“Chicago is a really industrial city, both past and present,” Chu said. “So, the Southwest side is still pretty manufacturing heavy. We know that these areas are often seen as sacrifice zones...where industry tends to already be concentrated… so communities of color are often carrying the burden of environmental injustice.”

Lead tests are the simplest and, at around $25, the cheapest ones CAAEJ utilizes. More comprehensive tests can detect possible toxins such as chromium, cadmium and arsenic, which can cost up to $100. CAAEJ currently pays for the soil tests it performs, though Chen is unsure how long the organization can keep absorbing these costs.

“We have fundraised a bit of money to be able to cover the costs of these tests but we’re not sure what might happen in the future,” Chen said. “We’ve been working actively on this soil lead testing project for the last ten months and it’s just been such a learning process. We come up with new issues seemingly every month that we have to work around, but at the same time [we only] have so much capacity.”

The organization is currently working to perform soil tests in neighborhoods with dense concentrations of Asian immigrants including Bridgeport, Chinatown and Armour Square. Many of the crops grown hold a cultural significance to the gardeners, such as bitter melon, winter melon, sweet potato leaves and Chinese eggplant; crops that are not typically found outside of Asian grocery stores, if they can be found there at all.

Chen explains the gardener’s intrinsic attachment to these foods makes it difficult to effectively illustrate the situation’s severity, and cites her experience testing her family’s soil as an example.

“My parents — who immigrated from China and they had only a high school education — they understand the concept of contamination. I think they just still don’t believe that we’re really affected,” Chen said. “That’s one of the really insidious things about environmental justice, it’s not something that’s necessarily in your face like cancer. They're much harder to prove so it’s just a much more difficult conversation to have with people who don’t have a stronger understanding of what this means.”

Still, it is hard to deny the importance of everyday maintenance of a backyard garden for many Asian immigrants, especially among the elderly. To mitigate lead levels, Chu suggests excavating and replacing soil, composting to dilute lead concentrations and using raised beds. She also says that participating in community gardens could present as a safer option.