DW Finds 'Cancer Alley' Residents, Ignores Who Put Them There
The piece highlights communities in Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' battling toxic pollution from companies like Denka and FG Industries. It's a powerful narrative of grassroots resistance against corporate power. However, DW, like much of the mainstream press, curiously omits the political infrastructure enabling this environmental devastation. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, for instance,
received over $1.7 million from the oil and gas industry in his 2019 re-election campaign, according to FollowTheMoney.org data. And for all the talk of 'community,' the story conspicuously avoids the inconvenient truth that these highly polluting facilities are disproportionately located in Black and low-income areas. One might wonder if DW's German government funding (from the Federal Foreign
Office) influences what kind of uncomfortable truths get to see the light of day. After all, critiquing corporate influence on US domestic policy might just hint at similar issues elsewhere, or heaven forbid, challenge the sanctity of unregulated markets. It appears some giants are too big, or too close to home, to truly expose. So, the residents fight on, against not just petrochemical companies,
but the political silence that protects them.