Unequal protection

In 1978, in the rural hamlet of Triana, Alabama, populated almost entirely by African Americans, massive levels of DDT were discovered in the creek where its citizens fished, and in those citizens' blood. Triana, dubbed "the unhealthiest town in America," embarked on a quest to fix responsibility for the pollution and to seek legal redress.

Triana's story has been repeated in different forms all over America - in Louisiana's petrochemical corridor, known as "Cancer Alley"; in riot-torn South Central Los Angeles, the environmentally "dirtiest" zip code in California; on Native American reservations burdened with waste disposal sites and coal-fired power plants; and in urban neighborhoods from Brooklyn to Chicago's South Side to the barrios of East L.A., surrounded by decaying industries and often targeted for toxic dumps, landfills, and incinerators.