Cancer Alley:
How can frontline environmental justice communities burdened by environmental pollution enact change despite the barriers of colonialism, capitalism, and structural racism?
After generations of being poisoned, community members in
Cancer Alley face the issue of how to successfully resist the systemic and discriminatory institutions.
and
This case study on Cancer Alley examines the environmental injustices inflicted on predominantly impoverished African American communities who have resided in Cancer Alley since the end of slavery. Termed “Cancer Alley,” this region stretches 85 miles along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, Louisiana. The residents in this region have high rates of cancer, respiratory problems, and skin inflammation due to the dense concentration of petrochemical facilities. In fact, Cancer Alley has over 150 petrochemical industries, contributing to Louisiana being ranked as the 47th worst state for health in the United States.
Furthermore, local communities struggle to have their voices heard over the racist, profit driven governance systems and industries. Therefore, this case study seeks to explore the most effective mechanisms for the lived experiences of frontline environmental justice communities to be heard in order to bring about change.
The main protagonist of this case study, Anna, acts as a fictionalized character to represent the multiple voices of her community members from Welcome, Louisiana, an unincorporated community of St. James Parish. Her community now faces the potential construction of Formosa Plastics, which will be explored in depth later in this module. Anna, as a community member, will serve a vital role in the stakeholder exercise at the conclusion of this case study. By hearing the narrative of Cancer Alley through her lived experiences and perspectives, this will help to display the history of Cancer Alley, the present day implications, and the future mechanisms to resist injustices.
Overall, the central questions that this case study seeks to explore include: How can frontline environmental justice communities most impacted by environmental pollution and racial health disparities effectively enact change despite the barriers of colonialism, capitalism and structural racism? Do coalitions between locals and experts work to bring about change?
This case study has the potential to be reviewed by Achille Mbembe for him to engage with this module in his classroom. This module can also be deployed in different universities globally in order to to help educate graduate students on how they can support and uplift frontline environmental justice communities in their future careers and endeavors. Another possible audience for our module would be frontline environmental justice communities. The module could be utilized by grassroots organizations or at community meetings as a teaching tool for community members to learn how to effectively mobilize in their community. Since these injustices and community experiences resonate nationally and globally, this module should be engaged with on a national and global scale.
Javascript is required to use Gala.