Inclusive Louisiana, a faith-based, grassroots organization working for racial and environmental justice in St. James Parish, Louisiana, to spread "enlightenment and hope" and create a fairer and more inclusive society, and The Descendants Project, an organization based in Wallace, Louisiana, committed to the intergenerational healing and flourishing of the Black descendant community in the Louisiana River Parishes, filed suit against FG LA, LLC, also known as Formosa Plastics, to assert their rights under the Thirteenth Amendment and Louisiana cemetery law to access and care for the graves of people who were enslaved and died on the plantation land now owned by the company. 

The Thirteenth Amendment was intended to abolish slavery and its lingering vestiges. There is no clearer "lingering vestige" of the slave system than the ongoing disregard and disrespect of the graves of enslaved people, many of which have already been damaged or destroyed through industrial development in the River Parishes. The gravesite that Plaintiffs seek to access and care for now already has a pipeline running through it that was constructed under previous owners. Another cemetery that existed on the site is believed to have been destroyed years ago, also under previous ownership. 

The facility that Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics group is seeking to build would be the largest in North America and would double the level of toxic emissions in St. James Parish, which is already among the highest in the country. The community only learned about the existence of the graves after CCR submitted public records requests on behalf of RISE St. James, a faith-based grassroots organization also working for environmental justice in St. James, to the Louisiana Division of Archaeology in 2019. After that, community residents have demanded that Parish officials rescind the land use approval, and have had to seek a court order to visit and worship at the site.