Portside

As the Pentagon pursues its program to commemorate the “valor” of US troops in Vietnam which “upheld the highest traditions of our Armed Forces” –as proclaimed by President Obama — we think it is crucial for Americans, and especially young people, to be reminded of the realities of that brutal and unnecessary war.

Both are Ferguson residents and University of Missouri – St. Louis students who chose to put school on hold after Michael Brown Jr.’s death and devote themselves to organizing against police brutality. They founded Millennial Activists United with Ashley Yates – all black women in their 20s – and have since become some of the most prominent faces and voices of the Ferguson movement.

On Wednesday, a judge threw out the conviction of George Stinney, who at 14, was the youngest person to be executed in the United States in 1944. In the span of three months he was arrested, convicted of murdering two young girls, and sent to the electric chair.

As you know the response to police violence is going mass. Portside has been faithfully keeping up with the fast-breaking events. If you meant to make a contribution but got caught up in the flurry of action - as we all have - here's a reminder about Portside's purpose and work. We need your help to keep going. We don't intend to stand still. In the next year, we will improve and expand Portside...

As you know the response to police violence is going mass. Portside has been faithfully keeping up with the fast-breaking events. If you meant to make a contribution but got caught up in the flurry of action - as we all have - here's a reminder about Portside's purpose and work. We need your help to keep going. We don't intend to stand still. In the next year, we will improve and expand Portside...

The sheer persistence of police killings of black youth contradicts the assumption that these are isolated aberrations. . . And they, in turn, represent an unbroken stream of racist violence, both official and extra-legal, from slave patrols and the Ku Klux Klan, to contemporary profiling practices and present-day vigilantes.

Interfaith Worker Justice founder Kim Bobo explains why progressives should be doing more to woo evangelicals; how the Chamber of Commerce is abandoning small businesses by not fighting wage theft; and why some Catholic employers are lobbying for workers to get paid overtime. [This interview first appeared at Public Research Associates and will be in the Winter 2015 issue of The Public Eye Magazine.]

Leftists and trade unionists should look to the energy and strategic intelligence of the Lorain labor movement, which has stayed strong despite substantial changes in the community and economy because of its commitment to struggling for strong contracts, organizing new shops, and building solidarity across industry, union, race, and gender.

Griffiths says the easiest way to organize the day laborers, and create a system that protects their rights, is what’s called a “worker center”: A place where contractors pick up laborers in an orderly fashion, on a first-come-first-serve basis, and negotiate contracts that both sides have to honor.

Outside Science Leadership, Juliana Concepcion, 16, a sophomore from South Philadelphia, held a handmade sign that read: "Students 4 Teachers." "The teachers already do so much for us," she said. "It's just not right for the teachers to have their benefits cut like this."