04/23/14 04/23/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! i draw the line in the dust before the feet of tierney and i said segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever. >> "segregation now: investigating america's racial divide." as the supreme court upholds the ban on affirmative action oncology missions in michigan, and on the 60th anniversary of

brown versus board of education, we will look at how in tuscaloosa, alabama today, only one in three black students attends a school that looks as if brown versus board of education never happened. we will speak with propublica reporter nikole hannah-jones. then, "toms river: a story of science and salvation." withwas diagnosed neuroblastoma. i still have effects of it today. >> everything that my son got was mixed from the toms river tapwater. i really believe that is where his cancer came from. >> we will look at how a small new jersey town was ravaged by industrial pollution and national michael rates of childhood cancer. the residents came together, fought back, and 11 of the largest eagle settlements in the

annals of toxic dumping. their story is told in a new book that is just won the pulitzer prize for general nonfiction. we will speak with its author, environmental reporter, dan fagin. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the supreme court has upheld michigan's ban on affirmative action at state colleges and universities. the case centers on a 2006 voter referendum in michigan that barred race and sex-based preferences in admissions. and it feels court previously ruled the ban violates the constitution's equal protection clause. but in a six to two decision, the supreme court overruled the lower court. the ruling will likely bolster similar anti-affirmative action measures in several other states. in a statement, the americans civil liberties union said --

ukraine says it has resumed a military operation against pro-russian separatists after a brief pause for the easter holiday. it is unclear what steps ukraine will take after an internationally brokered truce reached last week called for de-escalation of hostilities. an offensive by ukrainian troops also ended in humiliating defeat. the ukraine government says it has u.s. backing to root out pro-russian forces from eastern towns. the move comes one day after a visit to kiev by vice president joe biden. following a meeting with ukrainian prime minister, biden said russia is running out of time to meet its obligations. right toion has the simply grab land from another nation. no nation has that right.

and we will never recognize russia's illegal occupation of crimea, and neither will the world. now it is time for russia to stop talking and start act in. act on the commitments they made. to get pro-russian separatists to vacate buildings and check amnesty, andt address their grievances politically. >> in other news from ukraine, pro-russian separatists have taken american journalist hostage. simon ostrovosky of vice news was covering a separatist news conference when he was seized. after initial denials, the separatists have acknowledged their holding him against his will. in a statement, vice said -- as the crisis in ukraine unfolds, the u.s. is deploying around 600 soldiers to poland, lafayette, and with and estonia for military exercises.

pentagon spokesperson john kirby said the operation will send a message to russia. >> the united states take serious obligations under article five of the nato alliance, even though these are not nato exercises. it is our commitment to our security obligations in europe. if there's a message to moscow, it is the same exact message that we take our obligations very, very seriously. >> international monitors said removal of syria's chemical weapons stockpile is nearly 90% complete. your organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons as it only has two or three shipments remaining to complete the deal that averted a threaten u.s. attack last year. the news comes as the syrian government faces new allegations of using chemical weapons against civilians. he al-assad regime is accused of dropping barrels of industrial chlorine on rebel held areas in recent weeks. chlorine is not on the list of

banned agents under the international chemical weapons convention, but its use would still be a war crime. in washington, state department spokesperson jen psaki said the u.s. is investigating. >> we have indications of the use of a toxic industrial chemical, probably chlorine, in syria this month. we are examining allegations that the government was responsible. we take all allegations of the use of chemicals and, use very seriously. >> president of bass says renewed warning to dissolve his government of peace talks with israel failed. he said israel has deprived the pa but any real power while continuing to expand illegal settlements. he said israel should resume formal responsibility for the plight of the entire west bank if it refuses to accept any palestinian self-determination. if israel wants to

continue its policy and if it will not give the palestinian authority its rights, israel can bear the responsibilities of this authority and take care of this authority. we have said this to the americans and the israelis. >> the obama administration is easing the suspension of military aid to egypt. the pentagon will deliver 10 apache attack helicopters to back egyptian counterterrorism operations in the sinai peninsula. to ensure the deal, secretary of state john kerry certify to congress that egypt has partially met the criteria for the resumption of u.s. aid. at the criteria do not include taking steps toward a democratic transition of government. then news comes as the trial of three al jazeera journalists detained in cairo for months has again been delayed. the three men are accused of "spreading false news" in support of the muslim brotherhood, deemed by the

