Voices from the Gulf

Showing stories 41 through 50 of 818 total stories.

Africatown Experiences a New Beginning

The Historic Community of Africatown experienced several occurrences this summer that could be looked upon as a new beginning, as our community continues to do things it hope will contribute to the revitalization and growth of Africatown that will help in the revitalization, growth and tourism of the entire city of Mobile, Alabama.

The Louisiana Governor and Big Oil’s Slippery Slope

It’s an incredible moment in Louisiana. Our Governor, at great political risk, has stepped forward to say that the oil industry should repair the damage it has done to our Louisiana coast. Here’s his reasoning as documented in the New Orleans Times Picayune.

Climate and Environment

I Expect More Violence from the Oil Industry

I began my career in West Africa in the 1990s, where Nigerians who peacefully protested the oil industry’s destruction of their farms were raped, beaten and murdered. In the Niger Delta, violent repression was the oil industry and the Nigerian government’s response to a movement that had grown so powerful that on one day, in one protest, there were 300,000 people in the streets.

Hurricane Katrina, Brought to You by Big Oil

This week marks the 11th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. This disaster date - August 29th - is seared into my memory, just like April 20th, the date of the BP Disaster. For those in South Louisiana, there will be a new anniversary in August next year: the date of the floods that have so devastated our part of the world. At what point will these disaster-versaires, as I’ve learned to call them, stop?

Photo: Oil stains a family's vehicle after Hurricane Katrina

Organizing and Engagement

What It Means To Be A Grassroots Organizer

Somebody asked me what it means to be a "grassroots organizer"?

I certainly can't speak for everyone in that role, because every experience is different and although most struggles are similar, the path is very different depending on participants, history and place ... but I will do my best.

- Being a grassroots organizer means having your heart broken and repaired a thousand times over - sometimes several times in one day.

Africatown Supporters Travel to Washington DC in Search of Environmental Justice

In May, Africatown native and resident Ruth Washington, Africatown native & supporter Major Joe Womack and Africatown supporter & Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition President Ramsey Sprague traveled to Washington, D.C. to talk with politicians and various department members - including the Congressional Black Caucus - about Africatown's current environmental justice situation and to support the world's 2016 Break Free (from fossil fuel) theme to "Keep It In The Ground".

Climate and Environment

A Public Lashing

The Africatown community and other residents within the boundary of Mobile's District 2 received what amounts to "a public lashing" a few weeks ago as the city council voted by a count of 6 to 1 to approve an ordinance that will allow more storage tanks to be constructed within city limits. This ordinance was not wanted, asked for and did not deserve to be dumped on the citizens of Mobile.

In New Orleans, Water Rises Against Drilling Leases

Originally posted in New American Journal on March 20, 2016.

Photo: BP oil and chemicals make landfall during Gulf oil spill, May 8, 2010: Glynn Wilson

MOBILE, Ala. – Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Between these beginnings and endings comes water. You are mostly water. Remove it and only a sift of ash and grit remains.

Land and Housing

Africatown Residents Won't Let City of Mobile Pull an "Okey-Doke" With Proposed Storage Tank Ordinance

The "okey-doke, as defined by Urban Dictionary and Africatown folklore means to pull the wool over your opposition's eyes, to outsmart your opposition, to say one thing and mean another or to gain the upper hand by using trickery. President George W. Bush once famously said,"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me."