photo by steed media service

Dilapidated schools, inferior equipment, outdated books and apathetic teachers are not the only reasons that African American children lag behind their cultural counterparts scholastically. Virulent environmental toxins have been scientifically proven to retard cerebral development. As a volunteer for Imagine Englewood, a nonprofit organization that works to help improve the lives of children in Chicago’s Englewood community, Howard Kendall Jr. knows all too well the dire ramifications of such harmful threats as lead poisoning.

“Some of the warning signs would be [that] they are not picking up things as quickly as others. Some kids got lead in their systems early in life,” Kendall says. “Now that they are teens, it’s affecting them. We [have] had a few cases of kids moving in to Englewood very healthy, but all of a sudden [they] got very sick as time went on. It causes asthma, diabetes and other issues.”

Part of what Kendall and Imagine Englewood have done is educate the public on the harmful effects of lead. They recently tested the lead content in the area’s soil and “It was off-the-scale, three times the normal [level] of lead that’s in the soil. So we pursued it,” says Kendall. “After a few months, our director, Jean Carter Hill found out that lead had been slowly killing the kids in the neighborhood. So we decided to jump into it and see if we could make a difference in our community.”

Kendall encourages parents to contact the local government for a reprieve from lead hazards and other environmental problems. “The Department of Health started a program where they come to the house and test for lead. And if they find enough, they will work with you to get it out, clean it up,” he says. “We [strongly encourage every parent to take their kids to be tested for lead.” – terry shropshire

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