government a terrorist group. on tuesday, an egyptian judge adjourned the case until next month. the judge ignored a plea to receive hospital treatment for an injured arm. a new lawsuit accuses the fbi of placing four people on the u.s. no-fly list, after they refuse to become government informants. all four of the plaintiffs are muslim residents of the united states. they say they were barred from flying despite not being accused of any crime for the because the refused government request to spy on their community. the suit seeks the removal from the no-fly list as well as the new legal mechanism to challenge placement on it. a military judge presiding over the case of the u.s. as cole bombing suspect has ordered the cia to release tightly held secrets about its secret prisons overseas. guantanamo prisoner machinery claims he confessed to orchestrating the awning after suffering repeated torture in

u.s. captivity. u.s. army colonel james pohl has ordered the cia to release details about its treatment ofmof nashiri. the ruling has been hailed as a milestone in exposing u.s. detention and interrogation of terror suspects overseas. while the information would be released on his defense attorneys, he would not be made public. the cia is likely to appeal. from last months landslide in washington state has reached 41, with two still missing. on tuesday, president obama toured the area and met with the victims families. >> there are still families were searching for loved ones, families who have lost everything and it will be a difficult road ahead for them. and that is why i wanted to come here. just to let you know that the country is thinking about all of you, and have been throughout

this tragedy. >> county officials are reportedly considering a six month ban on new construction and landslide-prone areas. construction projects were previously approved despite a 1999 report for the army corps of engineers that warned of the potential for a large catastrophic failure. georgia has become the latest state and the first in the west south to face a lawsuit over its ban on same-sex marriage. two of the plaintiffs are female police officers who married in connecticut, but what state recognition of their union. missouri has executed a death row prisoner after the supreme court rejected a last-minute attempt for a stay. william or send was convicted of killing an elderly couple in 1993. his attorneys challenged the execution over the secrecy surrounding the drugs used in his lethal injection. earlier this week, the oklahoma foreme court issued a stay two death row prisoners who have

filed a similar challenge. on tuesday, oklahoma governor mary fallin showed legal confusion after issuing her own stay in one of the cases, overriding the court. a utah woman has made her first court appearance on charges of killing six of her newborn babies over the course of a decade. megan huntsman was arrested earlier this month after the infants bodies were found stuffed inside talks in the garage of her former home all alsoa seventh body was found, but authorities say the child was stillborn. police say huntsman has admitted to the murders under questioning. she had apparently delivered birth without medical assistance after managing to conceal her pregnancies. and a coalition of ranchers, farmers, native groups have begun arriving and washington, d.c. for a weeklong encampment in protest of the keystone xl oil pipeline. members of the cowboy and indian alliance arrived on horseback tuesday to set up tepees for

the protest. >> [indiscernible] if you go pro-pipeline, remember. when his bills and damages crops, land, etc., where do we go? it is our obligation to protect mother earth. >> we like to make decisions based on generations. a seventh generation is the future. , theydecision we make feel that. we just want president obama to know and secretary kerry, that this vision will be heard for generations. >> we're here to do the best we can to make the dust help the president make the decision that needs to be made about this particular step in the process. and that step happens to be to the permit fory the transcanada pipeline. >> the reject and protect

encampment comes days after the obama administration delayed its decision on the keystone xl for the third straight year. this time, until after the midterm elections. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. the supreme court has upheld michigan's ban on affirmative action at state colleges and universities. the case centers on a 2006 voter referendum in michigan that barred race and sex-based preferences in admissions. an appeals court previously ruled the ban violates the constitution's equal protection clause. in a six to two decision, the supreme court overruled the lower court. the justices in the majority argued policies affecting minorities that do not involve intentional discrimination should be decided at the ballot box rather than the courtroom. in her dissent, justice sonia

