Little existing research addresses the impact of the increasing popularity of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on environmental justice (EJ) organizing. Critical Environmental Justice is embracing racial justice frameworks. However, there is little understanding of what that means on the ground. Using ethnographic data from a case study of a struggle over a proposed microgrid in Camden, New Jersey, we identify two key emergent findings on the impact of the BLM movement on EJ organizing: (1) the popularity of the BLM movement led to a competition to claim the legitimacy of racial justice and BLMs and (2) that competition culminated in participation shopping. We define participation shopping as leaders seeking legitimacy by recruiting community members who already agreed with them, rather than being open and responsive to community voice and participation.