The Shadow History of Louisiana Cancer Alley from Plantations to PollutionThe Shadow History of Louisiana Cancer Alley from Plantations to Pollution
How slavery, and exploitation formed one of America’s most neglected and polluted areas
Louisiana Cancer Alley’s narrative goes beyond pollution to include a long, terrible legacy rooted in slavery. Huge sugar cane farms stretched along the Mississippi River before it was surrounded by petrochemical plants and oil refineries. The area was among the richest but most repressive in the South since enslaved African Africans were compelled to labor the land under appalling conditions. Many of those same families continued in the area after slavery ended, now employed as workers and sharecroppers connected to the ground that had enslaved them. But as the plantation system collapsed, another type of business started to migrate in. These once-agrarian areas lost way over time to great industrial growth. Cancer Alley boasts more than 150 industrial businesses today. Now living in neighborhoods alongside smokestacks, chemical tanks, and flares lighting the night sky are descendants of enslaved people. Many feel as though one type of exploitation was only replaced by another. And as businesses gain from the resources and access the area provides, the locals are paying the cost with their health. While some are suing Louisiana Cancer Alley to hold polluters responsible, others are seeking answers by working with a Louisiana Cancer Alley attorney.
This background helps to understand why certain areas in Cancer Alley suffer more from pollution than others. Many of the areas nearest to the industrial sites are mostly Black and low-income; the very people who have been traditionally excluded from choices impacting their health and surroundings. Sometimes new chemical plants have been constructed right on top of former plantation grounds, causing a terrible collision between the past and the present. Families living in Cancer Alley claim high incidences of cancer, asthma, and other diseases, yet they feel their voices are disregarded when it comes to permission and control. Generations of disparity have left them with less means to rebel. They might not always have the political contacts needed to be heard or the means to relocate. Notwithstanding these challenges, though, communities are starting to get organized. Learning about their legal rights, they are seeking environmental justice, and contesting the systems that still view them as disposable. As more people realize that the issues in Cancer Alley are profoundly ingrained in racism, poverty, and a long-standing disrespect for human life rather than merely the environment, the cause is gathering steam. Groups advocating more rigorous control, independent monitoring of air and water quality, and significant community participation in decision-making processes are from farms to pollution, they want to stop the cycle of exploitation that has defined this area for millennia and create a future that gives dignity, health, and fairness a top priority.
With Black and low-income populations suffering the most, Louisiana Cancer Alley’s tragic past runs from enslavement to industrial pollution. Originally home to plantations run by slaves, the area is today covered in petrochemical facilities generating major health problems. Legal action and organizing for justice are being done by residents. Many of them live close to hazardous facilities constructed on or on previous farms, which represents continuous exploitation. The struggle goes against a heritage of systematic racism and neglect as much as against pollution. The residents of Cancer Alley are now calling for a safer, cleaner, more equitable future.
