Voices from the Gulf

Fighting Back

I don't know when I started the tradition of taking a picture of my shoes. Maybe it's because I want to remember all the ground I stood on before. I don't know, but I've got feet shots of me in forest fires, oil spills, raging flood waters, the mountains, the desert, the Gulf, Europe, Canada, and on and on.

Climate and Environment

My Resignation Letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt

Editor's Note - Last week, after 24 years with the EPA, Mustafa Santiago Ali resigned his position as Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice and Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization. During his tenure, Mustafa elevated environmental justice issues and worked across federal agencies to strengthen environmental justice policies, programs and initiatives. He worked tirelessly to protect overlooked, forgotten and vulnerable communities, including many across the Gulf Coast.

Culture and Traditions

Africatown Supporters Replace Two Historic Community Landmarks

Africatown, AL -- Supporters and friends of the Africatown community recently took it upon themselves to replace two historic community treasures that were removed or destroyed more than twenty years ago. Two historic institutions of the community - the Union Missionary Baptist Church of Africatown and the Mobile County Training School Alumni Association - worked together to replace the bust of Cudjo Lewis and the treasured Africatown freedom bell.

Climate and Environment

EPA’s Scott Pruitt: The Great Disruptor

On January 17, 2017, a congressional hearing to confirm Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump’s chosen appointee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, was held in Washington, D.C.

Health and Wellness

My Affordable Care Act Story

In 1998 I gave blood at a blood drive event in New Orleans. I, soon after donating, received a letter from the blood donor group that I had Hepatitis C. I immediately went to my doctor where he confirmed that I indeed had the Hep C virus and that it was detectable.

Gender and Sexuality

After the Women's March: From Moment to Movement

“While this convergence should be celebrated, it is a moment, not a movement. A movement happens when we keep it going, when we build community, when we build culture, when we have consistent action ... If we all go home and feel like we’ve all done our part, then this was nothing than a pep rally. And I don’t believe it has to be that way.”

Gender and Sexuality

For Those Who Don't Understand Why Women Marched

This post is for the people who don't understand the Women's March.

I am privileged as a white woman with a PhD. My PhD wasn't easy because it was in a rigorous academic world. But it was "a man's world" that I was entering and *some* of those men certainly didn't make me feel welcome. Me and a few other women. Now that institution likely has a 50:50 ratio.

Race and Racial Justice

Failing Schools, Failing Students or a Failing Public?

Quick, tell me. Do we have failing schools, failing students or a failing public?

Climate and Environment

Letter to St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne in Response to Comments About Standing Rock

Originally posted on the Bold Louisiana site on December 1, 2016

Photo: Moon rising on the Oceti Sakowin camp on November 12, 2016, by Karen Savage

December 2, 2016

Sheriff Greg Champagne
President, National Sheriffs’ Association
St. Charles Parish Sheriff
15025 River Rd.
Hahnville, LA 70057

Dear Sir,

Race and Racial Justice

Civil Rights Reporter Offers Lesson for A Present That Threatens to Become Eerily Like the Past

NEW YORK — The story might sound familiar. A white couple, Harry and Doris Hopper, residents in a quiet suburb of Macon, Georgia, urgently called the police one evening to report a crime. Someone had broken into her car and stolen her handgun, a .22 caliber pistol, from the glove compartment. The police, two officers, arrived and asked Doris Hopper if she could identify the thief. It was a young black man, she said.

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