Dr. Cindy Reed reflects on growing up in East St. Louis, where environmental hazards followed her family from one neighborhood to another. Red industrial dust coated the playground across from her childhood home, while chronic flooding and sewage-contaminated water later made her family’s next home unsafe. Her experiences reveal that access to parks and green space is not enough when Black communities continue to face industrial pollution, neglected infrastructure, and decades of divestment. Dr. Reed’s story connects these conditions to the larger history of environmental racism and calls for systemic change that gives East St. Louis residents the healthy, well-maintained communities they deserve.