NEW ORLEANS — Outside, along Claiborne Avenue in the Algiers section of New Orleans, Sunday looked familiar. Black children slurped snowballs in the street, adults danced around them, and Black riders eased their horses through the crowds, past corner stores and shotgun houses, hooves clapping against the asphalt. For Black riders like Robert Pollar, who […]
Louisiana
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Louisiana Might Eliminate This Black Elected Official’s Job Before He Can Start It
Five months after Calvin Duncan secured 68% of the vote to become the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court clerk, Louisiana Republicans want to abolish the office before he can be sworn in on May 4. This clash over a Louisiana election stretches beyond just one man’s job, as battles over who gets a voice in […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy, Unsafe Water
In Roseland, Black Residents Were Told They Were Safe as Toxic Chemicals Spread
ROSELAND, La. — First came the oily sludge that spotted homes, waterways, and gardens. Then the stomach aches, headaches, nosebleeds, brain fog, and dead chickens and fish that pastor Marvin Vernon began tallying in his notebook. Vernon joined other residents this past Saturday morning to protest what they describe as official neglect and a “cover […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Black Residents Win Key Ruling in ‘Cancer Alley’ Environmental Racism Case
In a pocket of Louisiana known as “Cancer Alley,” Black residents bear the generational toll of “plantation country” becoming “pollution country.” Now, a federal district court has given those residents something they almost never get: a chance to put the whole system on trial. On Feb. 9, a judge in New Orleans ruled that groups […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Land Pollution, Politics & Policy
Louisiana Town Fights for Relief After a Billion-Dollar Oil Disaster
Four months have passed since a Louisiana oil facility burst apart, spewing a dense black sludge that drifted across homes, farms, and waterways as far as 50 miles away. Since then, the U.S. Department of Justice and Louisiana environmental regulators have filed a sweeping lawsuit against Smitty’s Supply, the company that ran the facility storing […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Land Pollution, Unsafe Water
How Plastics and Fossil Fuels Are Making Black Communities Unlivable
Copyright © 2025 by Beyond Plastics. This excerpt originally appeared in The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late, published by The New Press. Reprinted here with permission. Debra Ramirez lives at a place where survival and sacrifice meet. She knows the winding back roads that crisscross […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Religion
Meta’s AI Data Center Sparks a Crisis in the Bible Belt Over the Power of Faith
Photo illustrations by Alexandra Watts/Capital B RICHLAND PARISH, Louisiana — Seen as far as 2 miles away, a white cross — the size of a 12-story building — welcomes you to this largely forgotten stretch of Delta country. While cotton no longer runs supreme here, every road, ballot measure, and industrial promise still has to […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
These Louisiana Voters Are Standing Up to Save Voting Rights Across America
WASHINGTON — Living in North Baton Rouge is like being on the wrong side of the tracks, Martha Davis said. There are potholes everywhere that make you feel as if you’re driving on a washboard, southeastern Louisiana residents are still reeling from the loss of medical facilities, and the area has some of the lowest-performing […]
Posted inMental Health
Kyren Lacy’s Death at 24 Sheds Light on Black Male Suicide Crisis
Kyren Lacy was a 6-foot-2 Southeastern Conference football player with a broad, if often absent, smile, a love for Buffalo Wild Wings and lemonade. Some sports analysts even predicted that the Louisiana State University senior might go to a National Football League team as early as the second round of the draft this year. Instead, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Culture, Higher Education
Hazing Death Prompts Soul-Searching for Divine Nine
The calls, texts and emails have been pouring in. Since news broke in late February that a 20-year-old student at Southern University died in what police called “a fraternity hazing incident,” messages and voicemails continue to fill the inbox of filmmaker Byron Hurt. Hurt heard from some of these same people three years ago, when […]