Editor'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).
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.
Two controversial stories hit home on the Gulf last week: One, concerning the ill-advised but fated Keystone XL pipeline, which President Obama decided to greenlight the southern portion of, directly impacting the Gulf; and another concerning the troublesome trend of young, African-American males losing their lives after mostly trivial encounters with law enforcement officials, or those pretending to be.
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.
Editor's note: Last week Deon Haywood, the Executive Director of 
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.
Two controversial stories hit home on the Gulf last week: One, concerning the ill-advised but fated Keystone XL pipeline, which President Obama decided to greenlight the southern portion of, directly impacting the Gulf; and another concerning the troublesome trend of young, African-American males losing their lives after mostly trivial encounters with law enforcement officials, or those pretending to be.
