Portside

In April the city’s Independent Police Review Authority recommended that Evans be stripped of police powers.

The racial disparities that define Ferguson are indeed shocking. More than two-thirds of the town’s residents are black, but almost all of the officials and police officers are white: the mayor and the police chief, five of six city council members, all but one of the members of the school board, fifty of fifty-three police officers.

If the public has a clear understanding of the agenda of the Immelts of the world, and their political allies, it will be better positioned to protect the entitlements that workers depend on have paid for.

Santana -- Soul Sacrifice. Janis Joplin -- A Little Bit Harder, Ball and Chain. Joe Cocker -- With a Little Help From My Friends. Jefferson Airplane -- Somebody to Love, White Rabbit. Woodstock Documentary--Behind the Music.

Almost 20 years after Europe’s worst genocide since World War II, a Dutch court ruled July 16th the Netherlands is liable for the murders of more than 300 Srebrenica victims, saying the Dutch peacekeeping force, the Dutchbat, "should have known" the Bosnian Muslim males it handed over to the Serbian forces of General Ratko Miadic would be massacred. However, the Dutch court cleared the Dutchbat of responsibility for the deaths of more than 7,000 others.

The immigrant workers who helped rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina are the targets of systematic civil rights violations. The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) has launched a series of race-based immigration raids wherever Latinos in New Orleans gather. And those immigrant workers who are organizing to stop what they charge are "unconstitutional, race-based, stop-and-frisk style raids" are being targeted for deportation.

Media portrayals of the mass protests in response to the killing of 18 year-old Michael Brown obscure the serious human rights issue of police violence against African-Americans. Many press reports characterized the protests as a "mob reaction," instead of a "justifiable outpouring of community anger and grief." The media is "doing incalculable damage" by not placing the outpouring of community outrage in Ferguson and beyond in its "political and historical context."

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A new left-liberal coalition has formed in Richmond, California, Former mayoral candidate Mike Parker called on voters and supporters to join forces. The task is need to challenge Chevron-backed candidates and those unwilling to stand up against Chevron when representing the community.

Academy Award-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams committed suicide earlier this week. He was an artist that brought joy to millions. He starred in 80 films and over two-dozen television series. Yet few knew of his psychological demons, or about a family legacy steeped in the history of U.S. racism. These could be seen as both troubling and as a spur to creativity. Here are four takes on his life, work, and the tensions that may have informed his creative persona.