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I know customers are counting on me.

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We power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum.

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Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.

But there are some cases.

One from Alabama.

One from Louisiana, which could set really interesting precedents.

This isn't the first time Louisiana has challenged the notion of race.

To the extent that humanity has a fighting chance against carbon in the atmosphere, it's in the water.

Is water the future of carbon capture?

The problem is the cybersecurity problem grows as the number of people that output grows.

The challenges of cybersecurity, an integral part of black Greek culture, explained tonight.

We begin with new data that shows Louisiana students are still scoring below the national average in four subjects.

But there is a small glimmer of.

Hope, a slight bit of celebration here.

Fourth graders scored two percentage points higher on the reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress testing.

Louisiana is one of only two states to show improvement in reading following the pandemic.

And now on to other news making headlines around the state.

New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board is considering a rate increase despite years of public outcry about high water bills.

The last rate increase was approved in 2012 with annual 10% increases going through 2020.

Mayor Latoya Cantrell gave strong support for the increase at a meeting this week.

She says it's necessary to fund critical maintenance and upgrades.

Some city council officials say they are not going to approve any increase until billing issues have been resolved.

Redrawing Louisiana's congressional map was under heated debate during session this year.

The new map garnet criticism for limiting the black vote.

But the decision was ultimately left to the Supreme Court to decide how the districts would look.

More controversy has emerged this week as Republican officials ask the U.S. Supreme Court to set a narrower definition of black for redistricting in Louisiana.

Joining me to talk about the impact of this potential change is Jim Inkster, who is a political analyst.

Thank you so much for joining me, Jim.

Good to be with you, Carol.

All right.

So let's backpedal a little bit.

Why is the U.S. Supreme Court being asked to redefine what's considered black and what isn't?

Louisiana and Alabama have cases before the court determining congressional districts, and an argument can be made.

Some would say convincingly that blacks are underrepresented in both states because there is a big proportion, not a majority, but a strong minority of black citizens 33% in Louisiana and one third of our districts would mean that we are underrepresented because we only have one out of six and we should, based on the numbers, if we're just doing wrong, numbers have two out of six.

So these numbers actually matter.

Now, the question is whether this new look that the secretary of State Calloway is asking for will really make a difference because based on the early reading, it only includes people who identify as black, white and Latino.

So it wouldn't involve a lot of people.

But cases like these set precedents and usually involve cases that might go before the court at a future time.

So it could be a significant case before the court.

And it involves us right here in Louisiana.

So first, I mean, who is considered black in Louisiana?

In Louisiana, we have a long, tortured history in that realm.

In 1970, the legislature passed a law saying if a person is 1/32 black, then they're black, which would mean you'd have to go back to a great grandparent who is black for that to happen, and anybody under that category would be considered black.

Now, in 1983, that was overturned.

Now, the way these numbers are determined is through the census.

And if somebody checks off that they're black and white, they're still considered to be black.

And now this new wrinkle is the people who've checked black, white and Latino.

The Republican Party in Louisiana believes they should not be considered black in elections, are won at the margins.

And sometimes these percentages mean something, and this is something that they decided to take issue with.

And I know you've mentioned this before, but like you said, Louisiana is about 33% black.

And I believe most of those people identify as model racial.

They're not Afro-Latino and they're not, you know, considering themselves biracial.

So why again?

Why pursue?

What's the point of this pursuit?

Well, it's all about politics.

And most of us are part black or white if we live in Louisiana.

That's the nature of being here.

And the question is, how do we identify?

But unfortunately, in politics, we're now voting along racial lines extensively.

And 95% of the black citizens voted against Donald Trump twice.

85% of the white citizens in Louisiana voted for him twice.

So these numbers have a politically charged element to them.

And it's all about winning elections.

And ultimately, I think that's the underlying current behind this new wrinkle in determining who is white and who is black.

Well, originally, whenever people were bringing up the congressional map and they had a lot of criticism behind it, one of the biggest arguments was that it was a violation of the voting Rights Act.

So if we redefine what is considered black, does that argument still matter?

The Voting Rights Act would seem to indicate, as Judge Shelly Dick ruled, that Louisiana is not in compliance.

Now, the Supreme Court has a case before it not only from Louisiana, but also from Alabama in which they could throw out section two.

And if they do that, then it really won't matter.

And this case won't matter because race will not be a factor.

And that's exactly what the state of Alabama is asking for, saying that in drawing congressional lines, that race should not even be a factor.

But as we know in the South, we have a long, tortured history with race.

