关于所有圣徒日,11月1日,来自多个面额的宗教领袖聚集在圣詹姆斯教区的甘蔗田中,有证据表明奴役的非洲裔美国人被埋葬了。2018年,福尔摩沙的考古顾问,一家公司计划在该网站上建立一个巨大的塑料制造工厂,发现了无标记的坟墓。
Bishop Baton Rouge的教区迈克尔·杜卡说,他参加了仪式祝福坟墓 - 就像所有圣徒的那一天一样 - 并使已经抗议拟议植物的居民感到听到。“关心地球是关于在基督里照顾我们的兄弟姐妹,”他说。“你不仅仅在建造这么多英亩的甘蔗。这是他们的家。”
Duca是Sharon Lavigne邀请邀请仪式的神职人员,该家族教区居民们创造了基层组织崛起的圣詹姆斯,努力阻止福尔摩沙从她家附近建造。Lavigne表示,对于宗教领袖来说,看看她的社区发生了什么。“我希望他们能与我们祈祷并帮助我们解决这个问题,”Lavigne说。“这就是我在留在坟墓的时候要求他们做的事情。我让他们加入我们的武力。”
Clergy在将信念和社区带入环境司法原因方面发挥了战略作用since the movement began在20世纪80年代,通知人们对彩色和农村地区的社区有关不成比例的造成污染。今年在路易斯安那州,崇拜地点已经成为各种背景的物理和理论场所,以满足和策略实现两种环境胜利。
由于在20世纪80年代开始的运动开始,神职人员在将信念和社区带来了环境司法原因的战略作用。
在11月的星期五,美国军队的工程师暂停其许可证for the proposed plastics plant while the Corps re-evaluates certain aspects of the permit. Residents and environmentalists challenged the Clean Water Act permit on several counts, including the Corps’ failure to protect the burial sites. While the origins of the gravesites have not been verified, archaeologists found evidence that they may be the graves of enslaved African Americans who labored on the Buena Vista Plantation, built in the mid-1800s. Formosa has said it will work with Louisiana toidentify the remains and respectfully rebury them in a cemetery。
"[Formosa] is disappointed with the Corps’ decision to temporarily suspend the permit during its re-evaluation," said Janile Parks, the company’s spokesperson. "[Formosa] expects and sincerely hopes the Corps will handle this matter in an objective, impartial and expeditious manner so the permit analysis will be even stronger once the re-evaluation of the analysis is complete."
Major construction for the plastic plant was put on hold until February due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The permit suspension means the company cannot clear, grade or excavate near the Mississippi River levee until the Corps has made its decision to reinstate, revoke or modify Formosa’s permit.In a court filing,该兵团表示,它正在重新评估公司对其他地区建造工厂的思考,并根据虚假信息,先前消除了Ascension Parish中的五个替代网站。
牧师哈里约瑟夫山位于圣詹姆斯·教区的胜利教堂,参加了教区理事会会议,质疑他的一个教区患者被诊断出癌症后的许可证。“我的人民遭遇了这一点,”他说。“所以,我需要更多参与。”
约瑟夫是一个崛起的圣詹姆斯的成员,是一个基于信仰的组织,倡导种族,社会和环境司法。他说,终止的决定暂停福尔摩沙许可证是本集团到目前为止的最大胜利。“希望,这将阻止福尔摩沙想要在这里建造”,“他说。他计划继续为其社区的健康而战。一种Propublica分析发现该设施将增加该地区的癌症的空气污染物水平。“作为领导人,如果我们不能走出来,遇到良好的麻烦,我们就会遇到错误的呼唤,”他说。
教堂 - 特别是黑人教堂 - 自成立以来,罗伯德·萨尔德(德克萨斯州南方大学教授)经常被称为“环境司法之父”,在环境司法运动中发挥了作用。
“我一直在这样做的40多年,我看到了他们信仰持续的人,”他说。
他说,信仰领导人有助于为地球和灵性的良好管理之间建立面向教区股。牧师建立社区并创建会议空间。“牧师是羊群的牧羊人,那个人是为任何危险而保持良好的注意力的人,”牛城说。
ProPublica分析woul发现设施d double the level of cancer-causing air pollutants in the area.
