CNN; Published By Justin Gamble
Former residents of a low-income, majority-Black housing development in St. Louis, Missouri, are seeking restitution from the US Army over a Cold War-era testing program they say made them ill.
Ben Phillips was five years old when he moved with his family into the Pruitt-Igoe housing development, a predominately-Black and low-income housing complex located northwest of downtown.
Phillips, now 73, told CNN he had fond memories of his decade spent growing up in the high rise.
“There were two separate developments. Igoe for Whites and Pruitt was for Blacks,” he said, adding despite the segregation “it was a very wonderful, tranquil area, a brand-new high rise.”
But Phillips said he also recalls chemical mist being sprayed from vehicles and from rooftops of several buildings in the housing development.
At the time, he said residents thought the mist was just a pesticide.
“The majority of it was done at night. So, you know, you’re at home, it’s a summer evening, you got your windows opened up on the seventh floor because you don’t have air conditioning. And it’s spewing this stuff off the roofs.”
As he got older, Phillips’ perception of what he inhaled as a child changed. Read more