And some people believe we're not past it yet and that we need some kind of structure that is imposed on us from the federal government.

But there are some cases.

One from Alabama, one from Louisiana, which could set really interesting precedents.

So in conclusion, this isn't new.

We've done this a couple of times in Louisiana, defining who's black and who wasn't for political reasons.

And I guess this is just the next the next I don't know the next argument, the next decision.

In Louisiana, we have a history of racially charged politics where the state that as a people gave 60% of the white vote to David Duke for U.S. Senate in 1994, 55% of the white vote went to him when he ran for governor a year later.

And without the votes from black citizens, we would have had both Governor and U.S.

Senator David Duke.

So some people believe that black citizens are worthy of being counted.

And sometimes make decisions that are in the best interests.

Well, thank you so much for joining us and talking about this topic.

We'll see what unravels from here.

Thank you.

Care.

It's going to be a fascinating few months.

Thanks to.

And now the second part of our series on Carbon Capture, a company at the forefront of setting new standards for carbon capture and removal by accelerating natural processes with water at the center of it.

I talked with Al Harrell, a blue green water technologies.

The the way we're trying we as a company trying to combat the carbon in the atmosphere has been by many different ways.

One way was to try and reduce our reliance on fossil fuel.

And we've seen a lot of efforts by many of the energy companies to move away from the use of coal, for example, and start buying offshore wind farms and solar power and whatnot.

And it's a very good approach.

It makes sense.

That's the way to go.

And it does reduce their overall carbon footprint.

However, it has to be pointed out as well that even that is the carbon footprint, because to build those farms, to operate those farms, everything has a carbon footprint.

And this is in a first world country.

Take the rest of the world.

The rest of the world is basically relying on fossil fuel for its existence, for its development.

You cannot take it away from them.

They will not give you the scale has to be practical here.

So fossil fuel is here to stay in this for another and ultimately carbon footprint is out there big time.

One of the examples is you can take any you can take any of the service companies, big banks, for example.

They don't they're responsible for directly releasing any fossil fuel fuel based emissions anywhere.

And yet there are carbon footprint is quite significant.

Why?

Because they have a lot of people in fancy infrastructure driving around, flying around and all this.

And it builds up to a significant amount of emissions.

And this is something that needs to be handled where humanity really stands a fighting chance.

It's not the land in water.

Well, the simple reason that by design, the way the world works is that the oceans and the lakes for watering in general is where carbon goes to sleep.

Water regulates carbon in the atmosphere.

83% of all carbon in the atmosphere circulates through water.

And it's not through the properties of water in and of itself.

It's through little creatures are called microalgae.

Microscopic algae that is so effective in capturing carbon that it is also responsible for 50% of all the oxygen we breathe on earth.

Despite the fact that when you compare it to trees on Earth, it's 0.5% of all the green, in the words, the amount of biomass that generates all that oxygen.

Oxygen.

It's just that effective.

We came from the attempt to control a water pandemia, which is based on those microalgae that overpopulate.

Now, when it overpopulate, that's a problem I equated to a cancerous tumor.

It's what what is known as the Natura nature based carbon removal system.

That is actually a problem you want to get rid of.

So imagine you have this cancerous tumor, which is in the form of a lot of biomass that captures fantastic amounts of carbon in the process of growing out of control.

And we're able to come in and trigger a biological chain of events within those toxic communities that causes them completely to collapse.

You suddenly have a huge amount of biomass in carbon within that biomass that drops to the bottom and buries in the sediment.

More importantly, parts of it actually undergoes mineralization, so the carbon turns into lime.

The rest of it will lie on the floor of the ocean and the lake until after a millennia will turn into oil and into oil and natural gas.

This is our oil and natural gas.

We're made through ancient algae and sand, the bacteria dying, dropping to the bottom and through certain chemical processes turning into those into those substances, oil and natural gas, which is why when we burn them, we release all that carbon.

Our A treatment is a very surgical approach to take a very surgical approach.

Again, to trigger a biological and natural process.

It's as if we're pressing a red button within the toxic communities that causes the fact the entire toxic community to collapse.

What happens immediately after is that there is no vaccine.

The nature is those communities collapse with all the carbon that is accumulated in them.

You will start seeing immediately a rebound in beneficial, nontoxic species such as green algae that I don't want to get too technical, but essentially you're rehabilitating the water column.

We are reintroducing biodiversity to the environment.

We get streaky is how do you calculate exactly how much carbon we have removed through this process?

And this is not an easy task by any stretch.

We are in the process of defining a methodology to calculate how much carbon is being sequestered in the process of how pull that off all of the mediation.

