Lead poisoning prevention is political. This is a post I wrote on the Lead Safe Mama Facebook page (July 20, 2020).

I wrote the following in response to all of the comments on my LeadSafeMama Facebook page recently (comments from my readers specifically asking me to stop sharing political posts on my Facebook page):

Click through to Facebook here to read all of the comments
(68 as of the moment of publishing here on my website!)

Published: July 20, 2020
Portland, Oregon

I LIVE in PORTLAND, Oregon with my FAMILY. Please be kind with your words when you comment on posts I am sharing about my town. I live very close to all that is going on. We have medically-fragile kids (from being acutely Lead-poisoned), so we cannot participate actively (especially with the threat of CoViD-19).

I am sharing posts with you FROM MY TOWN this week… so YOU CAN SEE THE TRUTH. BECAUSE THE TRUTH IS BEING DROWNED OUT on social media (and even in the mainstream media). Peaceful protesters are being INJURED, POISONED (tear gas), ILLEGALLY DETAINED, ARRESTED. These ARE peaceful protestors. These are journalists. These are citizens walking on their way home from work (unknowingly “too close” to the protests). These are people I KNOW (my community)! They are being arrested PROTESTING against the exact thing that is being DONE to them (illegal arrest and bodily harm perpetrated by representatives of our government – City, State and Federal)! This is VIOLATION OF THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS. What is being done to them (at the hands of our government) IS NOT LEGAL. It shows no respect for human life.

I know more about this than some. I WAS ILLEGALLY ARRESTED FOR A CRIME I DID NOT COMMIT – IN PORTLAND, OREGON in 2017. I know PERSONALLY that this happens. I also know what it feels like. It hurts and it traumatizes you and your family — for life. I WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM MY HOME IN A LARGE BLACK UNMARKED SUV. IN HANDCUFFS. IN PORTLAND. I was HANDCUFFED in my kitchen doorway in front of my 9-year-old disabled child (who I was home-schooling in the kitchen, working on lessons when the cops knocked on the door — armed cops…armed cops with bulletproof vests…IN MY KITCHEN in 2017). Here in PORTLAND. I was stuffed into an UNMARKED BLACK SUV with MY HANDS BOUND BEHIND MY BACK in handcuffs. INITIALLY THEY REFUSED TO PUT A SEATBELT ON ME! I remembered the story of Freddie Gray and DEMANDED they put a seatbelt on me. They reluctantly complied.

THIS PAGE IS ABOUT ME and MY STORY and MY JOURNEY and everything I have learned along the way in my path as an ACTIVIST and an ADVOCATE! I describe myself as an “environmental ACTIVIST” in my bio. This Facebook page is also a way for me to share MY WORK with you. My work helping families protect their children and improve their homes and their health. MY WORK is fundamentally that of an ACTIVIST fighting against LEAD-POISONING because my kids were poisoned. I AM ACTIVlLY PROTESTING against OUR GOVERNMENT and INDUSTRY with every single post and article I write. MY ENTIRE WEBSITE IS A PROTEST. YOU are participating in that protest by reading what I write and sharing the information I share. IT IS A PROTEST AGAINST INDUSTRY. IT IS A PROTEST AGAINST OUR GOVERNMENT. IT IS A PROTEST AGAINST OUR MEDICAL SYSTEM. IT IS A PROTEST AGAINST OUR SCHOOL DISTRICTS. EVERY.Thing.I.Write.

When you read about Lead in vintage Pyrex (for example) you should realize you are learning about the history of corruption of government and industry with that one small bit of information. This PYREX has LEAD. The Government ALLOWED it. The INDUSTRY ALLOWED IT. Everyone knows Lead is poisonous. NO ONE stopped it from happening. THEY LET US bring LEAD into our KITCHENS! We have Lead in our KITCHENS and our HOMES and NO ONE is being held responsible. There are specific individuals and companies (or organizations) they work for that are responsible for poisoning our planet, our water, our air and our families. The more you learn about this the more of an ACTIVIST YOU BECOME. My goal is to ENCOURAGE more YOUNG MOTHERS and other young people to ALSO BECOME ACTIVISTS. To make a difference. To protect people they love from being harmed by INDUSTRY and GOVERNMENT. Frankly, you cannot get too much more political than that. WHAT I DO IS POLITICAL in its very essence.

So for you to tell me to STOP sharing about PROTESTS in MY TOWN where I LIVE with my DISABLED CHILDREN… PROTESTS ABOUT PROTECTING OUR CIVIL RIGHTS… PROTESTS ABOUT THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING AND SAFETY OF PEOPLE… PROTESTS ABOUT THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING AND SAFETY OF *AT RISK* PEOPLE… forget about it! WARNING: YOU ARE ACTIVELY PARTICIPATING IN A PROTEST FOR OUR RIGHTS AS HUMANS JUST BY READING AND SHARING THE INFORMATION I SHARE ON THIS PAGE. Thank you.

I reserve the right to edit this later as I don’t have childcare right now and I am tired (so cannot edit – but wanted to publish immediately to stop some of the infighting on my Facebook page.) IF YOU DON’T WANT TO FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN (AND GRANDCHILDREN AND COMMUNITY AND FUTURE GENERATIONS) FROM LEAD-POISONING – I DON’T REALLY WANT YOU HERE – we need someone STRONG to take your place in the conversation, we don’t have the time to focus on your negative energy – THERE ARE TOO MANY OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS WE CAN DO WITH OUR TIME, so please bow-out and move-along -OR- step up and participate in the conversation in a constructive and civil way.

NOTE TO MY READERS: I am not going to delete the comment threads on these post unless they are incredibly harmful. I think they are a REALLY IMPORTANT glimpse into learning what we are up against in trying to change the world (the perspectives of people whose backgrounds and ideologies differ greatly from our own). Perhaps in some of the angry exchanges there will be an opening for conversation and changing the world. Who knows. That’s up to you.

Thank you everyone – for being here.
Tamara Rubin
Mother of Lead Poisoned Children
Environmental ACTIVIST
Lead poisoning prevention ACTIVIST
Documentary Filmmaker ACTIVIST
18-year resident of PORTLAND, Oregon
#LeadSafeMama