Hero’s name: Lipo Chanthanasak
Home city: Oakland, Calif.
Organization affiliation: Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Why this person is a Community Hero:
“Lipo Chanthanasak, who is originally from Northern Laos, has proudly served as a leader with Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) for over a decade. He has worked to reduce carbon pollution and ensure justice for all in his adopted home.
Lipo’s journey from a remote Laotian village to Richmond, California is an American tale of resilience. At 16 years old, Lipo left school to support his family by hunting, farming and fishing with reverence for the land. The Vietnam War led him to join a Guerilla Unit of American forces. After fighting alongside Americans and against the Laotian Communist government, Lipo and his family moved to Richmond.
Fleeing persecution, Lipo came here as a refugee.
America greeted him with opportunity but also hardship. Near his home is Chevron, a massive oil refinery. Residents have voiced concern about a stream of greenhouse gases and respiratory disease. Never one to sit back in the face of injustice, Lipo worked with other Laotian community members to push for regulatory controls on the refinery’s pollution and stopped its expansion.
He joined APEN to champion local renewable energy and jobs that pay what hard work merits.
Today, at 70, Lipo is as fearless a community leader as he was a guerilla fighter for the U.S. and Laos. He strives, as he says, ‘to fight for our rights, equal opportunity and to develop a better community for children and many generations to come.’”
Honored by: Megan Zapanta of Asian Pacific Environmental Network