曼斯菲尔德的阴暗格罗夫联合审查员教堂艾米丽卡罗尔·艾米丽卡罗尔表示,环境种族主义影响公共卫生,住房和粮食安全。她说,致力于环境司法,或环境福利和负担的公平分配是一种赋予人们的方式。由于她在神学院学习以来,环境主义是卡罗尔部的一部分。
She spoke out against an2011年11月的修正案这将为制造商提供大规模的免税额,允许公司与地方政府谈判较低的税收票据。卡罗尔表示,她担心它会从她的社区带走很需要的资源。“我们应该宣传和宣传我们应该为我们的教区家做更好的生活,”她说。
一起路易斯安那州, an interfaith network of over 250 religious and community groups, was instrumental in defeating Amendment 5. Over the past four years, the group has emerged as a vocal critic of Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP) — a state program that offers tax breaks and exemptions for manufacturing facilities — deeming it "corporate welfare."
The coalition’s strategy hinged upon robust public education campaigns. Shawn Anglim, pastor of First Grace United Methodist Church in New Orleans and longtime member of Together Louisiana, said the group informed local municipalities and residents about the massive tax breaks for industry at the expense of communities. According to a2018年通过Louisiana一起分析, many coastal, industry-heavy parishes lost millions of dollars in tax revenue because of the exemption; for instance, Cameron Parish lost $618 million that year.
“我们基本上教育,从市议会向校园向教师工会进行教育,帮助他们了解他们的金钱已经过了几十年,”Anglim说。
当国家立法者在6月份批准修正案5时,路易斯安那组织者在一起看来还有一章,在一个长篇文章的长篇文章和同情立法者试图在当地税收中作弊。“它使那些正在进行污染以获得免税的人,”说retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré一旦联合工作队的指挥官卡特里娜飓风队,现在就与路易斯安那州一起参与的环境倡导者。本集团担心修正案将削减公立学校的资金,并将税收负担转移到居民。
他们迅速动员了。Louisiana一起拥有一个系统来提升选民的选举周期:通过邻居定期检查块船长的州宽网络,以确保每个人都有投票计划。街区队长开始向选民通知修正案5的令人困惑的语言实际上是什么 - 以及他们的社区的赌注。
作为街区船长的卡罗尔表示,该语言有目的地令人困惑。“这修正案就像三行,没有逗号,分号。这是一个巨大的,长的句子,”她说。“我觉得它被故意搞砸了。”
10月份路易斯安那州周四举办了Zoom会议,以传达修正案的成本和后果,数百人参加。其他团体也占据了地幔:老师的工会;地方税务评估员;和环境团体鼓励路易斯安那州选民投票没有,如此Rise St. James,上个月三月举行。
People who are in power, and the church, are tasked with the responsibility of making sure that the orphans, the widows and the strangers of society, the outcasts, [and] the marginalized are protected.
Rev. Jay Angerer的所有圣徒的主教教堂在河里奇的教堂正在寻找为环境正义而争取的方法,并首先通过虚拟会议进入修正案5活动。“如果它没有达到大流行和变焦,我可能不会参与路易斯安那州,”他说。他在公司可以谈判税收的前景,他参加了会议,并帮助人们对修正案的电梯展会,挑战他们与五个,15或50人交谈。
Angerer把他的音乐带到了他的会众。每当他们有一个圣经学习或成人教育课时,他花了一分钟或两次告诉教会成员关于修正案。“圣经经常谈论正义问题,在旧约和新约中,”激怒说。“掌权的人和教会,负责确保孤儿,寡妇和社会的陌生人,退学,[和]被保护的责任受到保护。”
这些努力得到了回报。通过压倒性的边缘,国家的每个教区 - 甚至通常都会批发 - 投票下来。有一个重大差异between how legislators and their constituents voted: 114 state lawmakers voted in favor of putting the amendment on the ballot, with only 20 voting against (10 were absent for the initial vote). But all 144 districts rejected it in November.
来自第一个恩典的英格丽斯因成功而挥霍。“这被一群教会人克服了,”他说。"The No. 1 comment from those precinct captains was, ‘What’s next?’ These people had a very powerful experience. They helped people vote, they helped inform people, and they had a strategy for using their power for the common good. That worked."
一种nglim and Honoré both said they expect state legislators to try to pass legislation similar to Amendment 5 in the coming year, and will rally against it. Angerer, from All Saints’ Episcopal Church, is also inspired to keep up the work.
"My church is 11 feet from the Mississippi River,” he said. North of River Ridge, Black and brown communities live closest to petrochemical facilities on what was once plantation land. "We are a couple miles south of Cancer Alley, and the water flows towards us. I’d have my head in the sand if I didn’t think that eventually our part of the river is going to also become part of Cancer Alley."
从约书亚书中借来,Angerer说:“有人需要吹喇叭,你知道吗?”
This story was supported by the Turner Center at Martin Methodist College.