Overview:

  • Anderson's family suffered repeated health crises from black mold caused by basement flooding in their Detroit home, ultimately losing her grandfather and brother
  • A doctor confirmed her brother had mold spores in his body after cleaning the flooded basement, calling the exposure level extraordinary
  • Anderson joins Planet Detroit's Neighborhood Reporting Lab to document environmental justice stories and preserve Detroit community history

Planet Detroit’s neighborhood reporters are local residents who cover health, environment and climate issues in their neighborhoods. The Lab is made possible with the generous support of the Kresge Foundation.

Growing up, Najmah Anderson shared a home with several family members, including her brother, aunt, and grandfather. There, they discovered they had all been exposed to mold from repeated flooding in their basement. This led to numerous health issues suffered by those closest to her. 

Years after the damage to the home, Anderson is still fighting to preserve her inheritance. 

Now, returning home to Detroit after her husband’s military service, Anderson is ready to tell her story. Drawing on the disproportionate impacts of climate and environmental injustice on those in her community, she is inspired to share the stories of fellow Detroiters through Planet Detroit’s Neighborhood Reporting Lab.

What are some of your earliest memories of environmental justice concerns?

Growing up, I lived at my aunt’s, and she had a landlord—he wasn’t great. We had multiple water shutoffs, and we started growing mold in the house. My grandfather was there, and he kept falling ill. Every time he would get better and come home, within a day, he had to go back [to the hospital]. 

I told my sister maybe it’s something in the house. My grandfather ended up passing away, and six months later, my aunt moved.  When we moved the things [away] from the wall, it was just black mold behind every piece of furniture. You wouldn’t see it with your own eye unless you moved it. When my cousin discovered that my grandfather was dead, she was like, “[The mold] killed him.” 

The house is a family house; I lived there, my grandfather, my sisters, my nieces, and my brother died in that house with the same issue.  My aunt, who lived in that house for 20 years, had three oxygen tanks—three oxygen tanks for one person.  

Do you feel that there was a connection to what your family experienced from the mold, health issues, and then your brother’s passing?

Yes. He was already dealing with health issues while living in that house after the flood in 2021. After that flood, he had standing water in the basement. My brothers [and I] had to go and clean this basement; we bleached and scrubbed the basement down. My brother, the one who was ill, ended up going to the hospital because he couldn’t breathe. The doctor was curious about where he worked. He was like ‘What do you mean? I’ve been at home.’ 

The doctor was like, ‘No, you’ve been somewhere you shouldn’t have been because of the amount of mold and the spores that are in your body.’ The doctor was just so baffled, like this is not by happenstance. So I don’t know how long they sat with that standing water. When I came in, I had to take pictures to send to FEMA.

What does this house mean to you?

Legacy. Family.

What sparked your interest in creative writing?

I have like 10 years’ worth of notes. I have a storage facility in Missouri full of notebooks. If I met someone interesting or hilarious, or even if they angered me, I’d write that story down. As I work more and more in the public, I’m collecting more people’s stories. It’s almost endless; I just like writing [things] down, recording, and keeping notes of all that I do.

What do you hope to get out of the Planet Detroit Neighborhood Reporting Lab experience?

Connection with people and solutions by the end of this cohort and beyond. I just want to be part of the history made in Detroit. I don’t have to be at the forefront, but I want to be a piece of it. Just knowing that ‘I helped with that.’

Read more from Planet Detroit’s Neighborhood Reporting Lab

MORE FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD REPORTING LAB

A native Detroiter, Latia's long held beliefs of Environmental Justice & advocacy for social justice has helped her develop a strong tie between art & movement organizing. Latia uses photography and storytelling as a expression of experiences captured through lived experiences & truth telling of efforts to secure healthier communities and stronger environments.