As a centuries-old black community, contaminated and uprooted by petrochemical plants, comes to terms with the loss of its ancestral home, one man standing in the way of a plant’s expansion refuses to give up.
Mossville was once a beautiful, thriving community in Louisiana, founded by free slaves who built a safe, sustainable environment for blacks to live. When chemical plant SASOL arrived, the toxins that were released began poisoning the land and eventually the people. As these dangerous fumes were discharged and when spills leaked into the drinking water, residents noticed severe health issues such as various cancers and lung complications. As the chemical plant forced residents out by offering small payments, one man, Stacey Ryan, fought to the end to keep the property his family founded.
Constantly harassed by the plant’s employees, Ryan was determined to remain on the land and preserve the memory and hard work of his ancestors. After legally going after the chemical plant, they did not make his life easy as they controlled his sewage, water supply, and electricity. Struggling to live, he didn’t give up, instead, he found a way to create sewage maintenance, electrical supply, and gas for cooking. The horrific stories concerning his family’s deaths were enraging as most died no older than 45. The most heart-wrenching part of the documentary, for me, is that he too was diagnosed with various illnesses including cancer and in the end was forced to cave to the demands of SASOL who only paid him a small sum which he used to pay medical bills.
This is yet another amazing documentary that exposes despicable environmental attacks on the black community which has always been allowed to take place right here in this very country. This story, one of many, is so heartbreaking and outrageous because nothing was done to prevent it and there are no reparations for a whole community that was literally killed off their own land. Companies are targeting minorities and leaking chemicals that knowingly cause disease and death, wiping out whole communities; the same attempt done with the water supply in Flint, Michigan, Newark, NJ, and other areas. This is terrifying and unfortunately, has been happening on many levels since the beginning of time. This documentary is not only a must-see but is a door to open more conversation about blatant genocide happening right here in the US and solutions of what can be done to stop it.
Available to view virtually Friday, May 7th
