For over a century in Los Angeles and across the nation, Black people have been disproportionately likely to live near oil wells, the machinery that draws oil from deep underground. The pollution from these drilling sites are connected to birth complications, child development issues, respiratory illnesses, and cancer.

Now, a new California state law moves to turn that lived experience into a broader public-policy question: What does a state owe communities exposed to pollution for generations? And what happens when you can’t offer support to every family that has struggled through the harm?

California lawmakers have passed AB 1661, which would steer $5 million collected from penalized oil wells in Inglewood into direct cash aid for 1,000 nearby households with qualifying respiratory or reproductive health impacts. Some of LA’s Blackest suburbs and city neighborhoods, including Inglewood, Ladera Heights, and Baldwin Hills, surround the oil field.

The legislation, introduced by Assemblymember Isaac G. Bryan, is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom by October. It sets aside enough money for payments of up to $5,000 for 1,000 impacted households under its initial structure. The money would come from the state’s community repair and reinvestment fund for people living nearest the oil field.

SACRAMENTO, Calif., August 25, 2026 – California is on the brink of becoming the first state in the nation to require corporations to declare under oath whether they or their predecessors profited from slavery.

With its passage in the full Senate today, the California State Legislature adopted AB 2599, The Truth in Disclosure Act, authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan and a top priority for the California Legislative Black Caucus. The bill will now be sent to Governor Gavin Newsom for his signature.

The bill requires corporations doing business in California with annual revenue of $100 million in gross receipts or more to submit sworn affidavits — subject to perjury penalties — disclosing whether they or predecessor entities engaged in or profited from slavery-era transactions, with all filings posted to a publicly searchable state database.

It appears that the Republicans in Louisiana want the Black Community in the state to vote Democrat in the Midterms. Make them explain this without sounding racist.

https://apnews.com/article/new-orleans-criminal-clerk-calvin-duncan-exonerated-6a48a3d1ca81c91d42dc122dbed77f29?nbsp;Louisiana Republicans eliminate elected position days before an exoneree was set to take office

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland will create a commission to study potential reparations for slavery after lawmakers voted Tuesday to override a veto by Gov. Wes Moore — currently the nation’s only Black governor — that disappointed many fellow Democrats.

Moore said in his veto letter in May that it was a difficult decision to veto the bill, which was a priority of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. But he wrote there has been enough study of the legacy of slavery, and it was now time to “focus on the work itself” to address it.

But Democrats who control both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly decided the commission was needed to better examine how to do that.

“This topic isn’t easy, but, again, without formal study, reparations risk being dismissed as symbolic or unconstitutional, regardless of moral merit,” said Sen. Charles Sydnor, a Democrat.

Muscogee (Creek) Freedmen this week asked the tribal nation’s Supreme Court to enforce its ruling granting them citizenship after the nation’s executive orders have prevented the issuing of new citizenship cards.

“In issuing (the executive order), Chief (David) Hill has overstepped, encroaching on the Citizenship Board’s independence, violating his duty to uphold the law, and usurping the court’s authority,” the filing reads.

It comes nearly three months after a July 23 ruling granted full citizenship to the descendants of people who were enslaved by the tribe. The July ruling also overturned the nation’s “by-blood” requirement, which served as a basis to deny Freedmen citizenship applications.

OAKLAND, Miss. — Grocery store owner Marquitrice Mangham hurries out of the sweltering August heat of the Mississippi Delta and enters her newly opened Farmacy Marketplace.

She arrives about an hour before the doors open at 10 a.m.

It’s a quiet Friday morning in Oakland, Mississippi, except for the occasional screech of tires from semitrucks passing by on Highway 51. Oakland, fewer than 30 miles from her hometown of Webb, is home to about 400 residents, more than half of whom are Black.

Inside the store, Mangham greets and praises her assistant manager, Kini Bradford-Jefferson. She emphasizes that without her, the store couldn’t operate. They laugh, ask each other how they are doing and tidy up the 3,000-square-foot space.

Until April, Oakland had been without a grocery store.

In rural areas, particularly in the Delta, residents face some of the highest rates of food insecurity and unemployment in the state, resulting in poor health outcomes such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. These communities have high populations of Black people. They often struggle to attract grocery stores and are overwhelmed by a striking growth of dollar stores.

Around 14% of Americans — more than 47 million people — were food insecure at some point during 2023, according to an Associated Press analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and Feeding America data.

​​Mississippi had a food insecurity rate of 18%, higher than the national rate.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cloud Computing has revolutionized how we live and work. But the dirty truth is that the warehouses full of computers that power AI threaten the progress we've made to protect people from pollutants. These data centers and the plants that power them typically burn fuels that emit hazardous chemicals that cause cancer and other health issues into the air the local community breathes.

Elon Musk and his company xAI are poisoning Black communities in TN and MS, just to make more money. While it's not new that data centers threaten to erode our climate progress, xAI's disregard for laws and regulations meant to keep people safe from pollution is unprecedented.

Tech companies and the billionaires who own them must be held accountable. As the country continues to progress in AI, we must ensure that frontline communities aren't the ones paying the price.