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TIME 100 named founder and director of RISE St. James, Ms. Sharon Lavigne, Most Influential People of 2024. Her community-organizing work speaks for itself. During Earth Week, Lavigne and other environmental justice leaders are traveling to New York City, New York to speak against banks and large funders like Citigroup, whom they accuse of funding environmental racism.
According to Citigroup’s 2022 Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures Report, they are a top lender to fossil fuel energy corporations. In fact, according to Banking on Climate Chaos, Citigroup is the second-highest bank to finance fossil fuels globally, at 332.9 billion dollars. So, how committed is Citigroup to its net-zero emissions promise for the year 2050?
“The People Vs. Citi: Confronting Citi Group’s Environmental Racism” is a nonviolent public hearing filled with mass direct-action events. Activists will discuss how to end fossil fuel damage and the corporations backing them.
Some speakers and guest activists include the founder of The Vessel Project Louisiana, Roisetta Ozane, Ms. Sharon Lavigne, founder of Freeport Haven Project for Environmental Justice, Mr. Manning Rollerson Jr. III, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief, Chief Na’Moks, and Marcello “Raven” Federico of the Indigenous Environmental Network.
When asked what encouraged the direct-action uprising, Ozane said, “We’ve been fighting this fight for environmental justice on so many levels. We’ve been fighting to change the system from top to bottom. We learned that without funding, these petrochemical facilities and oil and gas refiners that are polluting our air and water can’t exist.”
Big Banks are Financing the Petrochemical Industry
The Black Wall Street Times interviewed environmental justice leaders Lavigne, Ozane, and Rollerson. We discussed the importance of collective organizing and their visions for the Gulf Coast’s negatively induced environmental challenges.
Citigroup funds liquefied natural gas companies and projects throughout Texas and Louisiana in historically resource-deprived communities of color.
Lavigne said, “…I would like to tell the funders of these fossil fuel projects not to invest in [them] because they are a death sentence for us.”
Lavigne lives in St. James Parish, a Louisiana parish a part of Cancer Alley. She knows firsthand how harmful and dangerous petrochemicals are. “Before I realized we were in Cancer Alley, I didn’t know why so many people were dying. I didn’t know why there were so many funerals. I thought the world was coming to an end, I didn’t know it was from the pollution in Cancer Alley,” she said.
Environmental justice leaders and community members are concerned about big banks’ continuation to fund fossil fuel companies and projects. They believe educating the community, banks, and corporations is a start in the right direction.
Ozane shared, “By educating not only the banks but the community about how these banks are furthering the environmental crisis and contributing to environmental racism, we can be a catalyst for change.”
Freeport, Texas native, Rollerson wants to materialize justice for the Black community of Freeport.
In addition, he encourages U.S. Representative Randy Weber and Texas Representative Cody Vasut to support the cause. He said, “[In] Downtown Freeport, buildings are shuttered. The community has been displaced. That’s why I’m coming and addressing Citigroup. I want to find out who is going to pay the damages from these industries when they affect the people.”
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Environmental Justice Leaders’ Hopes and Goals
A few weeks ago, the Gulf Coast endured several tornadoes and floods. The Vessel Project’s office and its supplies were destroyed. Despite the climate challenges, Ozane and her team continued to assist community members.
Community organizing, boycotting, and ongoing discussions are necessary to encourage big banks to divest fossil fuel projects and companies.
Ozane said, “These petrochemical facilities Citigroup funds are not bringing economic development in our communities. They’re hurting our communities, and they’re especially hurting Black communities in the Gulf South. We want Citigroup to stop funding fossil fuels.”
Lavigne denounces Citigroup’s attempt to fund the Sunshine project and any other project.
She said, “To eliminate environmental racism, the rules should be the same for fossil fuel build-out whatever the race of the community is. Whatever color or race you are, it shouldn’t be like this. We’re all breathing the same dirty air.”
Rollerson’s passion for environmental justice stems from his upbringing. He said, “Since the 1932 segregation order, African Americans that have lived in Freeport were ordered to live on the East End. All those years, the citizens didn’t get the basic services but we were taxed. Then the country turned around and devalued the land to where the Port of Freeport condemned the whole community.”
He hopes to see the Gulf Coast join and stick together. Rollerson expressed, “We all are impacted by these industries and our communities are impacted. In my heart, I believe that we should come together and hold those who make the rules accountable for the damage in the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana.”
Join Environmental leaders in the Struggle
On June 22, RISE St. James will host a Juneteenth crawfish boil community event. Expect to enjoy speakers, entertainment, and food. Lavigne said, “We like to give back to the community. We’re going to give them food and information about what’s going on with the Sunshine project and the fossil fuel industry that’s trying to come into St. James Parish and also updates on our campaign to stop DG Fuels and Koch Methanol from expanding in our community.”
Rollerson currently has a Title VI Civil Rights investigation lawsuit against the city of Freeport and Port Freeport. He said, “First they put all the Black residents in one area, refused us services, then they took our homes for parking lots and warehouses for Port Freeport – which is used for shipping by petrochemical plants and oil and gas refineries.”
Ozane believes Black environmental activists, Indigenous environmental activists, and environmental activists from the Global South have to work with each other. She said, “The way we’re going to win is through building our collective strength and solidarity. We are all impacted. You can’t separate water, you can’t separate air. There is only one planet. There is no planet B. We are all connected.”