Racial divide

Lafayette Rep. Rickey Hardy, authored a bill to make it illegal to place a noose with the intention of intimidation.  Hardy's HB726 is now heading to the Senate for consideration ."Anybody who feels like they've been intimidated" by someone displaying a noose on another person's property or in a public place can file a complaint with a district attorney's office , said Hardy, as reported by the Shreveport Times . After an investigation, the district attorney would decide whether to prosecute...Read Full Story

As of June 1, FEMA has plans to evict the  last of the Katrina survivors living in trailers, unless less they could prove to City Hall that their rebuilding plans or other circumstances make that timeline impossible, two city officials said Wednesday.  The government is concerned that should another hurricane hit the area, the trailers will turn into flying missiles, as well as the concern regarding toxic fumes.  More on this story can be read here,   here, and here .   There can be no...Read Full Story

“Now, I’m not a racist but … .”  Don’t you just dread to hear that opening? In most cases, you have been forewarned that the next few words you’re going to hear will be cringe inducing. I t is a sign of progress, maybe, that people now feel compelled to make those kinds of disclaimers. There was a time, now thankfully receding in memory, when white Southerners in particular felt no need to mitigate the meanness of their remarks before launching into the vilest comments. We can all be...Read Full Story

Picture this: you're a pre-med student sitting in your UMass dorm room with a couple of friends when one friend looks out the window and sees two white guys looking in. One white guy says he wants to be "friends" with your female friend; when you go to the window and tell them to go away, they start calling you "nigger" and one of them breaks your dorm window. You call a friend to come over for support and when he enters the dorm, the two guys force their way in. One of the guys throws the...Read Full Story

O nce in a very long while, a book comes along that can revise a people’s view of their own culture — not through abstract theories or appeals to ideology, but by constructing a true narrative based on long-forgotten facts and the stories of real people. Douglas A. Blackmon’s “Slavery by Another Name,” which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction Monday, is such a book. Those who read it are forced to accept a new understanding of the American South — that racial injustice was...Read Full Story

      written by Danielle Walker-Carraway      History has shown that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential men leading the Civil Rights struggle. His eloquent words inspired and motivated the nation, while his patient and peaceful actions illustrated the depth and strength of his character. Although Dr. King delivered several inspiring public addresses, one in particular resonates throughout history as “…one of the greatest demonstrations for freedom in the history of...Read Full Story

Last week arrests were made in the January 16 burning of the predominantly African-American Macedonia Church of God in Christ. Benjamin F. Haskell, 22; Michael F. Jacques, 24; and Thomas A. Gleason Jr., 21, all of Springfield MA, face a minimum of ten years in prison for violating the civil rights of the Macedonian congregation. Judging by what I read on Springfield's Masslive forum and what I heard in the community before the arrests, many whites were sure the burning wasn't arson or if that...Read Full Story