sotomayor argued -- tuesday's ruling will likely bolster similar anti-affirmative action measures in several other states. it comes as this spring marks 60 years since the landmark supreme court ruling of brown versus board of education, which was intended to end segregation in america's public schools. but an explosive new report finds school integration never fully occurred -- and in recent decades, in may have even been reversed. the resegregation of america's schools is the latest in an ongoing series by propublica called, "segregation now: investigating america's racial divide." it focuses on three generations in the same family in tuscaloosa, alabama. >> the report concludes that --

well, for more we're joined by the author of the series, nikole hannah-jones. she covers civil rights for propublica, with a focus on segregation and discrimination in housing and schools. we welcome you. congratulations on this remarkable series. and coming out now at the same time that the supreme court has backed a ban on race as a factor in college admissions. before we talk about tuscaloosa, if you could briefly comment on this idea that race should not matter when you look at the schools of america. obvious if you just

look strictly at the fact that we still have a racialized k-12 system and black and brown students tend to be in schools where they're receiving an inferior education. they're less likely to get access to classes that will help the main college such as advanced placement, physics, higher-level math. they're most likely to be taught by inexperienced teachers. when you have this system were black and brown students are receiving very different education and white students, and once you get to the college level you say race to locker --ters is no longer matters no longer matters, but now everyone should compete at the same level, i think in some sense it is just -- there's a big disconnect between what is happening on these two levels of education. >> is interesting, justice sonia sotomayor or's dissent, eloquent dissent against chief roberts. justice07, chief

roberts wrote in a decision striking down voluntary desegregation orders in seattle and louisville, kentucky. these were to districts that wanted to maintain integration in the schools because they understand the value of that for students -- i guess, it really in terms of education. said,hief justice roberts the way to stop discriminating on race is to stop discriminating on race. justice sotomayor or address that and said, you can't ignore the existence of race and the way you illuminate racial inequality is not to pretend it doesn't exist. she was directly addressing that response. >> you said minority black and brown students receive an inferior education. could you give a kind of overview of why that is the case, is it because of districting, what schools get

what kinds of resources, etc.? why is that the case? >> it is often forgotten about with brown, brown was addressing the system of racial caste that we had been and that resources -- >> explain what you mean. >> round versus board of education, the 1954 ruling, the landmark ruling that struck down -- it understood resources follow white students in this country. schools that have a significant percentage of point students get better teachers, did better textbooks, they get better curriculum. today, that is still the case. we have not eliminated that kind of connection between resources and race. >> could you talk about what it is that prompted the study? this was a year-long investigation that you conducted. how did you come upon the topic and decide to research it in this way and focus on tuscaloosa?

prior to working on school segregation, i spent nearly two years working on housing segregation. i was looking at the federal failure -- 45-year federal failure and asking why when we have a fair housing law, we still have so much racial segregation. during the course of that, i became very interested in the connection between segregated housing and segregated schools, and i knew i wanted to do some reporting on school segregation in particular. i focused on the south because, despite what a lot of people think, the south actually did desegregate. he went from being completely segregated to within a span of 40 years, even now, to becoming of most integrated region the country. the south also educates the most black students. you have the one region of the country that actually did desegregate and they are educating the most black students, and they're starting now to fight back on that. to me, it was critical to write

about the south first because that is where we have the most students. >> i want to go back to 2007, the tuscaloosa school board approved a redistricting plan that further segregated black students. this is the school board member ernestine tucker speaking in a video that accompanied the propublica investigation. we rushedtion was, into this. we need more time and research. but for the majority of the people on the school board, who represented the majority of the voters, it was ok. and i said to them, we will experience the damage of this decision for the next 50 years. i said it is criminal what we have done tonight. >> that was tuscaloosa school board member ernestine tucker. this is the former chair of the tuscaloosa school board. >> we have maintained a desegregated school system.

there are all kinds of evidence that every day that i think the board endeavors yet today to maintain that, and to ensure that. those who had doubts that this -- that desegregation and the green factors would be maintained of desegregation, i think now they realize that we action taking place. >> former tuscaloosa school board chair shelley jones from a video called "saving central." can you talk about the role of the school board in central high? central was also little rock, arkansas. but you look at tuscaloosa. >> what brought me to tuscaloosa, what i was interested in was the south had been reshaped archly because a federal court orders.

