As the temperatures rose across Louisiana during Memorial Day weekend, the heat index, a measure of air temperature and humidity, approached triple digits. Bayou State residents seeking relief from the extreme temperatures turned up their fans and air conditioners, pushing an aging electrical grid to the breaking point. And by nightfall, more than 100,000 people […]
Louisiana
Posted inHistory
Stolen Black Remains Return Home After 150 Years in European Vault
Underneath oak trees and Spanish moss from Texas to the Carolina coasts, the remains of Black Americans lay in unmarked graves across roadside cemeteries and backyards. While some graves now remain hidden beneath highways and shopping malls, others have been stripped of their dignity in an even more insidious way. Nowhere is this more painfully […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Trump Is Giving 500+ Plants a Pass to Pollute More. Is Your Home at Risk?
Imagine if the billion-dollar companies that run oil refineries or chemical plants could ask the government for permission to spew more pollution into the air with less hassle than it takes to renew your driver’s license. That’s now a reality. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has created a shortcut for fossil fuel and chemical […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
This Climate Program Saved the U.S. $6 for Every $1 Spent. Trump Just Killed It.
As floodwaters surged through the streets of Natchitoches last month, soaking homes and businesses in this rural Louisiana town, residents were left grappling with yet another devastating blow. Over a thousand residents lost power as the muddy waters left behind waterlogged homes and damaged possessions. It was the fifth major flooding event the small majority-Black […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
EPA Rollbacks Mean More Pollution, Less Justice for Black Communities
For a quarter of a century, a Black neighborhood in Beaumont, Texas, where Chris Jones lives has been the subject of two federal civil rights investigations by the Environmental Protection Agency that explore the role of race in his community’s disproportionately high levels of air pollution. In San Francisco, Kamillah Ealom’s neighborhood has been the […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Policies Undermine Recovery in Black Disaster Zones
For two months, hundreds of workers have cleared smoldering, toxic ashes in Altadena, California, removing what remains of a historic Black neighborhood. All the while, many don’t know how much longer they’ll be in the country. Since Hurricane Katrina, undocumented immigrants have been the backbone of America’s disaster recovery system, trailing nature’s fury from hurricanes […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, History
A Black Family Now Owns the Site of America’s Largest Slave Revolt
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH, Louisiana — Growing up, Dayna James never thought she’d willingly step foot on a plantation, let alone thank God for one. On an early Saturday morning last month, she joined about 80 other people to commemorate America’s largest slave revolt at the Woodland plantation in LaPlace, Louisiana, where nearly 500 […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Michael Regan Rebuilt the EPA, but Did It Deliver for Black Communities?
When the Environmental Protection Agency dropped a civil rights investigation last year and subsequently weakened the civil rights complaint process, it dealt a blow to the legacy of the first Black man to lead the agency. This decision underscored the immense challenges the agency’s former head, Michael Regan, faced during his tenure, where the weight […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Louisiana’s Brand New Majority-Black Congressional District Is in Peril
ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. — Observing a joyous children’s holiday parade in the Louisiana parish she calls home, Clara LaFleur said that she isn’t surprised that the political power of Black Louisianans in her congressional district is in peril. After all, she told Capital B, it’s long seemed as if no one has been a […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Health
Climate Change Is Deepening HIV Inequities for Black Americans
As Hurricane Ida’s fierce winds ripped panels off of rooftops across New Orleans in September 2021, health workers and HIV activists braced for the aftermath. With power cut and roads blocked by debris, prescription refills and patients would be lost and forgotten in the storm’s chaotic wake across the South. And with record-breaking hurricanes like […]
