In letter to St. James Parish Council, groups say ordinance reflects discriminatory and deadly land use system that has roots in slavery, threaten legal action if ordinance is not withdrawn

St. James Parish, LA, June 1, 2026 – Groups representing residents today urged the St. James Parish Council to shelve an ordinance that would redesignate a historic Black community for industrial use. In a letter to the Parish Council, attorneys for Inclusive Louisiana, Mt. Triumph Baptist Church, and RISE St. James say the ordinance typifies the discriminatory and unlawful land use system that, in the words of a federal judge, “quite literally originated in slavery” and inspired their landmark lawsuit against the Parish. Greenlighted by a federal court earlier this year, the suit seeks a moratorium on industrial plants in majority-Black districts. 

The ordinance threatens Romeville, a town with a large majority of Black residents already sandwiched between hazardous industrial plants. The land includes the estate of Harriet Jones, an enslaved woman who, after her liberation more than 150 years ago, bought property that has remained in the family for generations. The property is now co-administered by one of the co-founders of Inclusive Louisiana. Also threatened are Pleasant Hill Cemetery, where generations of Romeville residents and ancestors are buried, and the Colomb Plantation Cemetery, which likely contains the graves of formerly enslaved people whose descendants remain connected to the community today.

“This ordinance is not just about land use, it is about whether Black communities in St. James Parish have the right to exist without being slowly erased by industry,” said Gail LeBoeuf and Barbara Washington, Co-Founders of Inclusive Louisiana. “Our ancestors survived slavery, built communities from nothing, purchased land, built churches, raised families, and created a legacy that still lives today in Romeville. To now threaten those same sacred spaces for industrial expansion is a continuation of the same system that has treated Black lives and Black land as disposable for generations. We refuse to allow our communities, our cemeteries, our history, and our future to become sacrifice zones. What happens here will set a precedent for communities across Cancer Alley, which is why we must stop it now before this pattern spreads even further.”

If the ordinance passes, industrial plants would encircle Inclusive Louisiana’s Community Hub, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, and Romeville Park, all located in historic, residential Romeville. It appears to be part of an effort to eradicate the historic community and displace its residents; indeed at recent meetings, the Parish officials stated that all of Romeville should be opened up to industrial development.   

The proposed redesignation arises amid a federal lawsuit challenging just such actions. The court allowed the case to proceed, including on the claims that the Parish’s land use practices violate the Thirteenth Amendment as a vestige of slavery and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Since construction of the first plant in the Parish in the 1950s, at least 28 out of 32 plants have been placed in the majority-Black 4th and 5th Districts. 

“Instead of protecting sites of deep cultural and religious significance to the historic Black communities that reside in St. James Parish, the Parish continues to expedite their erasure,” said Astha Sharma Pokharel, attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and counsel for Inclusive Louisiana and Mount Triumph Baptist Church. “Should the Parish Council not take the proposed redesignation off of its agenda, we intend to take appropriate action in the litigation in a federal court that has already ruled that our clients raise plausible claims against this illegal and discriminatory land use system.”

“St. James doesn’t need to rezone any more land in the Parish into industrial. We have had enough,” said Pastor Harry Joseph of Mount Triumph Baptist Church. “The Parish should be building small businesses in the area: we need stores, places to buy food, parks. We say to our Council: it’s time to start looking for things better than industrial plants.”

In their letter, the community groups say if the Parish Council refuses to remove the ordinance from its agenda, they will “take appropriate action in the relevant litigation in federal court.”

“The Parish’s latest attempt to rezone portions of Romeville for industrial use in an effort to attract additional industry to the 4th District is deeply troubling,” said Sharon Lavigne, Founder and Director of RISE St. James. “Introducing another heavy industrial facility into an area that is already disproportionately burdened by industrial development would have devastating consequences for the community. Such a decision threatens not only the health and well-being of residents but also the preservation of the historic community of Romeville.” 

The plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Environmental Law Clinic at Tulane Law School. For more information, please see the Center for Constitutional Rights’ case page. 

See more about Inclusive Louisiana, RISE St. James, and the Center for Constitutional Rights on the groups’ websites. Mount Triumph Baptist Church is also a plaintiff in the case.