Portside

Sanders faces a problem that often confronts progressive mavericks who strike a chord with the Democratic electorate, but who routinely fail to ring a bell with voters of color. They have often been blinded by cultural assumptions that devalue the sensibilities of the black community. But in 21st-century America, race is fundamental. Sanders has readjusted his policy platform and stump speeches, addressing racism and the criminalization of the black community.

Meet Greensboro, North Carolina native Rhiannon Giddens; see and hear why she has taken the music world by storm. Hear her music, and that of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. See why she is stretching the borders of traditional folk music, blues, country and old-time music. Hear her tribute to the Charleston Nine.

Over the past 50 years, the poor have increasingly lived in the 20 most populous counties. In 2010, about one-in-five poor Americans (21%) lived in these high-density counties.

Reader Comments: The GOP, Trump and the Appeal to Reaction; No Union Mines in Kentucky; Black Panther Party film; Lessons from Alabama's Black Communists and the #BLM; Indigenous People's History of the United States; Serena Williams; Climate Change and Workers; New Resource: Black Lives Matter Syllabus; Livestream Sept. 18: Unions, Workers, and the Democratic Party

On the 60th anniversary of Emmett Till's murder, his cousin says history still hasn't told the whole story. His cousin recalls the night he last saw him. It's been 60 years since the murder of Emmett Till, but his story remains unfinished. His death helped spark the civil rights movement and frame the ongoing debate over racism in America.

Her life should have ended at 17, an African American college student and civil rights worker, gunned down under a Coca-Cola sign in the fight for freedom and justice. A white seminarian named Jonathan Myrick Daniels pushed her aside and died in her place.

False history marginalizes African Americans and makes us all dumber. The Confederates won with the pen (and the noose) what they could not win on the battlefield: the cause of white supremacy and the dominant understanding of what the war was all about. We are still digging ourselves out from under the misinformation they spread. When each state left the Union, they made clear they were seceding because they were for slavery.

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.

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.