration, and other social justice issues.
The Defender spoke with Gutierrez about her work as the Government Relations and Community Outreach Director for Air Alliance Houston, including her experiences with Black/Hispanic collaborations in these efforts.
DEFENDER: What most frustrates you about the fight against air pollution?
GUTIERREZ: I get asked that a lot, and it varies from time to time. My frustration lies right now with our elected officials. At the end of the day, nobody forces anyone to want to be a representative of their community. I see other representatives in different states that mirror what we have going on [massive air pollution, etc.]. They’re taking a stand, they’re having walkouts, they’re having rallies. They’re having huge protests against a lot of the bills that bleed into our work. So, my frustration lies with our leaders, our elected representatives. I feel that they’re constantly reaching over to the other side [industry polluters] to get what they want, but we don’t get anything in return. And that’s very frustrating.
DEFENDER: What gives you hope?
GUTIERREZ: My hope, my only hope right now, and this is why I am very happy that AAH undertakes the task of hiring interns, is our youth. I feel like our youth right now are very engaged. I love this. I’m not a social media person. I barely have Facebook, but they’re very engaged on social media, and I love a lot of the platforms and their work and the way that they’re able to communicate to the masses and how they’re being a lot more purposeful, not just in how they’re communicating, but how they’re buying, how they’re spending, how they’re wanting to interact. So, that gives me hope that they are going to be able to take this huge undertaking and hopefully turn it around.
DEFENDER: You do extensive justice work in Black and Hispanic communities. What’s been your experience regarding Black/Brown relations in Houston?
GUTIERREZ: I’m one of those people that, I don’t like to reinvent the wheel. And, I’ve seen what some of our elders and community civil rights activists like Johnny Mata, Ben Reyes, Craig Washington, and even the late Mickey Leland did. All of them together, back in the 70s had a very close-knit relationship that I feel has been somewhat disintegrated purposely and kind of dwindled down. Johnny Mata has taught me a lot about how to be able to bridge a lot of these gaps. And a lot of those gaps come from fear… My parents, who were immigrants, whenever they see on TV Black community members being tortured by law enforcement or government officials, they tell me, “If they’re doing that to them, and they’re from here, what do you think they’re gonna do to us?” So, they see what’s happening out there, but there’s just a lot of fear in terms of the immigrant community… I feel that there’s still a lot of unity that needs to happen.
DEFENDER: How do you deal with any tension that you see between the two communities?
GUTIERREZ: I think there’s a lot of misinformation out there about the immigrant community and what it is we’re about. In any community I come into, I do my best to come into it very humble and respectful. And usually, I get adopted immediately. I’ve never felt any tension within myself coming into the Black communities we serve to try to uplift their voices. For instance, in (predominantly Black) Kashmere Gardens, there’s a concrete batch plant getting ready to pop up across the street from LBJ Hospital, and I was there speaking to the media. Some in the Hispanic community will see me and they’ll say, “Why are you over there? You need to come over here with us.” And I’m like, “I’m doing both. Don’t be upset if I’m there. Their issues are our issues. Our issues are their issues. We’re all in this together.”
DEFENDER: What’s Project 11 and why should we be concerned about it?
GUTIERREZ: Recently, we were in a six-hour meeting with the Port of Houston Army Corps of Engineers and EPA, our federal regulators to discuss, Project 11, which is the widening and deepening of the canal. They currently want to dump contaminated dredge spoils in our Black and Brown communities. Pleasantville, which is the community was built back in the 50s specifically for Black families. Back in the 50s, exactly 66 years ago, the levees broke and the sludge and contaminated water came into the community. So, a lot of people got sick and are still sick. And they’re very scared that they’re gonna continue to dump in their community this contaminated soil. I made it very clear to the Army Corps of Engineers that if in their testing they claim they’re doing, and that they’re saying it’s safe, I wanna see them putting this soil in their backyard because they don’t live anywhere around here. So, until our community sees the Army Corps of Engineers taking that dredge and putting that in their backyard and their gardens for their kids to play, for their children and grandchildren to play, then it’s not safe for us.
