Race and Racial Justice

A photo of a Bayou Bridge pipeline construction crew shows a worker flashing what some say is a white-power gesture aimed at water protectors.

The worker, who was on a boat traveling down Bayou Chene in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin, can be seen forming a circle with his thumb and index finger. His remaining three fingers are raised. Hats worn by several other workers on the boat identify them as employees of Spartan Directional, a contractor for the project.

Just days after learning charges would not be filed in the police killing of Alton Sterling, Baton Rouge resident Eugene Collins waited patiently to make a public comment.

When his turn came, he slowly and deliberately stepped to the podium to address the Metro Council.

“I oppose this item because on July…,” said Collins, who was interrupted by Baton Rouge Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wilson before he could say more.

“Take him out,” said Wilson without warning.

Our early education in public school taught us that the continent of Africa is the cradle of civilization for our planet. It is considered the cradle of civilization because the oldest known fossil remains of a human was found there and because of that fossil finding it is believed that the human population grew and evolved from the continent of Africa.

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

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.

Monday’s viral video of a young student being flipped and flung from her desk by Deputy Ben Fields at South Carolina’s Spring Valley High School, is certainly not the first to expose the growing concern for the overreaction and over policing of children, and in particular children of color.

While questions remain for some, America can no longer bare the cost of these continuing acts of assault upon those to whom we as adults are obligated to protect.

How young is too young for a child to be suspended from school? According to the state of Louisiana, which suspended over 1,000 Kindergarteners last year, there is no age cut off. However, thanks to a bill proposed by State Senator Weston-Broome that might soon change.

In January, the fourth Extreme Energy Extraction Summit came to Biloxi, Mississippi, and brought with it organizers and activists from across North America who face issues such as coal mining and mountaintop removal in Appalachia, uranium mining in New Mexico, fracking in Pennsylvania and North Dakota, and tar sands mining in Canada. To kick-off the gathering, Cherri Foytlin with Bridge The Gulf organized a day-long tour that grounded participants in some of the extreme energy challenges facing Gulf Coast communities.

More than 500 years ago, before the arrival of the first Europeans, vast civilizations flourished in what is now called the Americas.

Trade routes and commerce had long been established across the Rockies and the Andes, from the farthest northern to the farthest southern regions of the Americas. It has been said that this was the time of union for Indigenous Peoples, the time of the Condor and the Eagle.

The Condor represents the Indigenous Peoples of the south, while the Eagle represents the Indigenous Peoples of the north.