"Blacks Left Behind in Deadly Chlorine Gas Leak -- Graniteville, SC"

On the early morning of Jan. 6, 2005, two Norfolk Southern Railway Company trains crashed into each other releasing deadly chlorine gas in Graniteville, SC killing nine people, injuring 240, and forcing the evacuation of nearly 5,500 residents. Three of the Norfolk Southern Railway Company tank cars carried ninety tons each of the deadly chlorine gas. Days after the wreck, the railway company had still not been able to control the leaking chlorine gas. Eight of the nine victims of the crash died within the first hours after impact. The ninth victim, the train’s engineer, died the next day in the hospital.

The Graniteville disaster highlights the risks to communities through which the railroad passes. In October 2004, government safety officials warned that more than half of the nation's 60,000 pressurized rail tank cars did not meet industry standards, and they raised questions about the safety of the rest of the fleet as well.

It also points to the issue of fairness in emergency response. Some residents in the all-black New Hope Graniteville community allege that the Aiken County government emergency responders left the black community behind while evacuating the whites. African Americans claim white residents were evacuated soon after the 2:40 a.m. wreck and that black New Hope community residents were not evacuated until 3:30 p.m. that afternoon. For a related article see "Blacks say they were left until last."

To explore the fairness issue, an in-depth interview was conducted with thirty-two year old New Hope resident Pamela Hall. Ms. Hall is the mother of a nine-year-old and owns Hall-Gaffney Learning Center, a private pre-kindergarten through second-grade school located in Graniteville’s New Hope community. Robert D. Bullard, Clark Atlanta University Environmental Justice Resource Center, conducted the interview on March 4, 2005.

Q: Would you give me your full name and where you live?
Hall: My name is Pamela Hall. I live in Graniteville, South Carolina. Graniteville is located in Aiken County.

Q: How long have you lived in Graniteville?
Hall: I was born in Aiken County and have lived in the Graniteville New Hope community basically all of my life off and on.

Q: What was it like growing up in the New Hope community?
Hall: There were a lot of challenges. This is a low-income African American area. New Hope has been black as long as I can remember. There is lots of poverty, unemployment, and drugs that hinder a lot of people from being successful.

Q: Where were you when the train wreck happened?
Hall: I was home sound asleep in my bed.

Q: Approximately how many blocks away would you say is your home from ground zero?
Hall: I live about a block and half from the train wreck.

Q: How did you first learn of the accident?
Hall: My brother called me. He also lives in the Grantville area. He heard the wreck. He actually lives farther away from the wreck than we do. But we didn’t actually hear it, because I’m a deep sleeper. He called us. It was roughly about 3:30 a.m. – 4:00 a.m. I live with my mother and daughter. My brother called us and told us that there was a wreck; he didn’t know actually the severity of it. We turned on the T.V. news and immediately around 4:30am. I started calling my students’ parents because I operate a school with 25 young children in the Graniteville area, letting them know that I didn’t think that we were going to be going to school. At this point we still didn’t know the severity of it, but they were just letting us know that we needed to stay in our homes, turn off all the ventilation. The new reports told people to make sure the doors were closed, the windows were closed and just stay put, where we were. And that’s what we did.

Q: Could you smell anything?
Hall: At the time when we started smelling something it was about 6:00.AM. At the time we didn’t know if it was because we were nervous or if something else was actually causing us to have the problems breathing. My son is an asthmatic so I was assuming that it was his asthma that was making him feel so wheezy. My nephew’s eyes were burning and we actually didn’t know what to do because they told us if we would leave we would get in trouble. The best place for us to be was in our home, so that’s where we stayed. So basically we just stayed where we were until we felt county officials would give us notification of when it was the best time for us to leave.

Q: What time did the Aiken County Sheriff Department notify you?
Hall: It was actually 4:00 pm that afternoon. As we were evacuating, Aiken County Police and other volunteers were walking around in the New Hope community.

Q: Some people say that they feel that the New Hope Community was left behind and treated differently by Aiken County emergency officials. What’s your feeling on that?
Hall: I definitely concur with that opinion because of the simple fact that the New Hope community from my knowledge was the last ones to be notified and we were the last ones to be told that we could leave our homes. And they went to the white neighborhoods to notify them that are farther away from the accident that they could leave their homes sooner than what I’ve been told.

Q: Do you know of any instances in the past where the New Hope community was treated differently from whites in emergencies?
Hall: It’s always been a display of racism in this area for us. When I was a small child growing up in this segregated community, there were two Church Streets, one in the New Hope area and another Church Street on the other side of town in the white area. I can remember when we would have to call the volunteer fire department, they would always go to the Church Street in the white community before they would come to the Church Street in the New Hope community. By the time they would get to the fire in the black community nine times out of ten the house would have burned down.