It's a long process.

It needs to be validated by the scientific community.

So it's simple.

One, we're expecting this to take between one and a half to two years to be accomplished.

But the important thing, and I'm putting your focus on global Greens interest, I think again, to the extent of humanity is a fighting chance to get the carbon, the atmosphere, it's in the water, whether it's us through our technology, whether it's us through our methodology, the efforts in and the focus needs to move to where it really counts.

Because right now, all the efforts, all the money supporting the places where the impact is just negligible enough terms.

Got it.

Okay.

So water is the answer, whether it's you or somebody else finding out the technology and the ratio that works.

Correct.

And Errol is talking with Louisiana officials about some of their plans for carbon capture.

The NSA has designated LSU as one of about 20 top universities to study cybersecurity.

Here's Professor Golden Richard.

And we join roughly 20 schools nationwide now that are designated and those schools are essentially schools that are teaching very high tech cybersecurity.

One one differentiator is having classes in research in our analysis.

So this means like computer viruses and ransomware and all the stuff that we hear about in the news all the time.

Having classes that do like deeply technical instruction in that area in particular is a differentiator, and there just aren't that many people teaching classes like that.

And, you know, there's a bit of warfare as as schools try to steal each other's faculty to grab someone who can teach that and then perhaps go after the designation.

Is it hard to keep up with what you need to teach?

It is hard.

It is hard to to to keep up.

So every day is a new day.

It's not quite starting from scratch.

But yeah, if you don't if you if you don't want to learn new things every day, it's a it's a terrible field.

The opposite of teaching Louisiana history or something.

Yes.

Our calculus, the impact on Louisiana is that students that are going to study cybersecurity often use that list of schools as essentially a shopping list to like to find schools that they want to study at.

It also opens up new funding sources for LSU.

And just the the fact that we can say we're one of 20.

Job security is also tremendous for someone studying this.

Yes.

To be there a field of of work.

Yes.

There's zero unemployment with with estimates between, say, 200,000 and a million empty seats with no one to sit there.

And is that because there aren't enough programs to teach or there's too many things happening with.

Too many things happening?

And, you know, it's a fun yet difficult field.

And we're trying to catch up by creating new programs nationwide.

So, yeah, the problem is the cybersecurity problem grows as the number of people that we output grows.

So yeah, there's a lot of just standard cyber hygiene things that you should you've been told many, many times not to click on strange email attachments or I mean, the work that we're doing here is to develop systems that can take some of the burden off of you and protect you more and so you have to worry essentially less about what you're clicking on.

When you teach a class on that.

How is that structured done?

So just to take one example, we teach a class on malware analysis, so that's understanding computer viruses.

So essentially in the first day, students get a big printout of the code of a computer virus, and their task is to start understanding exactly how it works.

So you're essentially thrown in the deep end and learn on the job.

And, you know, for the most part, by the time that semester class is over, the, you know, the average person coming out of the class as a pretty good handle on how to take apart malware.

And they had a lot more self-study to do, right?

More learning.

But yeah, they have a good basis for getting started.

LSU also offers an online cybersecurity boot camp to help give you tools to fight cybercrime.

You can check out more at LSU dot edu.

When you think of black Greeks, the first thing that probably comes to mind is stepping or strolling.

These are two art forms that are very unique to the black experience, but they didn't originate in America, at least not fully.

Tonight, in the very last episode of Crossing Over Black Greek Life, we explore this very sacred expression of culture.

These movements are precise, rhythmic synchronizing with the beat made entirely by hands and feet.

We've seen it in a lot of media, and it's iconic for a reason.

Stepping and strolling are what most people think of when they hear the phrase Black Greek life.

It's almost synonymous with the name.

But what is it?

Why do they do it?

I met up with Cheryl Carter, the president of the AMA, Crying Beta Sigma chapter of Phi Beta Sigma.

He knows all about the history of this art form.

So when people think of black Greek life, the first thing that a lot of people think of is stepping, dancing, all of these things.

But can you explain in your words, what is stepping?

Stepping is an expression.

This is an expression of sound, of art, of creativity, of imagination all wrapped into one ball.

Right.

There's a lot of thought that goes into that because you have to you have to marry all of those things into one accord, whether it's your feet, your hands, your voice, different taps, the different bases.

You have to make sure that all of those things fall in the right spot at the right time and everyone is doing the exact same thing.

So from an expression standpoint is really has been a way for black Greek letter organizations to express themselves and also bring a little attention to what they're doing, who they are, and where they come from.

