[link removed] [[link removed]]
Donate [[link removed]]
Dear friend,
"When the [petrochemical] plants first came, we were excited. We were going to have jobs," Sharon Lavigne, Founder and CEO of Rise St. James [[link removed]] , a U.S. grantee ally, remembers.
Unfortunately, those corporations would take more from the St. James, LA communities than they would give. Over the course of the next four decades, the industry would turn into an ongoing nightmare .
In the area now called Cancer Alley, the 85-mile stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that is filled with fossil fuels and petrochemical industries, people are getting inflicted with everything from infertility to cancer at an alarming rate.
The chemicals and pollution that leak out into the air and water have resulted in Louisiana having one of the nation’s highest preterm birth and infant mortality rates.
"Ninety-two-percent of stakeholders are Black," says Robert Taylor of St. John's Baptist Parish, pointing to the deep-rooted racism at play.
Sharon Lavigne shared further,
“We will not be silenced about the institutional racism, the environmental racism that is coursing through the river parishes. We are not just going to lie down and let the industrial plants kill us off.”
The community-centered work of Rise St. James to mobilize residents and keep local government officials accountable is so critical. Because of this work, community members achieved victories in stopping construction of additional industry plants and reclaiming their communities.
Support this critical work today [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]]
Grassroots International is honored to accompany this critical work as part of our growing support of work in the US connected to broader global struggles.
As we mark Human Rights Day today , we want to reiterate that addressing environmental justice requires that we work beyond borders because corporations and pollution know no borders.
One of the corporations that Rise St. James is resisting, Mosaic, is the same mining company that our partners, the Popular Peasant Movement (MCP), have been fighting against in Brazil [[link removed]] .
Cross border solidarity and resistance are happening, calling us to invest in solutions by the people most impacted. With your support, Grassroots International has been able to deploy $100M+ towards social movements in the Global South and US that are advancing social and ecological justice over the last 40+ years.
Thank you for joining us in accompanying social movements towards liberation. Your support fuels changemakers on the frontlines. Please join our $3M end of year fundraising campaign with a gift today!
I'M READY TO GIVE TODAY! [[link removed]]
With gratitude,
Trina Jackson
Senior Solidarity Program Officer, US Internationalist Program
PS: As Sharon Lavigne says, "It's dangerous and nobody is doing anything about it." You can change that today. When you make a gift to Grassroots International this giving season [[link removed]] , you are moving critical resources to support grassroots movements fighting for a better, more just future. Will you join me today?
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]

Grassroots International
#1721
867 Boylston Street Suite 500
Boston, MA 02116
United States
If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe: [link removed] .