Women With a Vision (WWAV), a New Orleans advocacy and service organization that provides health care and other support for poor women of color, was the victim of a break-in and arson late Thursday night. A small organization that has won a national reputation for their work, WWAV...

In a 2-1 ruling today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeal reversed the conviction of former Waterproof mayor Bobby Higginbotham, and vacated his sentence. The case had attracted the attention of civil rights activists around the U.S., as well as Color of Change, a national racial...

Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) set up in the aftermath of the BP Drilling Disaster, has broken with his own past practices -- as well as the evidence compiled by scientists and the experience of Gulf Coast residents -- and refused to pay health claims...

Louisiana's era of forcing certain convicted sex workers to register as sex offenders appears to be over. Governor Jindall's office announced today that he had signed into law a bill, sponsored by Louisiana State Representative Charmaine Marchand Stiaes, that effectively moves prostitution convictions

On June 1, a week past her 31st birthday, civil rights activist Catrina Wallace was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. This was a first arrest for Wallace, a single mother who became politically active when her brother was arrested in the case that later became known as...

Civil rights activist Catrina Wallace, who received national attention for her role in organizing protests around the Jena Six case, was convicted today of three counts of distribution of a controlled substance.

The case was heard by 28th District Judge J. Christopher Peters, a former Assistant District...

An earlier version of this article originally appeared on ColorLines.com

Eve is a transgender woman living in rural southern Louisiana. She was molested as a child and left home as a teenager. Homeless and alone, she was forced to trade sex for survival. While still a teenager, she...

A struggle over the size of New Orleans' jail could define the city's future

New Orleans' criminal justice system is at a crossroads. A new mayor and police chief say they want to make major changes, and the police department is facing lawsuits and federal investigations that may...

Poet Sunni Patterson is one of New Orleans' most beloved artists. She has performed in nearly every venue in the city, toured the US, and frequently appears on television and radio, from Democracy Now to Def Poetry Jam. When she performs her poems in...

Three months ago, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law the notorious SB 1070, a bill that put her state at the forefront of a movement to intensify the criminalization of undocumented immigrants.

Since then, activists have responded through legal challenges, political lobbying, grassroots organizing and mass mobilizations....

This week, federal officials charged six current and former New Orleans police officers in connection with the killing of civilians in the days after Hurricane Katrina. The six are not only accused of murder but also of conspiring to hide their crime through secret meetings, planting evidence, inventing...

As BP's deepwater well continues to discharge oil into the Gulf, the economic and public health effects are already being felt across coastal communities. But it's likely this is only the beginning. From the bayous of southern Louisiana to the city of New Orleans, many fear this disaster...

Sheriff Scott Franklin of Jena says he is trying to rid his community of drugs. Critics say he is pursuing a vendetta against the town's Black community.

At 4 am on July 9 of last year, more than 150 officers from ten different agencies gathered in a large barn just...

New Orleans' Black and transgender community members and advocates complain of rampant and systemic harassment and discrimination from the city's police force, including sexual violence and arrest without cause. Activists hope that public outrage at recent revelations of widespread police violence and corruption offer an opportunity to make changes in...

In Waterproof, a small northern Louisiana town near Natchez, Mississippi, the African American mayor and police chief assert that they have been forced from office and arrested as part of an illegal coup carried out by an alliance of white politicians and their followers. In a lawsuit filed...

OffBeat Magazine is a monthly print publication based in New Orleans. They claim a circulation of 40,000, mostly through free distribution in bars, stores and coffee shops in the New Orleans area.

The magazine, which apparently has an all-white...

In a city consumed by the Superbowl and Mardi Gras celebrations, New Orleans elected a new mayor last weekend. Mitch Landrieu, the state's current Lieutenant Governor, won 65% of the vote - almost twice the total of the other ten candidates combined. Landrieu will be the city's first white mayor...

Originally published in ColorLines Magazine

On New Year's Eve in 2004, nine months before Hurricane Katrina hit, bouncers in the Bourbon Street club Razzoo's killed a black college student named Levon Jones. The outrage led to near-daily protests outside the club, threats of a black tourist...

New Orleans and Haiti are connected by geography, history, architecture, and family. News of mass devastation and loss of life in the island nation has hit hard in the Crescent City. Almost every hurricane that has hit the Gulf Coast first brought devastation on our neighbors in Haiti....

The following article was written by Jordan Flaherty, for ColorLines Magazine.

Her Crime? Sex Work in New Orleans. With police charging sex workers as sex offenders--the majority of them Black women--activists hope the city's mayoral elections next month will pave the way for fighting the law.

Tabitha has been working...