Excerpt from Lois Gibbs' Grassroots Community Action Account at Love Canal, Niagara Falls, New York (1982)
I decided to go door-to-door with a petition. It seemed like a good idea to start near the school, to talk to the mothers nearest it. I had already heard that a lot of the residents near the school had been upset about the chemicals for the past couple of years. I thought they might help me. I had never done anything like this . . . I was afraid a lot of doors would be slammed in my face, that people would think I was some crazy fanatic. But I decided to do it anyway . . . and knocked on my first door. There was no answer. I just stood there, not knowing what to do. It was an usually warm June day and I was perspiring. I thought: What am I doing here? I must be crazy. People are going to think I am. Go home, you fool! And that’s just what I did.
It was one of those times when I had to sit down and face myself. I was afraid of making a fool of myself, I had scared myself, and I had gone home. When I got there, I sat at the kitchen table with my petition in my hand, thinking. Wait. What if people do slam doors in your face? People may think you’re crazy. But what’s more important—what people think or your child’s health? Either you’re going to do something or you’re going to have to admit you’re a coward and not do it . . . The next day, I went out on my own street to talk to people I knew. It was a little easier to be brave with them. If I could convince people I knew—friends—maybe it would be less difficult to convince others . . . I went to the back door, as I always did when I visited a neighbor. Each house took about twenty or twenty-five minutes . . .
Use the account of Love Canal's grassroots political action to answer the question.
Which of the following BEST characterizes the account?
A.
an account of a woman working up the courage to fight for her civil rights
B.
an account of the first grassroots movement, which then went on to inspire others
C.
an account of ineffective ways citizens attempted to change politics and government
D.
an account of growing concern for the environment due to an environmental disaster