August 2011

10:00am CST - 1:00pm CST - Teach-In For Unification for Environmental Justice in the Gulf Coast - Location: First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans, 5212 Claiborne, New Orleans, LA - All are invited to share and learn what various organizations and communities are doing and ways we can best unite the Gulf Coast to ensure justice for those continuously affected by irresponsible industries, concerning spills, chemical plants, toxic waste dumps, oil refineries, and more. Speakers include: Dr. Mike Robichaux, 2005 Robert F. [...Read more]

The article below orginally appeared in ColorLines earlier this week. A federal jury convicted five current or former New Orleans police officers of civil rights violations. [...Read more]

The article below was originally published on Loop21.com.  Her son, No Limit rapper "Mac," is serving 30 years, her art proclaims his innocence. [...Read more]

By Dawn Collins.  Crossposted from Louisiana Bucket Brigade Blog.

As an organizer who is relatively new to the issue of environmental justice, it has been very enlightening to hear the experiences of community members. [...Read more]

The Norwood Thompson playground is a gathering place for all ages in Gert Town.  It is a place of fellowship for residents of this New Orleans neighborhood, and provides a break for working mothers to spend time with their children.

But it is also destined and designed as an accident waiting to happen. As you will hear and see from the children and adults who use it, the playground is an environmental health hazard. [...Read more]

For more than a year, I’ve watched Gulf Coast residents suffer through the worst oil spill in history, their lives turned upside down by the shock and emotional trauma of BP’s oily assault. But through these agonizing times I’ve also grown to love and appreciate the Gulf environment and its people. I’ve vowed to take my two young daughters to witness firsthand the beauty of the bayou threatened by the encroaching waves of the Gulf. [...Read more]

By Bill Quigley.  Cross-posted from Huffington Post.

Six years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast. The impact of Katrina and government bungling continue to inflict major pain on the people left behind. It is impossible to understand what happened and what still remains without considering race, gender and poverty. The following offer some hints of what remains. [...Read more]

More than a year after the BP well was plugged, Gulf coast residents now face an oil threat from a new direction; a proposed 1700-mile pipeline that would provide a steady stream of raw Canadian tar sands crude from Alberta to huge polluting refineries in Texas. That’s raised the ire of Gulf residents who refuse to be the dumping ground for more dirty and dangerous oil industry operations.    [...Read more]

Political power has shifted to whites, but blacks have not given up their struggle for a voice -- and justice. Originally published on The Root.  As this weekend’s storm has reminded us, hurricanes can be a threat to U.S. cities on the East Coast as well the Gulf. But the vast changes that have taken place in New Orleans since Katrina have had little to do with weather, and everything to do with political struggles. [...Read more]