Portside

White supremacy has dominated the politics of America resulting in the creation of racist laws and cultural practices designed to subjugate non-whites. The emblem of the confederacy, the stars and bars, in all its manifestations, has long been the most recognizable banner of this political ideology. It's the banner of racial intimidation and fear whose popularity experiences an uptick whenever black Americans appear to be making gains economically and politically.

Reader Comments: The Condition of Black Life...Our Real Problem with Race; Take Down Your Flag 140+ artists post videos; Black Churches Being Burned; Greek Referendum; Columbia Divests From Prisons; Naomi Oreskes and Changing Climate; World War II Chemical Experiments Tested Troops By Race; Iran Nuclear Deal; About George Soros and the Ukraine...More Comments; Donate to Rebuild the Churches Fund; Announcement - Art Exhibit of Boycott Posters - Tacoma - July 2-16

In what may not be a coincidence, a string of nighttime fires have damaged or destroyed at least six predominately black churches in four southern states in the past week. The series of fires – some of them suspicious and possible hate crimes — came in the week following a murderous rampage by a white supremacist who shot and killed nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.

The meaning of the Confederate flag is best discerned in the words of those who bore it. In praising the Klan's terrorism, Confederate veterans and their descendants displayed a remarkable consistency. White domination was the point. Slavery failed. Domination prevailed nonetheless. The Confederate flag should come down because it is embarrassing to all Americans. The fact that it still flies, that one must debate its meaning in 2015, reflects an incredible ignorance.

Reader Comments: The Racial Divide; Take Down the Flag; Call It What It Is, Or Be Complicit; The Charleston Massacre - A Hate Crime; Racial Violence in America; Greek Debt Truth Committee - Debt Cannot and Should Not Be Paid; American Century has Plunged the World into Crisis; Rachel Dolezal; Israeli Nukes; BDS is costing Israel big money; Alexander Hamilton and Andrew Jackson; Announcement - Celebration of Danny Schechter's Life

Today I mourn with the families and community of the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in Charleston, S.C. I mourn for the living and the dead. I mourn for Black life. But simultaneously, I rage. I rage against the executions, beatings, dispersals, and assassinations of Black people everywhere. I am calling out the current manifestation of Black genocide, racial cleansing, and white terrorism happening in the U.S.

Nightly Show Panel - Shooting in South Carolina. Bill Would Remove Confederate Flag in South Carolina. Neil Young: Rockin' in the Free World. Lacey Schwartz Talks 'Little White Lie.' Movie: Black and Cuba.