the courts had forced integration on the south and it had been successful. years we'vet 20 seen a lot of those orders lifted by the court and what we found was that as districts lose their federal oversight, they do begin to resegregating. tuscaloosa has become one of the most rapidly resegregating schools in the country. that is largely because of what the school board did with central. in 2000 when a federal judge released tuscaloosa from its court order, the school board immediately voted to split up central. central having created by the court order. excuse me, 1979, tuscaloosa still operated virtually black high school and white high school. the merger of those two schools created central. it was an integration story. because there is a white board voting to split apart the school and they created three high schools, two integrated and one

that was entirely black. what i really wanted to show with this report is that segregation is not an accident. i think a lot of times we focus on, well, it is natural or it is based on where people live. the irony of central high school, it is actually located in an integrated neighborhood but the white students right across the school are gerrymandered into a district to go to an integrated school. central was created as a black school by the intentional drawing of district lines. >> why is it that federal judges have been lifting court orders, segregation mandates? it has had been enormous affect, obviously. >> in the 1990's, the supreme court began to roll back desegregation. it made it much easier for school districts to get out from under desegregation orders. prior to that, the supreme court had high standards which was districts had to eliminate the

root and branch all the vestiges of segregation. but that works were saying they only had to do it to the extent practical. -- but the courts were saying in they had to do it extent it was practical. during the two bush terms, bush had a policy of trying to it as many of these orders dismissed. there's integration fatigued. i think people felt after 40 or 50 years, enough time had passed and that we had eliminated anything that could the related to the time of before brown and any current discrepancies or current disparities are related to things like neighborhood and poverty and have nothing to do with race. >> let's go to the principle of central, clarence sutton, junior, speaking in the video "saving central: one principal's fight in resegregating south," which accompanied the propublica investigation. we would still be in the same

spot. you just can't do school like everyone else does school. it takes me giving up my day, my evening, it takes my wife doing what she has to do behind, takes a faculty saying, we will come to school free. don't worry about paying us. we all donate two hours. we come in on saturday. it takes that kind of people. it is a system that is in place, but i feel like we're 10 years behind. to playorking fast catch-up. when i went to high school, i felt special. the whole state that we were special. you had national merit scholars. you had four or five for them and which is being taught. you had the best teams. you had amassed national championship. -- you had a math national chairmanship. >> that was the principal of central high school in tuscaloosa in the video. explain who he is and his role

at central. >> dr. sutton is the principal of central. he actually attended the integrated central, and then was a product of that integration. now is teaching at a school that is 99% black and more than 84% poor. about thetalks educational struggles because it is not just the racial segregation, but also the segregation of the students by income. that you take the most this it vanish students and concentrate them -- disadvantaged students and concentrate them in one school, and also don't give the proper resources. there were years when they did not offer advanced placement classes while the most integrated school had 12. teachers who were let go at other schools could be rehired at central. happenople feared would

when central was broken apart, which was these poor black students would be separated and written off, is largely what people say happened to central. >> you also suggest that alabama state officials actively encouraged white parents to frome their children public schools. why did they do that and what was the impact of that ultimately? >> i think today we tend to forget there was a reason the supreme court had to rule on the issue of school segregation. in the south, it was written into the law, whites of her missy was written into the law and the was the belief that black woman should not attend schools with white children. elected officials fought against desegregation. when it became clear the courts were going to force you segregation, what officials in alabama and other parts of the south shut down schools, they shut down sometimes entire districts, and they also

encouraged what were called segregation academies, which were private academies that were set up to educate white students who were for lean public schools. many times we attribute it to busting more desegregation, but it really was begun and led by public officials. >> another striking fact that you bring up in your pieces while there was this racial segregation, there was an enormous amount of economic diversity. one of the people you profiled, james stand, one of his classmates was condoleezza rice. how is it that economic diversity works together with his racial uniformity? >> at the time, in tuscaloosa and other places, every black person in the community went to the same high schools because the schools were segregated. no matter how wealthy you were or how poor you were, you would to the same high school. that economic diversity has always been important. thewhat happens is

