Portside

Last Tuesday, the U.S. Education Department published its biennial civil rights report on public schools, representing the actual experiences of more than 50 million students in nearly every one of the nation’s 95,000 public schools. The report highlighted rampant absenteeism and stark racial disparities in not only how Black, Latino, and Native American students are disciplined but also in their access to experienced teachers and advanced math and science courses.

The Texas-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by Associated Builders and Contractors Inc and a Texas chapter that the so-called "quickie" election rules violated employers' free speech rights and would lead to union harassment of workers.

But the influx of student workers — who now comprise about 10 percent of the UAW’s membership — has also created flashpoints of conflict. The manner in which those conflicts are resolved will determine the direction of academic unionism — and may even end up altering the UAW itself.

“My goal is to save lives by any means necessary, even if that means putting mine on the line.” — Jasmine Richards, interview on “Uprising with Sonali,” July 22, 2015

The entire discourse on refugees and migrants is suffused with racism. When Americans and Europeans live overseas, they are called expatriates – not migrants. It is the darker bodies who are migrants and refugees.

Millions of minority voters remain 'vulnerable to voter suppression schemes in towns, counties, and states across the country,' NAACP analysis shows

A requiem for a true heavyweight, Muhammad Ali, originally written by Michael Castellano in 1981.

Just as usual end-of-life laws allow patients to bring an end to the dying process by declining chemotherapy, dialysis, and feeding tubes, so aid-in-dying laws allow patients to bring an end to the dying process by taking a lethal dose of drugs. But aid-in-dying laws do not extend their rights to people who might want to end their lives because of psychological distress.

You’ve inspired millions of us to get involved in politics – and to fight the most important and basic of all fights on which all else depends: to reclaim our economy and democracy from the moneyed interests. Thank you, Bernie.