(bright music) - My mother raised me not to hold back, not to be quiet for anybody, any men, any systems, any authority.

It's not that I don't get afraid, it's just that it wasn't enough fear to hold me back from speaking truth to power.

I'm a mom, I have three kids, I live on the Northside of Minneapolis.

I've been known to be an environmental justice organizer for the past 10 years.

People saw that I was willing to speak up about things that were uncomfortable so people started to give me information.

Can you hear me?

And one day, a woman sent me a message and told me that this recycling facility, called Northern Metals, was asking for a permit to increase their emissions by a thousand percent.

(bright music) As they were breaking down the information, they were saying that people who lived in Hawthorne, they would have now a increased chance of developing cancer.

And I was just so angry by that because our community tries so hard to really take care of each other.

I didn't really know what to do 'cause I had never worked on an issue like that but I was mad enough to just keep trying.

There's a slew of industries that are contributing to our downfall.

We've got the data that clearly shows what's going on.

I think we lack the political will, and sometimes the courage.

Today, we are announcing our lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis.

(bright music continues) - We were fortunate to have Ms. O'Brien along with Representative Lee host an Environmental Justice Tour recently that a number of our committee members were able to go on, and so thank you for your hospitality.

- The last piece of undeveloped land on the Mississippi River.

- I wanted to thank those of you.

- What kind of strategies do we employ?

- Thank you for coming.

We appreciate y'all and we hope to maybe see you in the future on another adventure.

(crowd applauding) Nobody wants to talk about the systemic racism, the issues that are detrimental to our community.

That's what keeps racism going is the fact that we've been shamed into not talking about it.

(bright music continues) A lot of times I would feel sick, actually, I think it was bad for my health to have a lot of arguments with white people about racism.

I had to train my body to not take it all inside.

We create a lot of policies, we have a lot of conversations, we have a lot of meetings but we don't show a lot of emotion and we don't really talk about our humanness.

37 deaths can be attributed to particulate matter.

When I'm at the state testifying, or in the courts, I've heard judges, I've heard people who are running these meetings specifically tell people to not show emotion.

And I was shocked 'cause I was like, "Well, if we're not feeling anything like we're dead."

The city's legacy of environmental racism must be met head on.

If you can get people to feel, you know, sometimes you can break down those walls.

I've seen success with getting people to have these hard conversations 'cause I think that's what's missing.

I remember this lady at the city who'd been there for years.

She told me one time, "Roxxanne, I've had a lot of sleepless nights thinking about the things you've said."

And I remember being kind of touched by that 'cause I was like, "Oh, you're still thinking about it?

Good."

We need white people to like get it, we need them to like suck it up and start to just educate themselves a little bit more because racism is not good for white people.

We're kind of all in a boat here and there's a hole in it, the hole's on our side, but, you know, we're all going down and there's nothing good that's gonna come out of that, not for my kids, not for future generations, not for my community now and not for anybody else across this nation that's going through the same thing.

So it's just hopeful for me to keep fighting.

(bright music continues) Here we are, 10 years later, Northern Metals is gone.

Having these victories for our community, I think that was a lot of fuel for me.

It felt good, it empowered me and empowered others.

It made me know that it was possible, and a lot of times we live in this community and a lot of things are pushed on us and we're told, "There's really nothing you can do, it's coming anyway."

And I just refused to believe that that was the case, and thank God I didn't.

(bright music continues) I'm very hopeful.

Every time a person shows up and becomes a part of the work.

You can't do this by yourself and like this has to be a movement of the masses.

A lot of people just see me but I've got hundreds of people behind me, everybody just doesn't always wanna talk in front of the camera.

We demand ongoing community development projects from the start, we must do better.

I know the future we're fighting for looks beautiful.

Me and my community have been fighting to lift up the visions that we have for the future.

Our goal is to never let down.

I think I was in the right place at the right time.

I was lifted up so I always gotta make sure that I pay it back.

(bright music continues)