integrated high schools are largely being integrated with more middle-class bike students and what is left behind in the segregated schools are the poorest black students in the community. not only are they experiencing no racial diversity, but also note economic diversity. >> as we wrap up, i want to go to the title of your investigation, "segregation now: investigating america's racial divide." let's go to that famous immigration speech by governor george wallace of alabama, who had been elected as a democrat on to number 14, 1963. to the cause of freedom loving blood that is in us and to send our answer to the plexus from the south. the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, i draw the line in the dust and toss the garment before the feet sayyranny, and i segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.

quick that is democratic governor george wallace in his inauguration address after winning the race for governor. that was back in 1963. nikole hannah-jones, that was more than half a century ago, and that is the title of your series that you have spent a year investigating and writing. we are not necessarily saying what george wallace was predicting would be true, because it is not. what george wallace and others like him wanted was all-white schools. don't reallyools exist anymore. but all black schools do. at is the segregation today, is that 60 years after brown and really i shows through a single generation of one family, integration is gone for many students. >> in new york, a study shows new york has the most segregated schools in the country. >> absolutely. this is one of the things where

i hoped the story would do some myth-busting. we all have this perception of the south. the south did integrate. we have never seen true desegregation in the northeast or midwest. if you look at in terms of neighborhoods and schools, the most segregated parts of the consistently been in the midwest and in the northeast. >> 73% of charter schools in new york city were deemed so-called apartheid schools where white enrollment was below 1%? >> yes. and overall of new york public schools, it is about 1/4 of black students. in chicago, 1/3 of black students in the so-called apartheid schools. >> why apartheid schools? >> they call them apartheid schools because they're 99% black or brown. that is not my terminology, but

when you talk to the researchers who use this term, if they want to shock americans with that term, they want to say -- we have kind of come to expect what a separate but equal, but when you look at no child left behind in race to the top, we're still china make the supper schools equal. and never in the history of our country and we managed to do that. i think what they're really trying to do is say, these schools are unjust. they want to shock people with terminology. >> nikole hannah-jones, we will have a link to your series. in lateed propublica 2007, covered civil rights with a focus on schools. her ongoing investigation is, "segregation now: investigating america's racial divide." her latest piece, "the resegregation of america's schools." we will have a link at democracynow.org. when we come back, the new pullets are prize-winning nonfiction -- pulitzer prize-winning nonfiction writer,

dan fagin with, "toms river: a story of science and salvation." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we spend the rest of the hour looking at a fascinating story of a small town ravaged by industrial pollution -- a town suffering from astronomical rates of childhood cancers scientifically linked to local air and water pollution, a town that ultimately came together, fought back, and won one of the

largest legal settlements in the annals of toxic dumping. that town is toms river in new jersey in the focus of a new book that has just won the pulitzer prize for general nonfiction. : a story ofver science and salvation," environmental reporter dan fagin recounts the 60 year saga of rampant pollution and inadequate oversight that makes toms river a cautionary example for industrial towns. two of the residents who shared their ordeal in the book are linda gillick and her son, michael, whose fast-growing tumors decimated his body. this is linda, followed by michael, speaking to the show, "earth focus." >> i was 30 when i had michael. the first 30 years of our lives were carefree, like any young couple. try and pay your bills, enjoy life. and you get a child that has cancer, and are whole life

changes completely. it now is surrounded and revolves around your child that is sick. >> i was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancer of the sympathetic nervous system. i still have effects of it today. >> michael is alive. he is a miracle. he received last rites many times. he is 34 years old. normalcy tolimited his life. >> the tumor is pushing my spine already much out of my body. it is wearing away the skin. around,so -- it wraps like, all my organs, heart, lungs, kidneys, all that. there is no surgical way to remove it without me either bleeding on the table or becoming a vegetable, i was

told. >> i would by the powdered formula and i would mix it with tap water. so everything that my son got was mixed with the toms river cap water. i really believe that that is where his cancer came from. >> that is linda and michael gillick, two residents of toms river, new jersey. their story is told by our guest, dan fagin, and is now pulitzer prize winning book, "toms river: a story of science and salvation." it won the 2014 pulitzer prize for general nonfiction. you can read an excerpt on our website. dan fagin is associate professor of journalism and the director of science, health, and environmental reporting program at new york university's arthur l carter journalism institute. for 15 years, he was the environmental writer at "newsday." where were you when he heard you won the pulitzer prize? >> i was at home.

