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New visual book relives life and commerce along the Mississippi River

LOUISIANA WEEKLY — The murky, muddy waters of the Mississippi River go on for miles and can be seen treading beneath the many boats and barges that slowly crawl along the river, daily.

Award-winning photographer Richard Sexton spent two decades observing and documenting the river, its industrialization and how it continues to evolve as time goes. This project began as a sponsorship for a portfolio of industrial landscape but later turned into something more.

Published

5 years ago

October 19, 2019

Oakland Post

Fishing in the flooded Bonnet Carré Spillway with moored tankers in background, near Norco (detail); 2015; © Richard Sexton; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2015.0364.51

By Sydney Odom

The murky, muddy waters of the Mississippi River go on for miles and can be seen treading beneath the many boats and barges that slowly crawl along the river, daily.

On Sept. 17, the Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC), a museum and research institute dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans, released “Enigmatic Stream: Industrial Landscapes of the Lower Mississippi River,” a book chronicling the impact of industrialization between and along the Mississippi River’s banks over the past 20 years.

“New Orleans is here because of the river. I wanted to showcase that and let people decide what they think about it,” Sexton said.

The book features 100 black-and-white photographs showcasing the changes on and along the river’s bank, as well as how it has been integrated in everyday life. To accompany the release of the book, an exhibit of the images is on display at the HNOC’s exhibition center at 520 Royal St. until April 5, 2020. The exhibit uses some of the photos to highlight the development of the landscape. Both the exhibit and book contextualize the obvious but also complex uses of the Mississippi River.

The photos are organized geographically in the exhibit, starting in St. Bernard Parish and ending in Baton Rouge Parish. The section of the river from Baton Rouge to New Orleans is one of the most economically dominant passages in the country.

“New Orleans is still a prominent city because of the economic development of the river,” Sexton said. The photos bring the river to the forefront and help spark aesthetic and critical discussions about life in the city. They raise debates on issues such as global warming and how industrialization has and is affecting the land and communities around it.

“The exhibit speaks to the changing relationship between humans and the landscape of the lower Mississippi over the last decades,” said Siobhan McKiernan, an associate editor for The Historic New Orleans Collection. The Collection felt it was necessary to display Sexton’s work because of the impact that it could have on understanding the community. The photos speak to the dramatic changes that cannot always be seen by just gazing at the river, McKiernan explained.

New Orleans is a port-city with tons of goods in transit every day. Large corporations take advantage of the easy access that the Mississippi River provides but do not consider the environmental cost that the locals may have to pay, McKiernan explained.

Sexton’s work portrays this through photography of the residential areas along the water. They highlight the growing erosion and depreciation of the land. The images are annotated with essays from author Paul Schneider, who has produced books on natural history, and John H. Lawrence, who contextualized Sexton’s images.

“A lot of people aren’t aware of the history of the river in Louisiana,” said Jenny Bagert, a resident who attended the exhibit launch on Sept. 17. The exhibit along with the book display the current history of the Mississippi River, one that is rarely shown to the public. Bagert added that she felt the images clearly show the evolution of southeastern Louisiana that residents do not normally get to see.

While many public conversations surround changes to the city’s more touristic parts, residents who attended the exhibit launch said there is a need for more documentation that reflects social and environmental changes that impact ordinary residents. Presenting Sexton’s photos in the Historic New Orleans Collection provided them a place for a conversation about the environment that is playing out in activism and policy making, particularly during disasters.

The exhibition and book not only seek to present information but also inspire change, residents said. “This has really been a wakeup call for me,” Bagert said.

“Enigmatic Stream” is available for purchase at The Shop at The Collection. Admission to the exhibition is free. Both the museum and the shop are open to the public Tuesday-Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. More information about the book, exhibit and HNOC online at www.hnoc.org.

This article originally published in the October 14, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.

This article originally appeared in The Louisiana Weekly.

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Recently Approved Budget Plan Favors Wealthy, Slashes Aid to Low-Income Americans

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The most significant benefits would flow to the highest earners while millions of low-income families face cuts

Published

14 hours ago

March 21, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown

BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent

The new budget framework approved by Congress may result in sweeping changes to the federal safety net and tax code. The most significant benefits would flow to the highest earners while millions of low-income families face cuts. A new analysis from Yale University’s Budget Lab shows the proposals in the House’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Resolution would lead to a drop in after-tax-and-transfer income for the poorest households while significantly boosting revenue for the wealthiest Americans. Last month, Congress passed its Concurrent Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2025 (H. Con. Res. 14), setting revenue and spending targets for the next decade. The resolution outlines $1.5 trillion in gross spending cuts and $4.5 trillion in tax reductions between FY2025 and FY2034, along with $500 billion in unspecified deficit reduction.

Congressional Committees have now been instructed to identify policy changes that align with these goals. Three of the most impactful committees—Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means—have been tasked with proposing major changes. The Agriculture Committee is charged with finding $230 billion in savings, likely through changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. Energy and Commerce must deliver $880 billion in savings, likely through Medicaid reductions. Meanwhile, the Ways and Means Committee must craft tax changes totaling no more than $4.5 trillion in new deficits, most likely through extending provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Although the resolution does not specify precise changes, reports suggest lawmakers are eyeing steep cuts to SNAP and Medicaid benefits while seeking to make permanent tax provisions that primarily benefit high-income individuals and corporations.

