We Ain’t Dead Yet
"We knew it was the breath of this city | And it was the confirmation that we were looking for," writes Chuck Perkins. We chose this poem to kick off The Lens' week of Katrina20 stories, essays, photography, and poetry.
Category
In the N.O.
Orleans culture
The gospel of Chuck
Blessed are the ones who live with vigor | Despite life’s tragic comedy.
Police
Regardless of how nervous this might make a kid, everything intensifies when your family is Black and big, white, tobacco-spitting cops approach your car in the middle of nowhere.
From jailhouse lawyer to clerk of court candidate
Calvin Duncan’s unfinished mission for justice moves to a race for political office
Essence isn’t just facing organizational problems—it’s having an identity crisis
From prison to justice
Calvin Duncan’s fight to free himself and others from a broken system — an interview by Bernard Smith.
‘We helped each other. We taught each other the law.’
Calvin Duncan, one of the finest inmate counsels to ever file a writ from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, releases his autobiography today, July 8. The Lens is honored to publish an excerpt from this highly anticipated book, The Jailhouse Lawyer.
‘Ride for Peace’ Brings New Orleanians together to interrupt violence and build community
Part protest, part celebration, the Ride for Peace Sopped at City Hall and pedaled through neighborhoods long affected by violence.
‘Sometimes we forget our own majesty’ — capturing the cadence of New Orleans on Juneteenth
On Juneteenth this year, one elder spoke of freedom still being unfinished. A young teacher reflected on what it means to shape free minds in a system that often feels bound. A mother talked about raising Black sons with love and fear in equal measure.
The towering legacy of the House of Detention
“This building’s architecture tells one story. But its human history tells another— and we need to confront both,” said Loyola Law School professor Andrea Armstrong