i work at home some days. i was in one room and my wife, also a journalist, was working in another room. this is how much of a surprise to me, i had even forgotten it was pulitzer day. but my wife remembered. she writes for reuters. reuters was a for a price that she knew of, so she was checking. she came over and started shouting, you won, you one. it was a wonderful moment. ." your book is, " toms river talk about why you chose this town. >> for many years, i was the environmental reporter for "newsday," which is a large newspaper that circulates on long island and new york city. on long island a particular, cancer patterns were huge issue for our readers and i was very interested -- what they are interested in is what i'm

interested in. i thought it was fascinating to understand epidemiology, which is a very complicated word, which is patterns of cancer and disease. it is like a mystery story. i'd wrote a lot about that. especially about breast cancer because that was such a huge issue. i never felt like i was getting to the bottom of it, that i was giving readers the core understanding they needed. also because i felt the really good science wasn't being done on long island. but it was being done in this town in new jersey i had heard about, toms river. i went down and wrote a story i thought it was quite fascinating. i thought the people involved were amazing, including but not limited to the gillicks. i thought, well, if i ever get a the time tot write a book about this fascinating subject of cancer epidemiology, i would look for great narrative were also great

science was being done and that wast. when i went to new york, i finally had that choice. >> you talk about in the book a chemical plant opening in toms river in 1953. could you talk about what that plan was, how it was initially received in toms river and how the story unfolded from then? >> sure. toms river was really a town like any other town, sleepy town on the jersey shore. more --omy was somewhat so when one of the big swiss chemical companies started looking for a place to relocate their operations, they had gotten into some environment will trouble, pollution -- >> where? >> in cincinnati, ohio. and previously an original hometown. >> in switzerland. >> yeah. i trace that evolution over time. basically, everywhere they went they eventually became a most unwelcome neighbor. but when they came to toms river

initially, everyone was thrilled because this was going to be or was, ultimately, one of the largest dye manufacturing plants in the country, one of the larger ones in the world. it eventually expanded to plastics and other chemical products. for many years, it was the most important employer in ocean county. it wasn't just that there were a lot of jobs, they were well playing -- well-paying jobs. in some ways it was an agent for social mobility as long as people did not think too hard about the long-term consequences. there was a lot of short-term thinking [captioning made possible by democracy now!] . >> could you talk about what you do -- what were some of the dangers associated with dye manufacturing that leads to these to michael's -- chemicals? >> it turns out the dies are fascinating to look out for couple of reasons. the first of which is that all

of the big chemical companies that we know and love, starting with the largest local company in the world which is still so many of the big chemical companies started out by manufacturing dyes, which was really the first great product of the chemical age starting in the 1850's. on the other hand, the thing about making dyes is it generates a tremendous amount of hazardous waste. i mean, a lot. in toms river, i could show it generated much more waste than usable product. all of that product had to go somewhere. traditionally, where they put it was either in the ground or into the water. that is exactly what they did in toms river. >> this is truly an astounding story ended as the residence that played a key role in uncovering what was going on. i want to turn back to "earth

focus," that did this story to toms river resident linda gillick, describing the effort she made to uncover the reason why her son, michael, and so many other children in the area, were getting cancer. of the whole map county so we could see where our children were located for our caseworkers. as the years went on, we noticed that toms river have become one big dark area full of pins. it was a big concern. i reached out to the state health department numerous times and told him of my concern, and was told over and over again that there was not a problem. >> that was linda gillick describing this effort she made to find out what was going on. tell us about linda and her son michael. >> linda is a fascinating person

