Community Profile: Martha Cota

After two of her sons were diagnosed with asthma, Martha Cota got active in the community of Long Beach, working to raise awareness about the dangers of the disease and urging local lawmakers to act about air pollution in the area.

Martha, who was also recently diagnosed with asthma, recalls one of many frightening visits to the emergency room when her son Jose   then only four years old   struggled to breathe.

"We were rushing him to the hospital by car and it is really sad to see your son almost die because he can't breathe. His lips and all of his body turned purple," Martha says. "If people and the politicians knew how it feels, they would cry with the mothers of children with asthma."

Not only has asthma affected Martha emotionally, as she watches her sons suffer, it has also impacted her children's education and her family's financial situation. "They have to miss school when they're sick and I have to miss work to be in the emergency room," she says. "It's very difficult. It has affected me in every way."

Martha believes the air pollution problem in Long Beach and other areas adjacent to the San Pedro Bay Ports is getting worse, which makes something as simple as breathing, a very difficult task for her and her children.

"Strong, windy days are the worst, because the air carries all those particles from the ports and even from the train stations. It's all due to the diesel engines," she says. "The polluted air begins to congest my chest, then my eyes get watery   and I'm an adult imagine how it affects children!"

Martha thinks immigrant families are badly affected by the air pollution problem because many live in poorer neighborhoods closest to the ports.