The American Dream Denied Main Menu The Exhibit The Collaborators The Context

Sheena Dedmond

34468
My parents bought the home in ‘81 with everyone else. They just gotten married. No kids at the time. Just looking for the American dream, came in, now I’m not too sure when they tried to start to have children, but my mom actually had seven miscarriages before I came. My sister was in ‘82. She was the only one that made it full term but she was stillborn. .... I then came at ‘84. And of course, I’m here. …

Then in ‘92, ‘93, I think, I was in elementary, so about second, third grade, that’s when we found out about EPA and, you know, all the chemicals. …it all led up to November 6th of 2011. … that’s where we found out that she had a brain aneurysm. She’s been having headaches all this time didn’t tell anyone. She thought it was normal headaches. … She did make it through, but she was bed-ridden and she was a quadriplegic at that point. … She made it until October of 2012. My dad … contracted a brain tumor at the same time.

...But with all the illnesses my mom had, she also suffered with depression. So she would see a psychiatrist. It was to the point where she wanted to give up. Her children died. You know, she was, like, too overwhelmed with the illnesses.

… So like I say, none of it’s a coincidence...Like sewage and water board. There was a leak on the sidewalk right outside in front. And it’s theirs, it’s the city’s portion. So they came in, they fixed it. They’re in white suits. I wear regular clothes every day. I don’t have a white suit. … If you notice coming around here, you don’t see any children playing outside. … No one’s riding bikes, it’s summertime, you don’t see anybody playin’. No swimming pools, no nothing going on. … So it’s just like, why is it okay to have us here? You know, why? Why isn’t anyone doing anything about it?

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  1. The Residents of Gordon Plaza The Critical Visualization and Media Lab of Tulane University