May 2012

Who's the Least Sustainable "Sustainability Partner" of the 2012 Summer Olympics?

Ada McMahon's picture
Ada McMahon

Gulf Coast Photos and Specimens Included in New York Exhibit - Collapse: The Cry of Silent Forms

Photos and specimens collected by Gulf Coast fishermen, scientists and coastal residents will be included in Brandon Ballengée’s upcoming exhibit, opening on Saturday, May 5th in New York City.  

[...Read more]

Karen Savage's picture
Karen Savage

Asian-American fishermen sue BP for racial discrimination

fisherman in Louisiana Aug 2010By Susan Buchanan, crossposted from The Louisiana Weekly.  Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen in Village L’est and Versailles in New Orleans East were among the first residents to return after Katrina, only to see their livelihoods crushed a few years later by the BP spill. [...Read more]

Bridge The Gulf's picture
Bridge The Gulf

Fighting the good fight for immigrant workers in Mississippi ... and winning

By Joe Atkins, Labor South. [...Read more]

Bridge The Gulf's picture
Bridge The Gulf

Cypress-Tupelo Swamp Opened for Logging in Atchafalaya Basin

cypress swampThe St. Martin Parish School Board’s recent decision to log the cypress-tupelo swamps on land owned by the entity in the Atchafalaya Basin has become a source of controversy.

According to the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Dean Wilson, the source of contention surrounds the idea of clear cutting the trees, some of which were around during the time of Jesus. [...Read more]

Cherri Foytlin's picture
Cherri Foytlin

New Mississippi Law Boosts Local Hiring in Disaster's Wake

Crossposted from Facing South. Following Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, Gulf Coast community leaders raised concerns about the failure to prioritize hiring local residents for recovery jobs -- but an innovative new Mississipp [...Read more]

Sue Sturgis's picture
Sue Sturgis

NOLA May Day March Launches "Stand Up 2012," Campaign to End the Deportation of Immigrant Labor Leaders

stand up 2012On May Day, over one hundred New Orleanians marched to City Hall, where they called for justice for the city's immigrants.  The protestors called for an end to inhumane immigration practices, such as deportation and local law enforcement's targeting of immigrants. [...Read more]

Ada McMahon's picture
Ada McMahon

Gulf Watch: BP Settlement Finalization, Jobs, and Protecting Immigrants Under VAWA

delmy palenciaRoughly two weeks after the second year memorial of the BP oil disaster, a few moving parts are looking like they're coming to closure, even if not on completely amenable terms. The federal judge overseeing the trial against BP has approved settlement terms.  And Mississippi passed a law to encourage local hiring in the wake of disasters.  Meanwhile, national policymaking and politics that affect the Gulf Coast continue. [...Read more]

Brentin Mock's picture
Brentin Mock

“Unity and Solidarity,” a May Day Speech by Ted Quant



At a May 1 New Orleans rally and march for immigrant rights, Ted Quant, a social activist and director of the Twomey Center for Peace through Justice at Loyola University, delivered the following speech on the history of May Day, the need for workers and communities to unite across race, and how the attack on immigrant workers [...Read more]

Bridge The Gulf's picture
Bridge The Gulf

Troubled Waters: Discussion with BISCO on Building Community while Losing Land on the Bayou

bisco logoBayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing (BISCO) has been working with churches and communities in southern Louisiana since 1995, organizing to give bayou communities a voice. [...Read more]

Bridge The Gulf's picture
Bridge The Gulf

Holistic Activism, the One Percent, and the BP Oil Disaster

grand isle ceremonyThe lie that we are consistently fed in this society is that in order to find happiness, we have to have lots of stuff -- that if $1 million makes us happy, $2 million will make a person ecstatic. This concept is inaccurate. We know that because many of the richest people in the world are miserable and lonely creatures. [...Read more]

Cherri Foytlin's picture
Cherri Foytlin

Poll documents ongoing emotional harm from BP oil disaster

Crossposted from Facing South.  Two years after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Coast residents continue to suffer emotional fallout from the disaster. [...Read more]

Sue Sturgis's picture
Sue Sturgis


The Gulf Coast Claims Facility and Me

kent haughtonBy Kent H. Haughton. Lots of us on the Gulf Coast who lost our jobs or income because of the BP oil disaster have a story about the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF). For many, the process, which was supposed to pay us for the economic losses we sustained, meant rejection, underpayment, frustration, stress, and sinking into debt and financial ruin. [...Read more]

Bridge The Gulf's picture
Bridge The Gulf

We Have Lost One of Our Own, Stella Mae Smith

south bay katrina tourAn Inspiring Community Leader from Bayou La Batre's Historic African American Community PassesBy Zack Carter. I am sad to report that one of our inspiring community elders, Stella Mae Smith of Snows Quarter, Bayou La Batre, Alabama has died. She suffered a heart attack at her home. [...Read more]

Bridge The Gulf's picture
Bridge The Gulf

Troubled Waters: Discussion with Thao Chi Nguyen on Creating Alternatives for Asian American Fishers in Mississippi

aac logoAfter the BP oil disaster, Thao Chi Nguyen worked with Asian Americans for Change (AAC) to provide services and advocate for Asian American fishing communities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. [...Read more]

Bridge The Gulf's picture
Bridge The Gulf

Voices Against Tar Sands; People on the Front Lines Speak Out

Washington’s political wars rarely match reality back home. [...Read more]

Rocky Kistner's picture
Rocky Kistner

How the 'Sex Offender' Label Targets Poor and Transgender Women of Color in Louisiana

Editor's Note: With President Obama's historic statement in support of marriage equality, the national political debate over who has the right to marry has heated up. But the right to marry is not always the most pressing issue confronting queer people, especially in queer communities of color, which continue to face criminalization and police violence. [...Read more]

Deon Haywood's picture
Deon Haywood

The story of who and what we are decides the story of how we behave

atchafalaya basinWe, the people of the Gulf of Mexico, have been born, raised, or adopted into a living, breathing region, whose cultures span the continents. We have nourished ourselves from the Gulfstream waters. Our cities breathe, our ecosystems speak, and we proudly and artfully contribute to the economic and cultural fabric of our nation and world.

 [...Read more]

Cherri Foytlin's picture
Cherri Foytlin

Why the War on Drugs is a War on Women



deon haywoodEditor's note: Last week Deon Haywood, the Executive Director of Women With A Vision, discussed how Louisiana's Solicitation of Crimes Against Nature statute allows law enforcement to target poor and trans women of color (read here). [...Read more]

Deon Haywood's picture
Deon Haywood

Gulf Watch: Cover-Ups! GCCF Broken Promises, Alabama's New Immigration Law and More Gulf Pollution

As the BP oil disaster claims process leaves the hands of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility and goes under court supervision, there's unfinished business, or rather an unfulfilled promise that it looks like Kenneth Feinberg's old outfit may be trying to cover up. Meanwhile, Alabama covers up its ugly immigration law with an even uglier one. [...Read more]

Brentin Mock's picture
Brentin Mock