Four years on, the federal investigation into the actions of New Orleans police officers in the days following Hurricane Katrina seem to finally be under way. More...

A new report from the Census Bureau not only reveals the increasing rates of poverty during the first full year of recession but also highlights the disproportionate impact the economic downturn is having on communities of color. More...

Rebuilding efforts in St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans have gotten major acclaim by news agencies and public figures. But an alliance of Gulf Coast and national organizations are raising questions about the community's discriminatory housing policies. More...

The Broadway show The Color Purple has announced plans to raise money for the St. Bernard Project, a strange choice considering St. Bernard Parish's discriminatory housing laws, reports Jordan Flaherty. More...

Enacted into law in Texas today, the Tim Cole Act will increase and expand compensation for people who have been wrongfully convicted in Texas. The act also helps to shine a light on Texas' notorious title as the state that leads the nation in prisoners who have been exonerated through DNA tests. More...

What took place in New Orleans following Katrina was no less than a war, in which victims whose only crimes were poverty and blackness were treated as enemies of the state, reports James Ridgeway. More...

New Orleans' low-income residents and communities of color are finding themselves locked out of housing in the city. More...

Behind the anger visible in recent town hall meetings about health care reform is a surging, right-wing populist movement fearful of the nation's changing demographics, and anxious about having an African-American CEO in Washington, says Chip Berlet. More...

On December 19, 2007, Grace Head, a 66 year-old resident of Arlington, Texas, set her Doberman Pinscher on two black neighbors, Silk Littlejohn and Broderick Gamble after telling them they had to abandon their home. Alan Bean reports on how city officials responded to that hate crime. More...

The strategies used by the "tea-party" clique were perfected in fighting progressive immigration reform. Now the new battlefield is the health care reform town hall meetings, reports Henry Fernandez. More...

In a major breakthrough Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a new hearing for Georgia death-row inmate Troy Davis. Davis' case has become one of most high-profile death penalty cases in the United States, and has helped to spur a growing movement against the death penalty in the South. More...

A new report by the Sentencing Project finds that an unprecedented number of prisoners are serving life sentences. More...

The second Free Minds Free People conference took place in Houston last weekend, and Melissa M. Forbis reports that the event's Gulf Coast location gave it special urgency. More...

The case of the Jena Six in Louisiana closed quietly on Friday as the remaining defendants accepted a plea deal. The case highlighted the miscarriages of justice that black youth face across the country. More...

A Florida community group is staging a hunger strike in protest of Bank of America's lack of transparency in its lending practices toward low-income minorities. More...

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that requires a number of states and many local governments -- mostly in the South -- to get federal permission before changing their voting procedures. Judith Browne-Dianis makes the case for why that provision is still crucial today. More...

Last week a UN special rapporteur on racism offered recommendations to the United States to address ongoing issues of racial discrimination, including the treatment of Katrina survivors. More...

The Senate passed a resolution Thursday apologizing for slavery, but with a disclaimer that such an apology could not be used to support reparations claims from descendants of African slaves. More...

In a decision praised by voting rights advocates, the Justice Department ruled against Georgia's voter verification program, calling the citizenship screening system flawed and unfair to minorities. More...

Across the country today, and internationally, events are being held calling for a new trial for Georgia death row prisoner Troy Davis. More...