Presenter Q&A: Oscar Sanchez on Environmental Justice, Community Resources, and Youth Leadership

Oscar Sanchez is a proud-born Southeast Side community member. He is a Youth and Violence Prevention Organizer for the Alliance of the SouthEast (ASE). Sanchez is also a member of the Coalition for a South Works CBA, and co-founder of the Southeast Response Collective (a local mutual aid network), and co-founder of the Southeast Youth Alliance.

Sanchez was one of the original hunger strikers in the campaign against General Iron, a company with a history of air pollution violations moving to the Southeast Side. He was on hunger strike for 30 days. Sanchez said of the fight against General Iron: “our community has been plagued by these industries for decades, our ancestors deserved better, our youth deserve better, and so do our future generations” (click here to see Sanchez’s spotlight on #StopGeneralIron Hunger Strike’s twitter account).

CHF spoke to Sanchez about environmental justice, investing in community resources, and the importance of youth leadership.

Read our conversation with Sanchez below and watch his CHF program Youth Leading Change.

Sanchez: As a community organizer and activist, in the last year we have seen movements and communities coming together to demand a change. When creating these movements it’s important that we set goals and have set changes we want to see. I come from the Southeast Side neighborhood of Chicago that is constantly bombarded by environmental injustices and little-to-no investment in the community and youth. I think the changes we could make to realize a future in which we have the same opportunities as wealthy neighborhoods are:

1) Community Oriented Politicians

Representatives that work for the people and not for a system that promises them a profit at the expense of endangering the livelihood of the people.

2) Employment Beyond Pollution

Normalizing workforce development not powered by dirty industry. Employment opportunities beyond pollution. Not trading your health for wealth.

3) Remediation Funds

Cleaning up these contaminated spaces with funding coming from corporations, the city, and/or federal sources, such as remediation funds, which are used to clean up contaminated areas (i.e. superfund sites). We currently have two superfund sites and many more areas in our community. We should have these areas clean, so we are able to build and create the opportunity for life.

4) Invest in Youth

Funding communities for their necessities and investing in youth rather than providing police with 280 million dollars in funding from the 470 million dollars given to Chicago from the federal government.

5) Defund the Police

Defund the police because they uphold anti-Blackness, capitalism, colonization, profit over people and the law which to this day disfranchises Black and Brown communities. For example the 1937 massacre, redlining causing displacement, and disinvestment in communities. Redirect funds to building beneficial community institutions, especially with green infrastructure.

Having changes we demand is only one part of the solution. Things won’t change if we only speak these demands, in order for them to happen we have to act. We have to hold local aldermen accountable, we have to pressure them to speak for our communities, to city council, and further push these electeds to hold the mayor accountable. Furthermore, we have to treat our trauma, and look to build environments that will create growth and nurture the young minds of our community.

It is important to have this mindset that we are able to grow by creating community gardens, gardens in our own backyards, the gardens in our minds—creating and intentionally making these spaces for us, because we are deserving. We need to uplift one another, build one another, because this movement isn’t about one of us, but all of us, and all of our collective power.

Watch Sanchez’s CHF program Youth Leading Change and support Youth-led activism in Chicago.

Oscar Sanchez is a proud, active community member, born and raised on Chicago's southeast side. Currently, Oscar is the Youth / Violence Prevention Organizer for the Alliance of the SouthEast (ASE), developing youth leaders who are currently working to increase access to mental health services for youth and police free schools. He is also a member of the Coalition for a South Works CBA, and co-founder of the Southeast Response Collective (a local mutual aid network). Before working at ASE, Oscar founded the Southeast Youth Alliance (SYA). Oscar was one of the original hunger strikers in the campaign against General Iron, a company with a history of air pollution violations moving to the southeast side. He was on hunger strike for 30 days. Oscar also has experience as a Youth Advocate with the Young Invincibles, an Illinois Governor’s Youth Commission representative, a Community Leadership Corps, member of the Obama Foundation.

[Hero image description: The banner image at the top of the web page is an image of Oscar Sanchez in profile wearing a yellow beanie and light wash denim jacket and looking into the distance. Behind him is a grey sky and in front of him are yellow and green prairie grasses. Set as the background image behind Sanchez’s headshot is a landscape photograph of more prairie grasses with the sun shining through their blades, and a partly cloudy blue sky. Sanchez headshot image courtesy of Oscar Sanchez. Landscape image courtesy of Canva.]