\❤️ 4: A Fight for Home and A Community in Cancer Alley

“By me living in my community, I am increasing my risk of getting cancer.” – Dr. Joy Banner, co-founder The Descendants Project
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What would you do if your home was located in Cancer Alley, an 85-mile strip between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that is one of the most polluted areas of the country. Would you stay when more industry is slated for your backyard? Or would you pack your bags and go?

Dr. Joy Banner and her twin sister, Jo, have chosen to stay and fight for the place their family has lived for 300 years -- since their ancestors were enslaved on the nearby Whitney Plantation.

She and twin sister, Jo, are the co-founders of the Descendants Project, which is uplifting and fighting for people like their family, the descendants of enslaved peoples in the river parishes of Louisiana.

They've sued to prevent an industrial grain terminal from coming to their home of Wallace, Louisiana, and bringing more pollution to an area already overburdened by industry.

That's this week on Bar\Heart.

Read the transcript, plus photos and bonus content ↠ https://www.belonging.bulletin.com/joy-banner-descendants-project
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Read more about Whitney Plantation here ↠ https://www.whitneyplantation.org/
Read more about The Descendants Project here ↠ https://www.thedescendantsproject.com/
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Credits: Music and audio production by Silas Hite. Reporting and editing by Amy Haimerl.
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What is Bar\Heart? It is a weekly newsletter and podcast about belonging in America. We tell stories, with heart, about the places that define us. Plus, cocktails! Cheers 🍸
Subscribe ↠ https://barheart.us.
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Amy Haimerl is a veteran journalist who is interested in the intersections of class, culture and economics. She writes Bar\Heart, a weekly newsletter that features intimate conversations from the heart. Plus cocktails! She learned to read in the cab of an 18-wheeler and now teaches journalism and entrepreneurship at Michigan State University. Her memoir, Detroit Hustle, is a love story to her new home, where she lives with her husband and two cats, The Overlord and June Carter Cat.