In Refinery Town, Early chronicles the 15 years of successful community organizing that raised the local minimum wage, defeated a casino development project, challenged home foreclosures and evictions, and sought fair taxation of Big Oil.Ī short list of Richmond’s activist residents helps to propel this compelling chronicle: It had one of the highest homicide rates per capita in the country and a jobless rate twice the national average.īut when veteran labor reporter Steve Early moved from New England to Richmond in 2012, he discovered a city struggling to remake itself. This largely nonwhite, working-class city of 100,000 suffered from poverty, pollution, and poorly funded public services. Home to one of the largest oil refineries in the state, Richmond, California, was once a typical company town, dominated by Chevron. Big Oil-how a working-class company town harnessed the power of local politics to reclaim their community
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