An option for Mossville... perhaps not.

In my policy class my professor described the process of voting with your feet (moving to a district in hopes of a better quality of life for any number of reasons) as a means of changing and improving your life and environment when those in power (elected officials) will not. Is it OK to move because your voice isn’t heard? What about the people left behind?
Although this is accepted and used by many people idea bothers me primarily for three reasons:
I believe Mossville is no outlier regarding core problems faced by the community, in fact there are hundreds of towns across America where structured racism is accepted and it continues simply because there are no other options, communities are left feeling defeated. This leads to reason number 2- in Mossville the residents’ voices are particularly hushed because their town is not incorporated. Mossville lies between Sulphur and West Lake, LA in the midst of fourteen refineries leaving the community in the shadow of the refineries. After fifteen years of getting sick, fighting for their rights, and being angry in the face of opposition, what are their remaining options?
Reason number three- the community is forced to be ill which increases their feelings of hopelessness. Adding to the feelings of illnesses and exhaustion many residents do not feel they can do anything about their environment since past experiences have failed; many community members can recant stories of failed attempts to gain some type of awareness from those in power. Further enhancing the communities’ beliefs the state of Louisiana gives tax breaks to large companies to build and expand production; understanding all to well the benefits and risks associated with their lucrative incentives. Many people can deduce that the closer you are to a toxic site the more your chance for negative health risks increase, yet who is making the decision as to whether or not the corporations build? It is not the community members, in fact they often have no say; it is the stakeholders, those that benefit while the community members that reside near the plants suffer the harms associated with inhaling cancerous air irresponsibly polluted daily by the refineries.

I think we can understand how voting with your feet becomes a method of staying healthy and safe. Not all people can be blessed with the ability to move, in a community such as Mossville the roots of family and community can be traced back over 140 years. Many people in the community have moved however for many that remain they will never leave. Mossville is their home and they want it to remain like that for future generations.

The fact remains that ALL people regardless of their ethnicity or racial background deserve to live a healthy life. The fact that refineries in Europe operate with out polluting the environment is a testament for future aspirations in this country but also reveals the truths as to why clean operating standards doesn't occur in a capitalist, profit driven society. *Nicole