Portside

Evelyn T. Butts and Joseph A. Jordan challenged Virginia's poll tax. The case made it to the US Supreme Court and in March 1966, Justices voted 6-3 to end the poll tax in all elections. Following the decision, African Americans were elected to state and local offices for the first time since Reconstruction.

Over the years, Woodward’s beating receded behind more publicized stories like the lynching of Emmett Till. But with police brutality remaining a problem in many African-American communities today, it’s appropriate to highlight an important – and unappreciated – story of the civil rights movement.

The topic was protesters, and Trump's frustration was clear. "They're being politically correct the way they take them out," he sighed. "Protesters, they realize there are no consequences to protesting anymore. There used to be consequences. There are none anymore."

Donna Murch, an associate professor at Rutgers University reacts to activists who shut down Donald Trump’s rally in Chicago. She responds to Hillary Clinton’s statement on what happened, and how it relied upon coded language. We highlight the Clintons’ records with African Americans. The discussion expands into a full assessment of the successes and struggles which Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign has had with Black voters.

In 1970, the United States Post Office Department issued a 6 cent stamp to commemorate the Stone Mountain Memorial. Ken Lawrence summarizes the historical and political background of the memorial and suggests that the stamp was veiled gift to Southern advocates of white supremacy.

Reader Comments: Celebrating International Women's Day (Bev Grant in song); Democracy Spring - call for national civil disobedience actions in Washington, DC in April; Trumpism - What it Means; Race and Representation; Stephen Hawking and Robots; In Memory of Dr. Quentin Young; Tech Workers and Unions; Report from Palestine; Leonard Peltier Film Series starts in New York.

Republicans spent decades paving the way and priming the party base for a candidate just like Donald Trump. They were never going to stop him. That job falls to progressive movements.

For Sanders, and to build a more multi-racial left, progressive whites must prioritize work as loyal allies in struggles for racial justice led by activists of color. Jessie Jackson in his 1984 and 1988 campaigns boldly ventured into lily-white states, speaking at farm foreclosures and picket lines from Maine to Iowa. Ultimately, Sanders' "political revolution" must be as diverse as those who constitute the 99 percent.

Reader Comments: Donald Trump: Racism and Mob Mentality; After Super Tuesday; Melissa Harris-Perry Firing; Take Action for the Release of Tair Kaminer, Conscientious Objector in Israel; Criteria for Negro Art; Lawyers Fight for Their Rights; and Flint; Haiti; China; UK; Announcements: March 8 Celebrate International Women's Day in New York - Play on Harriet Tubman with Vinie Burrows; C.L.R. James and Race Question - New York - March 25 and more...