The Vessel of Change

Black, Indigenous and low-income communities are often left behind in disaster recovery. Roishetta Ozane is making sure that's no longer the norm

- Jameelah Nasheed

Roishetta Ozane is driven by a commitment to justice that dates back to her childhood in Ruleville, Mississippi. Growing up, Ozane watched her aunt, a longtime civic leader, get elected as mayor; and she knocked on doors with her grandmother, encouraging community members to vote. That early exposure to activism, paired with more than 20 years living in Louisiana, laid the foundation for the work she does today. Ozane is the founder and director of the Vessel Project of Louisiana, a mutual-aid disaster-relief organization that helps those who are most vulnerable: Black and Indigenous people, people of color and low-income communities.

Founded in 2020, the organization was born of Ozane's personal experience of displacement: She lost her home in the fallout of hurricanes Laura and Delta, both of which hit Louisiana in 2020. "My children and I went from living in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home to being homeless," she says. "That was a moment that shifted everything for me."

The experience deepened Ozane's understanding of environmental injustice and exposed the inequities in disaster-recovery efforts, particularly for Black and Indigenous communities. Places like Lake Charles, where Ozane lives, were overlooked when it came to receiving aid. "We weren't getting the attention. We weren't getting the funding," she says, a sentiment that drove her to ensure that her community would never face this neglect again.