Louisiana

Regulatory Rollback on Student Loans Takes Away Borrower Protections

Every Fourth of July celebrates this nation’s founding. But this year, only a few days before the annual freedom celebration, an ill-advised governmental action will financially doom rather than free millions of student loan borrowers – as of July 1. Moreover, this action arrives as the cost of higher education continues to soar and household incomes remain largely stagnant.

Leah Chase… A New Orleans Culinary Icon & Lovely Lady

‘Queen of Creole Cuisine’ Passes Away at Age 96

“Life is about listening, learning and never giving up. As long as you’re here on earth, you’re here for a purpose and it’s not about you, it’s about what you can do to better the world you live in. And that’s why I’m here, to help someone else up.”

That’s what New Orleans chef and civil rights icon, Leah Chase told the Sentinel in an exclusive interview in 2017. She has served notables such as Quincy Jones, Jesse Jackson, Thurgood Marshall, James Baldwin, Ray Charles, former President Barack Obama and many more.

THERE NEVER WAS A NOBLE SOUTH.

Have you ever noticed that when driving through the southern United States you are hard-pressed to find a city or town without a memorial to the Confederate war dead, but you are equally hard-pressed to find a city or town with a monument commemorating fallen Revolutionary War soldiers?

Hate Crimes and Solutions Offered by Activists

Phyllis G. Williams, the co-host of the podcast “Living the Principles,” said one reason hate crimes are increasing is that criminals of those actions typically gain notoriety. “Hate crimes with mass media exposure are nothing shy of a recruiting tool. This is why we have seen an increase over the last few years,” Williams said.

James Byrd’s Killer Didn’t Deserve the Death Penalty

Killing is wrong. Killing Black people because they are Black is even more wrong. Lynching Black people is exponentially wrong. So why was I opposed to the state-imposed killing of John William King, the despicable murderer of James Byrd, Jr.? I happen to think that there are worse things that can happen to you than death. The now 44-year old King could have gotten a sentence of life in prison and lived miserably there for the rest of his life. In some ways, death is salvation for him. Imagine being relatively healthy with nothing to look forward to? Just sitting there, in jail, surrounded by the Black people your white supremacist self purports to hate. That might be torture worse than death.

Major Prostate Cancer Research Targeting African Americans Set to Begin

a national network of prostate cancer researchers and experts who have joined forces to study prostate cancer in African American men has received a $26 million grant as part of former Vice President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative to conduct the largest study ever to look at the underlying factors and reasons that put African American men at higher risk for developing and dying from prostate cancer.

The Black Death: Black Deaths Matter?

It has been four days since the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. It is Halloween, and the funerals began yesterday for the 11 victims. It has been called “the worst attack on Jews in American history.” The coverage has been relentless throughout the media, and touching vignettes of the lives of the victims have been ubiquitous. President Donald Trump has ordered flags at federal buildings throughout the United States to be flown at half-staff in “solemn respect” for the victims. Grotesque irony notwithstanding, United States President Donald Trump also visited the site of the massacre yesterday and met with victims and/or their families.

The Criminalization of Poverty: Cash Bail for Non-Violent Misdemeanors Perpetuates Unequal Treatment Under the Law

Praise the Lord, indeed. Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Black voting rates – particularly in presidential years – rose steadily. In 2008, the Black voting rate matched the White rate for the first time and in 2012 exceeded it. Not coincidentally, in 2013 the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act and the Black voter turnout in 2016 dipped to a low not seen since 2004.