Historic Black residents of Louisiana who have spent years fighting a major grain shipping facility to be built on land where their ancestors were enslaved appear to have finally stopped the project.
A representative of the company, Greenfield Louisiana LLC, announced during a public hearing Tuesday evening that the company is “suspending all plans” to build a grain shipping facility within the city of Wallace in St. Louis. John the Baptist Parish.
After a while, the opponents of the project burst into applause and started clapping and hugging.
“Obviously I’m in disbelief – I can’t believe this is happening, but I’m happy and I’m praising the ancestors,” said Joy Banner, a Wallace resident and one of the most vocal opponents of the project. He and his sister, Jo, founded the Descendants Project to preserve community heritage.
The company’s announcement marked a rare victory for the community in the heavily industrialized area of the Mississippi River known as “Cancer Alley” because of its high pollution levels. Wallace is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of New Orleans.
“I think that every fight – it comes from love and the love of our communities that we have here along the river, and showing the world that we can and should fight,” Banner said. “We know we have strength – that strength comes from the love we have for our community.”
Earlier this year, the Banner sisters’ non-profit purchased the land that had been the site of the largest slave revolt in American history, the 1811 German Coast Uprising. They plan to turn it into a teaching place.
The Army Corps of Engineers had already found the 90-acre site, which would have a negative impact on Wallace’s cultural heritage sites, and was tasked with reviewing Greenfield’s application.
Army Corps representative Brad LaBorde said his agency had not been notified in advance of the company’s unexpected decision to cancel plans for the facility.
“We don’t know exactly what that means,” LaBorde said. “We still have a permit application in place, so, if it is Greenfield’s intention to no longer continue the project, we will ask that they formally send us a letter of withdrawal to complete the review.”
Lynda Van Davis, Greenfield’s adviser and head of external affairs, said the long delay in government approval of the program has been a “costly disaster,” adding that she had no answer as to when the company would officially withdraw from the military. Soldiers.
“This has been difficult all the time, we didn’t wake up yesterday and say we’re done,” said Van Davis. “We said we will continue to fight because we are friends with this community. Unfortunately, how long do we have to stay in this war?”
The Army Corps found that the project could affect historic buildings in Wallace, including Evergreen, Oak Alley and Whitney. It also remained that the area had burial grounds for the Black community’s ancestors.
Some members of the community had supported the project, believing it would bring jobs to their town, as opponents of the facility said tourism around cultural heritage is already a booming industry worthy of huge investment.
“I’ve been looking forward to economic development in our community – jobs, new businesses, all around a better quality of life in our community,” said Nicole Dumas, 48, a Wallace resident who supports the project.
But that night was a celebration for others. Angelica Mitchell, 53, held back tears as she made the company’s announcement. Mitchell is still recovering from treatment for a rare form of cancer that attacked his pancreas, but chose to attend the public hearing despite his health problems. This building would have been built a few hundred meters from his house.
“Hearing that they are backing down, I am very happy, my prayers have been answered, because I have been praying for this for three years,” said Mitchell. “I was asking God that this plant does not enter our land. I don’t want this for our children.”
This issue has been corrected to reflect that the hearing took place on Tuesday, not Monday.
Jack Brook is a member of the Associated Press/Reporting America Statehouse News Initiative team. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on hidden stories.
-Jack Brook, Associated Press/American Report
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