Lead is in the walls and water of an untold number of places New Yorkers live, go to school, work, and visit. Its life-altering impacts pose a potential danger to everyone in our state, but lead poisoning disproportionately affects Black and Brown New Yorkers. Thousands of people’s lives are impacted by lead poisoning, but our state and local governments aren’t doing nearly enough to combat it.

On this episode, we speak with Shannon Burkett, an award-winning actor, writer, producer, and nurse who created the podcast “Lead: How This Story Ends is Up to Us,” which tells the true story of her family’s experience with lead poisoning.

We also talk with Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, the Director of the NYCLU’s Racial Justice Project about an ongoing lead water crisis in Syracuse and about what we can do to prevent lead poisoning in New York.

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Resources:

Listen to Shannon’s podcast: "Lead: How This Story Ends Is Up To Us" https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lead-how-this-story-ends-is-up-to-us/id1808995949

More on the Lead Pipe Replacement Act: https://www.nyclu.org/resources/policy/one-pagers/ensure-safe-drinking-water-for-all-new-yorkers

More on Syracuse’s lead crisis https://www.nyclu.org/resources/policy/one-pagers/syracuse-is-ignoring-its-lead-water-crisis

Fight the lead crisis in Syracuse: https://action.aclu.org/petition/fix-lead-crisis-syracuse

Follow Shannon @endleadpoisoning: endleadpoisoning.org

For more on everything we discuss in this episode, visit www.nyclu.org/

For transcripts and additional information on the episodes, visit www.nyclu.org/podcasts

Follow NYCLU on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.

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