Eleven months and 13 days before environmental justice activist Jesse Marquez died, he reflected with Random Lengths News on more than two decades of organizing against the Port of Los Angeles and the shipping industry. What began as an uphill battle against powerful political and economic institutions, he said, eventually became a victory in public policy.
“When I started my organization, no one wanted to support me,” Marquez recalled, describing the early days of Communities for a Safe Environment. Family, friends and local nonprofits doubted he could successfully challenge the nation’s busiest port, government agencies and the longshore union. Many established groups, he said, were financially tied to port leases and relationships.
Still, Marquez declared victory in what he called his “war” against port pollution. The struggle now, he said, is over implementation and enforcement. He pointed to a younger generation of activists shaped during the port battles who are now carrying the fight forward.
Among them is Magali Sanchez-Hall, a Wilmington community advocate and candidate for California’s 65th Assembly District. Sanchez-Hall traces her political and environmental awakening to personal experiences with industrial pollution, poverty and immigration.
While studying public policy at UCLA, Sanchez-Hall said she first understood the scale of environmental harm surrounding Wilmington.
“A presenter came and said, ‘This is ground-zero pollution,’ and she showed my brother’s house,” Sanchez-Hall said. “It turns out that I was not aware of all of the sources of pollution around.”
She said the presentation detailed the health impacts tied to nearby refineries, ports and industrial activity and explained how difficult it was to challenge entrenched industries politically. That realization pushed her into environmental justice organizing.
Sanchez-Hall later worked closely with Marquez, who mentored her in organizing residents against polluting industries and harmful development projects. Much of her early work was volunteer-based and focused on helping working-class residents fight for cleaner air, public health protections and stronger accountability from industry and government agencies.
She later founded EMeRGE, an environmental justice organization focused on clean-air campaigns, pollution reduction and community engagement in Southern California. Her work has involved partnerships with universities, labor groups, public agencies and federal officials on issues including emissions reduction, renewable-energy transition, workforce development and environmental monitoring.