Marie Harrison

Aka The Mother of Environmental Justice

A Bayview Hunters Point and San Francisco legend, Marie Harrison taught us how to survive and inspired us to thrive, to fear nothing and no one, and to speak truth to power.

Marie Harrison came to San Francisco as a teenager with her mother and 8 siblings in 1966, going to work at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard while still in her teens. Marie brought together the human and the environmental – focusing on the health and well-being of the people around her and future generations, fearlessly calling out leaders and bringing the community together heroic work fighting economic racism in Hunters Point. Her campaigns included successfully shutting down the highly radioactive, 77-year old PG&E plant in 2006, and spending decades exposing deadly toxins at the Hunters Point Shipyard concealed by the private interests, bringing national attention to the issue, which continues to effect the community to this day.

 

Marie Harrison leads protest at PGE plant in 2004. – Photo: Mike Kepka, SF Chronicle

Marie Harrison leads a protest on the SF City Hall steps, while wearing oxygen cannulas, prior to Hunters Point Shipyard Superfund site cleanup hearing. – Photo: Kevin N. Hume SF Examiner

 
 

Marie Harrison was an activist out of necessity – she spoke when no one else could, or would, on what was happening in her historic Black community. Marie died on May 5, 2019, after suffering a respiratory arrest secondary to a chronic lung disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. 

IPF is a fibrotic lung disease characterized by progressive and irreversible lung scarring and a decline in lung function. Most patients with IPF are smokers who suffer from chronic infections, or workers in polluting industries – like the hundreds operating in the 94124 zip code in Bayview Hunters Point.

Of Marie Harrison, District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton said: “She was a tireless advocate for environmental justice and for working to ensure the shipyard is 100 percent safe and clean. I will miss her dedication to protecting our community from harmful substances.”

Today, Arieann Harrison carries on her mother’s dedication to protecting the community through the Marie Harrison Community Foundation.