, and a very brave one. most of all, and extremely determined person. sort ofalways a very community-minded person. she was involved. she was a schoolteacher. she was the kind of person who had a network of friends and always wanted to know what was going on in her life changed in a horrible way when michael was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at three months. at that time, neuroblastoma was just a terrible diagnosis. they told linda it was a less than 50/50 that he would reach his first birthday. they were so traumatized that they did things like celebrate his first birthday at six months because they were afraid he would not reach his first birth day. they actually purchased a coffin for michael because if the time came, they did not want to have to make that horrible -- go to that horrible process.

horriblest the most situation that you could possibly imagine. and many people, quite understandably, would have turned inward with their grief. but that is not linda's way. what happened was, she would go with michael to sloan-kettering or new york hospital in new york or to the children's hospital of philadelphia and get treatment because toms river was not yet large enough to have an advanced treatment cancer center. wherever she would go, she would bump into -- it felt like she would bump into other parents and kids from toms river. and she was the kind of person that started keeping track. it eventually got to the point where, as you just saw and heard, she made a map. this is the kind of thing that happened sometimes, not just in ins river but also massachusetts, which people may be familiar with from the movie that john travolta was in, but

not just there. many places, citizen activists start keeping track of cases. in linda's case, she was not able to get the attention of the authorities. they told her, sorry, we don't think there's anything there. things changed only later, thanks to a whole strange series nursents centering on a at the children's hospital of philadelphia. >> who? >> her name is lisa. at the time, she was a young nurse in the pediatric oncology ward. and as with linda, she had noticed there were a lot of people coming to the hospital from toms river. that was really strange, because the children's hospital of philadelphia is a very famous institution and attracts children from all over the world , and certainly from all over the region, so why should there

be so many kids from toms river? that really bothered her. that bothered lisa. she said something to the doctors and they said, you know, you are a nurse, go back to being a nurse. you really don't know what you're talking about. it's probably just a coincidence. but it really bothered lisa. the thing is, when you are a nurse, dedicated nurse like lisa, you really get to know the families and parents. you spend those long shifts overnight. and when a child dies, you go to the funeral. and she went to a number of funerals in toms river. and every time she went, she would drive past the chemical plant and say, 08, that is that place that families work tony about. so what happened was, it turned lisa sister-in-law worked at the epa. and she was talking to her about this. her sister-in-law happen to know who to contact within the

federal government to try to get something going. and that person in turn contacted the state health department, which said, ok, we're going to take a look at this. even that was not the end because the state health department try to keep the initial assessment secret. >> that is the new jersey state department of health. we will continue the story after break. dan fagin is the new winner of the pulitzer prize for nonfiction for his book, "toms river: a story of science and salvation." we're talking about the plant outside toms river and learn about what union carbide had to do with this. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> he was just inducted into the rock 'n roll hall of fame. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. , authort is dan fagin of congress "toms river: a story of science and salvation." the 2014st won pulitzer prize for general nonfiction. so you told us about the ciba plant, and all the children who were sick in toms river, what about union carbide? >> i want to make sure everyone knows that the story is a doubt more than just the chemical plant. -- is about more than just the chemical plant. and 70's, illegal dumping. chemical companies were looking for cheap ways to get rid of their waste. they often used intermediaries to get rid of their waste.

that is what happened in this case. union carbide had thousands of barrels from his plant that it wanted to get rid of and did not want to spend the money to dispose of the waste properly, so it engaged with a contractor, a distributable guy, who ultimately took those barrels and dumped them in the back of a chicken farm -- >> thousands of barrels. >> thousands. he was so overwhelmed by the work, he would just throw them off the side of his truck and they would burst -- >> when was this and how long? >> it was just a few months, but the damage was done in the early 1970's. the damage was done. hold the area of groundwater contamination. -- a whole other area of groundwater contamination. one set of wells were contaminated in the 1960's, and another area of groundwater contamination caused by this illegal dumping. i should also say, that towns

burst for growth plate into this growth's thirst for plate into this. they were pumping those wells beyond capacity. essentially, they slurped up that contamination and distribute it it throughout the town. they were pumping those wells so hard. this would happen. ultimately, to tie back to what was happening with linda gillick and other folks in town who thought there were getting cancer, linda made her map and she thought it was something in the water. finally -- state to lisa, the nurse from philadelphia, got the state to look into this. but the state did a primitive calculation and said, ok, if there are more childhood cancers that than we would expect and it turns out, yeah, there's a lot more childhood cancer than would be expected based on the demographics of new jersey. at the state health department did not know what to do with that information.

