Portside

Trump's proposal taps into a reservoir of racism that is part of American history. FDR ordered American-born and immigrant Japanese people into prison camps at the outset of World War II, one of the worst violations of the Constitution. From the moment the first slave was taken off a ship in colonial America, African-Americans have been subjected to violent racism. So have Latino immigrants, another Trump target. Anti-Islam feeling is rampant...all it needs is a leader.

Reader Comments: Chicago Police Killings of African Americans; Hillary and Labor; Readers debate Democratic Socialism; U.S. history and refugees, then and now - doors closed to Jews, while Japanese Americans are interned; Young Workers; NUHW Wins Battle with Kaiser; Quebec Rolling Strikes; Close Guantanamo; Who Benefits From A Post-Paris "Clash of Civilizations"?; Suffragette - Portside readers weigh in; Announcements: Book Sales; Worker Coops; Puerto Rico Fightback

1938-five years after Hitler came to power, after the beginning of the "Final Solution", Jewish refugees were denied entry into the United States. Then it was anti-Semitism and fear of European radicals and communists; today it is anti-Muslim hysteria. Then the U.S. closed its' eyes to the Holocaust; today GOP governors and congressmen are closing the borders while over 250,000 have died in Syria, there are over 3 million refugees and 6.5 million are internally displaced

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama, and several governors push back against the rising tide of anti-refugee sentiment. Governors Tom Wolf (PA), Kate Brown (OR), Jay Inslee (WA), Jerry Brown (CA), and John Hickenlooper (CO) have voiced their support for refugees from war, economic poverty and religious and political persecution.

Reader Comments: Sanders and African American support, Labor endorsements divides union ranks, GOP attacks on Hillary;; Slavery, a national institution; Syrian Refugees and growing movement to welcome refugees; Unions, Contracts and the NLRB; Public Education for Sale; Puerto Rico's new party; Support for UE resolution on BDS; Julian Bond honored; Announcements: The Art of Peggy Lipschutz; more...

Images of Czech police inking the skin of newly arriving Syrian migrants, and the government says they were unaware that this brought back memories of the Holocaust, when prisoners at Auschwitz were systematically tattooed. While in the north of Europe, in 24 hours, responding to a Facebook campaign, 10,000 Icelanders opened their doors to their Syrian brothers and sisters.