The Center for Constitutional Rights is proud to partner with The Climate Museum for a conversation with Joy and Jo Banner as part of the Climate Museum’s current exhibition in New York City that explores how the fossil fuel industry has exploited racist inequities and deceived the public to preserve its own power and profit off destruction.

The Banners are the co-founders and co-directors of The Descendants Project, a community organization committed to the intergenerational healing and flourishing of the Black community in Louisiana’s River Parishes. This work centers on eliminating the legacies of slavery, especially environmental racism, and further seeks regeneration and reparations in the heart of the area that has become known as Cancer Alley.

Cancer Alley—a region spotlighted in the museum’s current exhibition—is an acute example of a “sacrifice zone,” and, like most sacrifice zones in the U.S., it is defined by racism. Fossil fuel and petrochemical companies believe residents deserve less and assume they can’t fight back against the proliferation of toxic heavy industry. 

The Descendants Project upends this assumption. The Banners will discuss their work fighting environmental racism and advancing a positive future for Black descendant communities living in Cancer Alley, their inspiring success partnering with the Center for Constitutional Rights to overturn an illegal rezoning ordinance and block construction of new heavy industry on residential land and historic burial grounds, and lessons learned from the frontlines of the fight for climate and environmental justice. 

The conversation will be moderated by Climate Museum Director Miranda Massie, followed by time for audience Q&A. Light refreshments will be served.