Guests
Louisiana’s handsome, gifted, charming governor Edwin Edwards had it all — except integrity | Robert Mann
The following is an excerpt from “The Comeback of the Cajun Prince,” a chapter in Robert Mann’s memoir, Backrooms and Bayous: My Life in Louisiana Politics, which hits shelves Aug. 9. When I read the endorsement of Edwin Edwards in the Shreveport Journal, the newspaper where I began working in August 1983, I knew covering […]
Republicans and Democrats accuse each other of ‘defunding the police’ | Tammy C. Barney
“Defund the police”– a rallying cry during the 2020 protests following the unwarranted deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others at the hands of police – is now a congressional football that Democrats and Republicans keep throwing up as Hail Mary passes without anyone scoring a touchdown. First, Republicans accused Democrats of embracing “defund […]
Zaila Avant-garde – 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee champ – stands where Black children were once kept out | Shalini Shankar
When Zaila Avant-garde, 14, won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on July 8, 2021, she became the first Black American to win in the competition’s history. Shalini Shankar, a scholar of spelling bees, breaks down the importance of this historical moment. Why is it news that an African American won this championship? It’s significant […]
Lifting Louisiana’s economy starts with helping children | Neva Butkus
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, as it does every year around this time, recently delivered some bad news about Louisiana’s children. According to its Kids Count Data Book, Louisiana ranks 48th in the country for child well-being. Louisiana has never ranked higher than 46th in the 31-year history of this project. At the root of […]
Louisiana law requires you to buckle up — unless you’re a child on a school bus | Tammy C. Barney
A 7-30 vote in the Louisiana Senate this month killed HB 130, which would have required new school buses to be installed with seat belts for its young passengers. The Senate’s rejection came after the House had approved the bill introduced by Rep. Robby Carter (D-Amite) by a 55-44 vote. Making school buses safer for […]
A Supreme Court ruling creates an existential crisis for the NCAA and its anachronistic idea of amateurism | Bob Lewis
The world of bigtime college sports is about to change profoundly in ways not even experts yet comprehend because of a bombshell U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Last week’s unanimous and unambiguous decision in NCAA v. Alston eviscerates the American college football and basketball cartel’s business model of earning billions […]
Charging children as adults shifts blame away from adults’ failures | Gina Womack
“For these are all our children, we will all profit by or pay for what they become.”–James Baldwin. We at Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children are saddened by the death of Anita Irvin-LeViege who was murdered during an attempted carjacking in New Orleans in January. We mourn her death and all lives lost […]
We who wear natural hairstyles shouldn’t have to change it for employment | Tammy C. Barney
A White manager was concerned when my best friend — like me, a Black woman — came to work with her hair in tiny twists. “So tell me about your hair,” she said. “It’s just twisted, right?” My friend, looking perplexed, answered, “No, it’s locked.” “Well, we’re going to say that it’s twisted,” the manager […]
William Tate and Lamar Davis have some big messes to clean up | Tammy C. Barney
LSU and the Louisiana State Police, two prominent state institutions embroiled in separate scandals that stink of sexism and racism have something else in common: Black men have been hired to eliminate the stench. The roads toward repairing all that ails these institutions are riddled with potholes, detours and dead ends. The two new leaders […]
Memorial Day memories: Courage of war correspondents
I never fought in the Vietnam War. I joined United Press International, a worldwide wire service, in 1975 at the end of that conflict. My heroes were UPI war correspondents — Leon Daniel, Kate Webb and Joseph L. Galloway. Daniel was a friend. He died in 2006. Webb was a role model and later, mentor. […]
100 years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, lessons from my grandfather
When Viola Fletcher, 107, appeared before Congress this month, she called for the nation to officially acknowledge the Tulsa race riot of 1921. I know that place and year well. As is the case with Fletcher – who is one of the last living survivors of the massacre, which took place when she was 7 […]
Japanese American soldiers in World War II fought the Axis abroad and racial prejudice at home
Imagine being forced from your home by the government, being imprisoned in a detention camp under armed guards and behind barbed wire – and then being required to join the military to fight for the nation that had locked up you and your family. That’s what happened in a little-known chapter of U.S. history, in […]