It was, however, a spirit of managerialism, not urgency, that pervaded the COP6 summit. As Margie herself noted, her struggle is a testimony that oil company injustice doesn t just take place in the Third World , it occurs in the developed countries, too, wherever people are poor and voiceless. Ironically, it is that very injustice that has helped warriors such as Margie to find a voice. One that is powerful, righteous and formidable. The Diamond community of Norco has a deeprooted sense of history.
Citizens can identify the dwelling places of several generations of their families.
Many of them are descendants of the slaves, sharecroppers and farmers who once worked the Diamond Plantation on which the Shell Chemical facility now sits. But here the American Dream has choked. Residents have suffered toxic pollution, fires, explosions, flaring and chemical spills from the refinery. After a long battle with cancer, Margie lost her sister to the chemical smog. A youth mowing a neighbouring lawn unwittingly ruptured an ill-submerged gas pipe with his lawnmower.