New Jersey’s Passaic River is one of the most polluted in the country. During the Industrial Revolution, waste and toxins poured into the river by the ton—while at the same time, Newark and Jersey City prospered. In this short film, River Keeper, Captain Bill Sheehan takes viewers on a tour of the river, explaining who lives along its banks (mostly immigrants) and how it became such a hopeless case. Even with the EPA’s $1.4 billion plan to clean up the lower eight miles of the Passaic, the process will take over a decade. In the end, the fish still might not be safe to eat.



This film appears in the fourth issue of Newest Americans, a collaboration between Rutgers University-Newark, Talking Eyes, and VII Photo centered around America's changing demographics. More information can be found on the Facebook page and Twitter account. This short film is part of an ongoing series on The Atlantic from Talking Eyes Media about movement, location, and identity called State of Migration.

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