Does every organization step.

Once you become a member, you tend to do it.

Whether it is doing your probate or neophyte show is what we call them.

Now you do the signature step.

So you have even if you don't step at all after that, you have your opportunity to get that step in to to make sure that you you kind of take hold of the tradition and show people exactly what you can do.

Wait a second.

Probate neophyte.

What does that even mean?

Now, stepping really dates back to when people were pledging.

And in the 1960s, those persons were called pro bass.

They were on probation.

They had limited contact with their friends and peers.

Outside of that process, they were all in in terms of joining their organization toward the end of that process.

Those new members then had a performance.

So the poor base then would get together and they would be formally presented to the campus.

This was really the only time we saw this kind of self-expression with these groups, and they had dances that they did.

A lot of times they would use a popular music of the day and change the lyrics so that it would be an ode to their organizations.

Out of those presentations came stepping going into the 1970s, and so we start to see now this emergence of this new art form.

Okay, so stepping is just a way to showcase.

I am now part of this organization and I'm proud of it.

These are my letters.

Yeah.

See me.

See, this is who I am.

But the roots of this art form have nothing to do with neophyte shows or initiation, as it was all about communication.

South African miners use the sound of their hands and gumboots to send messages to each other underground during the apartheid.

Sometimes they attach bells to their feet or hands to amplify the noise.

Is there a language to alert the other miners that they were doing well, that they were alive, you know, to check on on the sea, to keep their spirits high?

It was almost like singing the hymn, but you can't sing.

So you're making the beat and you're just you know, if you're either a miner in a different area and you hear it and you know that that group is okay, you know that that group is is doing well.

They're trying to encourage you to to continue working that it'll all be over soon.

Because we are black Greek letter organizations and a lot of the history and the traditions and heritage that we have comes from our ancestors.

That's kind of the way that art form has transformed and gone through generations, generation, generations to where it is now, to where it's almost the same thing.

Right?

We we communicate with our steps to the audience, to other Greek organizations, to our brothers and sisters in in Greek life.

Just say this is who we are.

This is what we've been doing.

This is what we do as a whole and to express ourselves.

Right.

So it hadn't it hadn't gone too far from the origin.

The gumboot dance represented a type of black unity Greeks were desperately trying to capture by the sixties and seventies.

They were redefining themselves, and their blackness movement was the best way to do that.

So members adopted the Gumboot dance and added their own identity to it.

That's when you start to see the iconic hand signs and gestures and the poses.

Is just now is very evolved.

So a lot of things that go into it now that that wasn't back then.

And depending on what type of show it is, you are telling a story.

Yeah, absolutely.

Step shows can range in their storytelling.

You can see a critique of the world or comedic number about Michael Jackson, but no step showcase would be complete without a struggle.

So this is where people will non-Greek get kind of confused.

So they're stepping and then they're strolling.

What's the difference?

So stepping is, like I said, it's building a rhythm or a B with your hands, your feet, your mouth.

Whereas strolling, you're not necessarily dependent upon yourself being the instrument.

Right?

When you're strolling, you're strolling to a song or a recorded beat that's already there for you.

So you're literally just filling the gaps with, you know, creative dance.

Strolling was originally called the Party Walk.

It was a unified dance that Greeks did at parties.

It started as just one dance for Greeks to show off their letters and moves, but then it turned into almost a necessity.

I think around maybe late nineties, early 2000 is when you really started seeing that strolling was catching up with stepping.

And I would say 2000 and showing my age, 2007 ish.

Eight ish was when you started noticing like instead of having step shoes, you had strollers and people were putting a lot of time into coming up with roles because they wanted to perform.

Strolling and Stepping are now an integral part of this Greek tradition.

And nothing compares to the first time I saw it when I was a kid.

I don't think anyone can prepare for the explosion of culture you see when you sit down to watch a show.

But it fills me with absolute joy that this art form will live on for generations to come.

That was the very last episode of this series, and I learned so much about culture and history every time I put these together and I'm so honored that I get to take you all on this journey with me.

Yes, great work.

I did.

Also, I think everyone watching did.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

It was great.

And thanks for everybody.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything else anytime, wherever you are with our Lpv PBS app.

You can catch LAPD News and Public Affairs shows as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like us on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.

For everyone here at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Andre Mora.

And I'm crossing see.

Her next time.

That's the state we're in.

Support for a Louisiana.

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Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on and installing new technology to prevent.

Outages before they happen.

To gather.

Together.

Together, we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth Zeigler Foundation and the Zeigler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana.

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