Portside

How is it that the differential in treatment for African Americans and Latinos not only persists, but continues to grow during what some commentators once described as a supposed ‘post-racial’ era? We must not permit the movement to be sidetracked.

The explanations being promoted in some media are more based on ideology than fact.

There is a sanitized, "pop" version of history which emphasizes a top-down narrative and isolated events, reinforces the master narrative that civil rights activists describe as “Rosa sat down, Martin stood up, and the white folks came south to save the day.” But there is a “people’s history” of Selma that we all can learn from—one that is needed especially now.

Pre-1920 were tumultuous times: World War I, the Bolshevik revolution, Espionage and Sedition Acts; Race Riots in Chicago, returning African American veterans defending their communities against white mobs, mass deportations of foreign born, the Great Influenza Pandemic; UMW Coal Strike and the Great Steel Strike, mass economic inequality. The Palmer raids of 1920 capped an era. The Chicago Police and State's Attorney couldn't wait and began the raids a day early ...

The Republican plan could dramatically roll back the federal role in education.

After 53 years the United States and Cuba have restored diplomatic relations, with the U.S. formally ending its unsuccessful attempts to isolate the socialist island republic. One commentator termed President Obama's decision to restore diplomatic relations his most positive foreign policy decision. Another said the accord proves "dignity wins battles." Many hope the Cuba decision will augur more realistic U.S. approaches to countries such as Iran and Venezuela.

At the end of 2014, President Obama announced the "responsible conclusion" of the longest war in U.S. history, leaving behind an Afghanistan that everyone acknowledges is still a very "dangerous place." Despite more than 130,000 U.S. and NATO troops, the effort to eliminate the Taliban has ended in total failure. Year 2014 was the worst of America’s 13-year war, and a weak, divided, and vulnerable government in Kabul faces severe challenges in 2015.

The author makes a radical case for cities to buy sports teams and not sports stadiums. Last month Washington D.C. approved the largest public subsidy ever for a Major League Soccer franchise, $183 million for D.C. United's stadium. And soccer stadiums have never been known to revitalize anything. Millionaire owners will resist any attempt to erode their monopoly power over team ownership, but cities need to explore radical alternatives to sports extortion.

Wage stagnation is putting the squeeze on working families even as corporate profits are at record levels. And 2014 continued the trend of suppressed wages while profits and the compensation of senior corporate managers skyrocket, with many CEOs making 350 times the average worker. The expanding wealth gap in this country is proof of a system that grossly favor the rich over ordinary working families, even when the economy is improving.

The major media, as if reading coal industry press releases, continues to refer to "clean coal" when describing the industry experiments with carbon capture and storage. "Clean coal" is an industry marketing term, but journalists in the major media continue to use it as if it were truthful reporting. Coal is dirty, costly, and deadly. And journalists that continue to use the energy companies PR-speak are enabling a deadly and outlaw industry.