Q: Were the streets paved in the New Hope community when you were growing up?
Hall: No. For years we didn’t have paved streets and street lighting. We actually have an organization called the New Hope Community Association and they actually fought for paved roads and lighting for this area. The struggle to make sure that New Hope gets its fair share of amenities continues to this day because we are basically a low-income, people of color neighborhood, and forgotten community.

Q: Is there a grocery store in this community?
Hall: There is a grocery store in Warrenville that is within driving distance, about three miles away. To get there, you definitely need access to a car.

Q: How has the accident affected this community?
Hall: It has made us a lot more aware of situations in life and that we have to actually go out and try to fight for our rights and not just settle for what someone tells us. It has taught us that we have to take the initiative, read, get information, and educate ourselves. It has opened our eyes about the dangerous chemicals being transported and traveling through our community and so close to our homes.

Q: Was a potential train accident something that you’ve thought about in the past?
Hall: Before the accident on January 6, I hadn’t given the trains a lot of thought. I haven’t because trains have been coming through since I was a little child. It was normal to us. When you live "across the tracks," you learn to live with the noise and inconvenience of being held up by trains at the crossings. It never crossed my mind that the trains and their cargo were so dangerous.

Q: What do you think now?
Hall: It’s a wake up call. The world is different. When I see the trains coming through and I see the chlorine signs on the trains it makes me shiver. It actually gives me chills all over my body because I just realized how blessed I am with my son being asthmatic (I’m about to cry). I realize how blessed we are to have survived.

Q: Even after this accident, trains are still coming through. What actions would you like to see from government?
Hall: In the future, I would like to see Aiken County emergency personnel treat all county residents the same without regard to race, color, national origin, income, or place of residence. I would also like to see the federal government control the amount of toxic chemicals that are coming into communities like Graniteville. If nothing else, this accident make it crystal clear that we need more stringent regulations on speed, understanding that it’s important to slow down when you are in small communities or any community carrying something that’s so deadly that can take someone’s life in seconds. I would like for the government to continue quality sampling of the air, soil, and the water and let us know what the status is and don’t just keep us blind. I think that instead of us having to request that information it should be forthcoming from government officials. Our health and safety should come first.

Q: Do you think this community will ever recover mentally and economically from what happened?
Hall: I believe there will be a recovery in time. God is going to bless you and that God is going give you the serenity that you need to recover. How long will it take? Nobody knows. Economically, I think that it’s going take a while for people to get where they need to be financially. Even with my business and myself. A lot of businesses have loss business because of that. And so, it’s going to take time to build up that comfort zone for others to come back. Mentally, people have to have faith in God and believe that they can get over whatever situation that they are in. Is it possible? Yes, I think so.

Q: Do you think that you and this community will ever get justice?
Hall: True justice, I don’t believe that we will. I hate to say this but as African Americans we have yet to receive true justice in this country. What they gave African Americans when we were displaced from our homes versus what they gave white people when they were displaced from their homes is a huge difference in the amounts. I know one person who was offered a $359-dollars settlement. Can you tell me that $359 dollars is just? That’s just to them.

Q: Do you think that racism plays a part in this inequity?
Hall: I think as African Americans we have always faced racism. I think we are going to continue to face racism. We are just such a powerful people that we have overcome many barriers that have been placed in our way. So yes, racism plays a part.

Q: What do you think the role of our black institutions can play in New Hope’s struggle for justice?
Hall: Our black churches, colleges and universities, and media definitely have a role to play. They can be a voice. Often times, African Americans don’t have a voice. But in the white mainstream media they have a voice. Too often our churches and colleges sit on the sidelines instead of standing up for justice. Since we all in it together, we need to unify and fight together.

Q: What do you think it will take to get black organizations working to improve the quality of life of African American children, families and communities?
Hall: First of all we need unity. If we had unity and worked on one accord then we could fight together. But when we have one black organization and another black organization and you all want to be the center of attention instead of putting the problem as the center of attention not your organization that’s where the problem lies because often times as African Americans we want to get credit, we want to be seen. Instead of wanting to work for what is just and what our community needs and how to build our community better. We want to be in the front. Instead of working for others and being behind them. So if we can’t be in front we would rather not be there at all.

Q: Do you have any last words that you would like to share with people who will read this interview?
Hall: It may be hard for many people to imagine, but there is a silver lining even in this tragedy. I truly believe "through every storm there’s sunshine." Our eyes are now open not just on the train wreck, but on the many other inequities that exist in the New Hope community. We will not stop until we get justice.

Note: Pamela Hall is a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits involving the Jan. 6 Graniteville train wreck.