Diane Wilson, mother of five and fourth generation shrimper from the Texas Gulf learned in 1989 that her county was the most polluted in the United States. Her outrage moved her to action—she called people together and personally launched a hunger strike against the chemical plants poisoning her community. She got results—Formosa Plastics actually took steps to correct the problem.
Then she found out about the Bhopal disaster. She learned that Dow Chemical, one of the major pollutants in her community, had bought-out Union Carbide, the company responsible for the 1984 explosion in India that has taken the lives of tens of thousands. Realizing Bhopal's struggle for justice was the same as her own, she planned a 30-day hunger strike at the Dow company plant at Seadrift. By the time Diane completed her fast and climbed the tower at the plant, the press was waiting.
Fourteen years, several death threats and four hunger strikes later, she just keeps on trucking, believing that risk is necessary. She doesn't think she's done anything special—she insists anyone can do what she's done.
Co-founder of UnReasonable Women and a Code Pink activist, Diane says, "A reasonable woman adapts to the world. An unreasonable woman makes the world adapt to her." In these times when reason fails us we are most grateful for this Unreasonable woman.
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