Portside

It’s time to give the violent metaphors of evolution a break. For those most invested in the old-school Darwinian view of the survival of the fittest and violence as virtue, then, the message is clear: Just relax.

Historians Eric Foner and Matt Karp on the international ambitions of the US slaveholding class — and the abolitionist movement that brought them down.

The ordinance provides a meaningful model for creating reparations at the local level.

Public-private partnerships may indeed provide the dollars that fearful politicians are unable to pry from the pockets of their tax-averse constituents. But P3s, as they are known in the infrastructure sector, are more complex than they appear. The idea that P3s allow infrastructure to be built for free is economic snake oil, P3s do not end up saving taxpayers money, especially when policymakers obscure the true costs and the risks.

A Black-run worker’s organization in French Guiana is leading mass protests against the French government, demanding higher wages and protesting the poor quality of social services.

As if you needed more reasons to watch a show starring Oscar-winner Julie Andrews, her new Netflix children's show, Julie's Greenroom, features a character who identifies as gender neutral.

Moral Monday pix; Fracking for you but not for me; Guggenheim; Google; Smart diapers

Though the unions held themselves up as civil rights advocates, white workers often saw their black counterparts as a threat because they competed for the same jobs. In response, black workers formed coalitions to change unions from within. The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, for example, was founded in 1972. One union stood out when it came to opportunity and access for black workers: the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters with its significant black membership.

One feature of recent Mardi Gras celebrations is missing this year, however. Thanks to a city council vote, the growing trend of taking over swaths of sidewalks and neutral grounds (as we New Orleanians call medians) is a thing of the past. The long walls of chairs and ladders at the very front of curbs that impeded visibility and mobility, and the roped-off areas that effectively privatized city grounds, are now illegal. It is a vote in favor of the commons.

Venezuela's struggle is widely misrepresented in western media. This is a classic conflict between right and left, rich and poor. Although there are abuses of power and problems with the rule of law in Venezuela – as there are throughout the hemisphere – it is far from the authoritarian state that most consumers of western media are led to believe.