they did not want to do a full-blown investigation. they thought it would scare people and be. they kept it quiet. linda gillick and other people found out. there was a huge story in the allr in 1990 -- 1996, and hell broke loose. eventually, a serious piece of environmental event in the elegy, a case study was done. they concluded there were indeed relationships between environmental exposures in town and unusually high rates of childhood cancer. that is a very unusual thing to be of the draw that relationship. >> talk about how the families banded together and sued. >> they did not actually sue. it is fascinating. i mentioned civil action earlier. if anyone has read or watched a civil action, you know the star schlick man.d quite a character. he basically lost his shirt, suit, all of his money --

everything he had, pursuing that case in massachusetts. he did not want to make that mistake again. he did not want to have total warfare. he wanted to initiate a kind of negotiation, out of court negotiation. he was joined by some variable attorneys from philadelphia. they initiated a very and usual out-of-court process that ended with a settlement value. we don't know the exact amount, but it was really well over $30 million, which was to my did 69 families. but the companies did not admit any liability. >> you're saying $30 million divided by about 70 families, you're talking maybe half $1 million for families, some of that much less because lawyers get money. >> exactly right. it would be hard to say that those families got what was appropriate considering what they had gone through.

>> how many children died? >> it depends on how you define the cluster. over time and space. you could say as many as 40 or 50 died. out of the 69, smaller number. >> and adults? >> one of the sad things about toms river, no one ever really took a conference of look at adult cancer. that is the big picture here, that maybe we could talk about for a few minutes. it is just as matter of luck we know what happened in toms river . decisions that got us to the point where we are able to get a decent study done. most of the time we have no idea. point i is the bigger want to try to make. and that is that, we don't really do public health surveillance effectively in this country. , theend $80 billion plus

intelligence agencies, just the , and they'reget doing data analysis all the time, allegedly thomas to protect us from bad guys. we collected tremendous amount of environmental and public health data and we do nothing with it. almost nothing with it. we don't look for patterns. we don't analyze those patterns. that is a terrible tragedy. people are dying because we do public healthve surveillance in this country. we are operating on laws that are 50 years old. we are using science that is almost always conducted by people with the greatest ax to grind. regulatory signs, which is either by the chemical companies themselves or the contractors they hire. we have some real systemic problems. that was a big reason why wrote this book. >> we want to go back to michael.

he is in his 30's now. >> he beat the odds. >> astounding. the tumors in his body are pushing his spine through his skin, wrapped around all of his organs as he describes it. this is michael gillick, born in 1979 with neuroblastoma, but talking about not so much himself, but what it means when people come together. >> no corporation, no politician is bigger than a combined voice of people. when people join together and form their voices into one loud "were not going to stand for this," there's nothing to stand against that. >> that was michael gillick with hope. dan fagin, what most surprised you in writing this book? >> i think two things surprised

me. number one, even though i have been an environmental reporter for 25 plus years, i was surprised at the brazenness of the behavior of the companies involved. as late as the 1990's, knowing about exposures in responding very inadequately to them. in the second thing is really what michael was talking about, wonderfuls that it is and somewhat surprising, although we should not be surprised, to see a community of people rise to the occasion. it took a while for that to happen in toms river, but it did happen. it is quite inspiring the way that story unfolded. >> we want to thank you for being with us, dan fagin, author of, "toms river: a story of science and salvation." theratulations for winning 20 14 pulitzer prize for general nonfiction. you can read an excerpt from his book on our website democracynow.org. he now teaches at new york university journalism institute.

that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. we want to continue our interviews with people like dan fagin. the book is called "toms river: a story of science and salvation ." it just won the 2014 pulitzer prize for general nonfiction. it is yours for a contribution of $150 if you call right now.