ATHENS, Ala. — Right down Strain Road, taking a turn into Hickory Street, a pastor is seen praying for his Athens neighbors.
"We need the drainage system fixed. We, we need to be on the sewage line. We need our walkways the streetlights done; we need all of these things fixed," Pastor James Jamar said.
Residents of this community continue to voice concerns about their living situations; septic tanks filling up, sewage backing up into homes.
"You can smell it, when the last time it was out here…it smells strong," Pastor Jamar said.
And when it rains, it pours, as water floods the neighborhood.
Kirk Parker, a long-time resident, shared "water is entering into people's homes...it's just a sad situation."
But those are just a few of the problems residents share they're facing; problems they say they've explained to city leaders.
"We feel like being in the city limits, we deserve everything that everybody else got. We deserve it, too," Parker said.
Diane Steele, with Limestone County NAACP, added, "if our city leaders would see what we see, hear what we hear, come here and see this, that they will come to their aid. We found out that that's not the case…"
Although an environmental advocate, Dr. Robert Bullard, got word about these residents' concerns and decided to travel from Texas to see it all with his own eyes.
Dr. Bullard sits on the White House's Environmental Justice Advisory Council and shared he advocates for underserved communities.
After witnessing this neighborhood, he urged that, "this is a blatant form of discrimination, when you look at who was left out and left behind."
He emphasized federal funding needs to be poured into this community and that he'll be taking his findings from this neighborhood to the White House.
"There's an opportunity today with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, with the Inflation Reduction Act, with all of the billions and billions of dollars, there's an opportunity today to correct those inequities, those disparities," Dr. Bullard said.
Dr. Elica Moss, who represents Alabama A&M and who also works with an EPA grant program, said she hopes to help this community, "there is no reason why some of these funds and technical expertise cannot be granted to you all as well."
The city of Athens says they're in an agreement with Communities Unlimited who is currently still conducting a survey on this neighborhood and that the information collected will help establish budgets and plans for Strain Road.
The city also says public works has worked on some culverts and low areas to try and help address drainage but that the East side is a challenge geographically because it’s a low area with little options for water flow.