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| The aftermath of an Anacostia Watershed Society volunteer event along the Watts Branch Tributary System. |
I was en route to an Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS) volunteer event near the
Deanwood Metro Stop to interview volunteers for my research paper. The metro was undergoing repairs (surprise) so I was running late. As I raced down one of the side streets leading to the Watts Branch Tributary,
I passed a bunch of young men standing behind a fence. I heard their voices
yell after me to keep running because they were going to get me. So I walked
slower because I knew (mostly from the tone in their voices) that they were
just kids being kids trying to get a reaction out of me, a white girl racing
through their neighborhood.
When
I got to the event I observed that no one from the surrounding community was
participating, and I wanted to know why. The heaping piles of trash also
concerned me. Especially when I realized that without the litter trap, the
trash would have washed into the Anacostia River. I was, however, impressed
with the work ethic of the volunteers who sacrificed their Saturday morning to
tirelessly separate trash into piles of bottles, cans, Styrofoam, etc.
AWS Water Quality Specialist Masaya Maeda led the event, and his contagious
passion to clean the river, and knowledge of the litter trap, spread to all of
us.
On
my walk back to the metro, I came across some wonderful gentleman sitting on
their porch. I asked if I could talk with them, and they seemed eager to have
someone listen to their stories about how the area used to be (before it was polluted),
and their ideas about how to change this. I wished they had been at the event
because their childhood stories of playing along the tributaries would have
added an important historical and cultural perspective. They told me had they
known of the event, they would have participated.
As
I continued to walk to the metro, I saw the same young men I had run by that
morning now staring at me dumbfounded. For me, this experience was a reminder that breaking stereotypes works both ways, and I
think sometimes we forget how far a simple conversation can go. Simple
conversations have led me to make Anacostia
Unplugged because I don’t think I should be the only one listening to these
stories.
