Women Wednesday - Marjorie Richard
March 22nd, 2023
“Every time we as black Americans stand up for what is right, they say it’s for greed of money. It’s a fight for longevity. If we don’t put a face to it, we can’t make change. Truth and justice for the betterment of life, the environment and government is the stairway to upward mobility.” - Marjorie Richard
Marjorie Richard, also known as Margie Richard, is a community activist and environmental justice advocate from Norco, Louisiana. She grew up in the historically African American Old Diamond neighborhood within the southern Mississippi River region known as “Cancer Alley”, in a house only 25 feet from the Shell Chemicals plant’s fence line.
Her environmental activism was sparked in 1973, by then a middle school teacher, when a Shell pipeline explosion knocked one house off its foundation, and she witnessed the death of a 16-year-old boy mowing the lawn of an elderly neighbor. She started taking note when her neighbors got sick or died of cancer; or when her children had breathing problems that landed them in the hospital. Her own sister Naomi died at the age of 43.
In 1989, Richard founded Concerned Citizens of Norco to seek justice from Shell in the form of fair and just resettlement costs for her family and her neighbors. Over the next 13 years, Richard led a community campaign that was equal parts hard science, grassroots organizing and media savvy. Ultimately, Shell agreed to reduce its toxic emissions by 30%, finance relocation costs for all four Old Diamond streets, and contribute $5 million to a community development fund.
Richard is known for her leadership in the fight against environmental racism and for her efforts to hold the chemical and oil industries accountable for the pollution they have caused in her community. People of color are more likely than whites to live near areas polluted by industrial plants; 71% of African-Americans live in counties that don’t meet federal air pollution standards. As a consequence, studies show that black people suffer disproportionately from respiratory and other environmental ailments. Community protests against these conditions produced a uniquely American brand of activism that is equal parts civil rights and environmentalism. Richard stood at the forefront of this important social justice movement.
She has been involved in several campaigns and organizations in addition to the Concerned Citizens of Norco, including the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and the Gulf Coast Tenants Organization. In 2004, she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work to create a cleaner and healthier environment for her community. She has also been recognized by the White House as a "Champion of Change" for her efforts to promote environmental justice and to empower low-income communities and communities of color.
Jane Smith, PE, Licensed Engineering Professional at HRP Associates, Inc.
Sources:
https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/margie-richard/
https://www.alleghenyfront.org/how-one-woman-took-on-shell-to-save-her-louisiana-town/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/eugene-richard-margie
https://www.ourcityforest.org/blog/2021/2/17/marjorie-richard
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