To examine the potential real-world impact, Yale’s Budget Lab modeled four policy changes that align with the resolution’s goals:

A 30 percent across-the-board cut in SNAP funding.
A 15 percent cut in Medicaid funding.
Permanent extension of the individual and estate tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Permanent extension of business tax provisions including 100% bonus depreciation, expense of R&D, and relaxed limits on interest deductions.

Yale researchers determined that the combined effect of these policies would reduce the after-tax-and-transfer income of the bottom 20 percent of earners by 5 percent in the calendar year 2026. Households in the middle would see a modest 0.6 percent gain. However, the top five percent of earners would experience a 3 percent increase in their after-tax-and-transfer income.

Moreover, the analysis concluded that more than 100 percent of the net fiscal benefit from these changes would go to households in the top 20 percent of the income distribution. This happens because lower-income groups would lose more in government benefits than they would gain from any tax cuts. At the same time, high-income households would enjoy significant tax reductions with little or no loss in benefits.

“These results indicate a shift in resources away from low-income tax units toward those with higher incomes,” the Budget Lab report states. “In particular, making the TCJA provisions permanent for high earners while reducing spending on SNAP and Medicaid leads to a regressive overall effect.” The report notes that policymakers have floated a range of options to reduce SNAP and Medicaid outlays, such as lowering per-beneficiary benefits or tightening eligibility rules. While the Budget Lab did not assess each proposal individually, the modeling assumes legislation consistent with the resolution’s instructions. “The burden of deficit reduction would fall largely on those least able to bear it,” the report concluded.

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A Threat to Pre-emptive Pardons

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — it was a possibility that the preemptive pardons would not happen because of the complicated nature of that never-before-enacted process.

Published

15 hours ago

March 21, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

President Trump is working to undo the traditional presidential pardon powers by questioning the Biden administration’s pre-emptive pardons issued just days before January 20, 2025. President Trump is seeking retribution against the January 6th House Select Committee. The Trump Justice Department has been tasked to find loopholes to overturn the pardons that could lead to legal battles for the Republican and Democratic nine-member committee. Legal scholars and those closely familiar with the pardon process worked with the Biden administration to ensure the preemptive pardons would stand against any retaliatory knocks from the incoming Trump administration. A source close to the Biden administration’s pardons said, in January 2025, “I think pardons are all valid. The power is unreviewable by the courts.”

However, today that same source had a different statement on the nuances of the new Trump pardon attack. That attack places questions about Biden’s use of an autopen for the pardons. The Trump argument is that Biden did not know who was pardoned as he did not sign the documents. Instead, the pardons were allegedly signed by an autopen. The same source close to the pardon issue said this week, “unless he [Trump] can prove Biden didn’t know what was being done in his name. All of this is in uncharted territory. “ Meanwhile, an autopen is used to make automatic or remote signatures. It has been used for decades by public figures and celebrities.

Months before the Biden pardon announcement, those in the Biden White House Counsel’s Office, staff, and the Justice Department were conferring tirelessly around the clock on who to pardon and how. The concern for the preemptive pardons was how to make them irrevocable in an unprecedented process. At one point in the lead-up to the preemptive pardon releases, it was a possibility that the preemptive pardons would not happen because of the complicated nature of that never-before-enacted process. President Trump began the threat of an investigation for the January 6th Select Committee during the Hill proceedings. Trump has threatened members with investigation or jail.

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Reaction to The Education EO

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Meanwhile, the new Education EO jeopardizes funding for students seeking a higher education. Duncan states, PellGrants are in jeopardy after servicing “6.5 million people” giving them a chance to go to college.

Published

15 hours ago

March 21, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

There are plenty of negative reactions to President Donald Trump’s latest Executive Order abolishing the Department of Education. As Democrats call yesterday’s action performative, it would take an act of Congress for the Education Department to close permanently. “This blatantly unconstitutional executive order is just another piece of evidence that Trump has absolutely no respect for the Constitution,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) who is the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee. “By dismantling ED, President Trump is implementing his own philosophy on education, which can be summed up in his own words, ‘I love the poorly educated.’ I am adamantly opposed to this reckless action, said Rep. Bobby Scott who is the most senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee.

Morgan State University President Dr. David Wilson chimed in saying “I’m deeply concerned about efforts to shift federal oversight in education back to the states, particularly regarding equity, justice, and fairness. History has shown us what happens when states are left unchecked—Black and poor children are too often denied access to the high-quality education they deserve. In 1979 then President Jimmy Carter signed a law creating the Department of Education. Arne Duncan, former Obama Education Secretary, reminds us that both Democratic and Republican presidents have kept education a non-political issue until now. However, Duncan stressed Republican presidents have contributed greatly to moving education forward in this country.

During a CNN interview this week Duncan said during the Civil War President Abraham “Lincoln created the land grant system” for colleges like Tennessee State University. “President Ford brought in IDEA.” And “Nixon signed Pell Grants into law.” In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush which increased federal oversight of schools through standardized testing. Meanwhile, the new Education EO jeopardizes funding for students seeking higher education. Duncan states, PellGrants are in jeopardy after servicing “6.5 million people” giving them a chance to go to college. Wilson details, “that 40 percent of all college students rely on Pell Grants and student loans.”

Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) says this Trump action “impacts students pursuing higher education and threatens 26 million students across the country, taking billions away from their educational futures. Meanwhile, During the president’s speech in the East Room of the White House Thursday, Trump criticized Baltimore City, and its math test scores with critical words. Governor West Moore, who is opposed to the EO action, said about dismantling the Department of Education, “Leadership means lifting people up, not punching them down.”