ELIMINATING THE VAST, longstanding racial disparities between Blacks and Latinos and Whites when it comes to jobs, education, wealth, healthcare, incarceration and more isn’t just a matter of moral urgency […]
Race/Racism
Posted inOpinion
Five priorities for Boston’s waterfront
THE LANDSCAPE of the upcoming Boston mayoral race makes it abundantly clear that the city’s biggest priorities—housing, education, economic opportunity—will be considered through a new lens, one more reflective of […]
Posted inEducation
Federal school funds should drive innovation and equity
MASSACHUSETTS HAS BEEN a leader in education since 1635 when Boston opened the nation’s first public school. But we haven’t drastically changed our approach in the last 375 years. We […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Race/Racism
SJC to consider police use of ‘gang member’ designation
AMID GROWING NATIONAL AWARENESS of the problems of racially biased policing, the Supreme Judicial Court will have a chance to weigh in on a tactic that is increasingly drawing scrutiny: the […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Stark differences make many Mass. communities neighbors in name only
IN 1847, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ordered that a line be drawn from the mouth of the Shawsheen River, down along its eastern bank, and “thence in a straight line […]
Posted inRace/Racism
NAACP probes allegations of financial misconduct by regional official
THE NATIONAL NAACP is investigating allegations of financial impropriety involving the president of the New England Area Conference of the NAACP. Michael Curry, a member of the national NAACP board of directors, revealed the investigation of […]
Posted inRace/Racism, State House News Service
Ex-commissioner sues Baker over firing
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE FORMER HEAD of the state’s Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is suing the Baker administration in federal court, claiming he was instructed […]
Posted inEducation
Equity in access to advanced academics is vital
FOR FOUR YEARS RUNNING, Massachusetts was first in the nation for students succeeding in Advanced Placement. This year, our ranking dropped to No. 3. While the spread was small – […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Senate committee to probe post-COVID society
WHEN SEN. ADAM HINDS looks at the disproportionate toll COVID-19 has taken on poor people and communities of color in Massachusetts, he said, “It’s hard not to experience it as […]
Posted inOpinion
Lessons to learn from the pandemic
WHEN THE PANDEMIC passes, what then? What will we do differently to expand opportunity to the most vulnerable and hardest hit? We’ve seen the disparities. Black Americans are 2.6 times […]
Posted inOpinion
Why does it matter to talk about the Holocaust?
What follows is a reflection by Sen. Barry Finegold of Andover after meeting with the Duxbury High School football team, which used the term “Auschwitz” when calling an audible at […]
Posted inEducation
Duxbury Dragons and death camps
Almost more shocking than the news of Duxbury High School’s football team using terms like “rabbi” and “Auschwitz” for its line-of-scrimmage audible play calling is the fact that it apparently […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Cops, docs, and systemic racism
REFORM COMMISSIONS AT the state and national level have been charged with exploring ways to improve law enforcement, with a particular focus on addressing the issues of racism and racial […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Why are Latinos so overrepresented in the state child welfare system?
LAST MONTH, workers from the state Department of Children and Families knocked on the door of Raquel, an El Salvadoran immigrant living in Worcester. DCF had gotten an anonymous call about a fight between her husband and […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics, Race/Racism
Doris Bunte, a mentor to many
DORIS BUNTE, who died this week at age 87, was a wonderful woman, a magnificent mentor, and a prodigious politician. But the word that describes her best is “Mother.” Doris was a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Needham police report exonerates officers of racial bias
MORE THAN A year after a black man was handcuffed by four police officers near a CVS store in Needham on suspicion of shoplifting, the police department is finally getting […]
Posted inOpinion
A direct approach to generational urban poverty
I WATCHED in horror as the riots unfolded in the US Capitol on January 6, but I was not surprised. It was a culmination of actions we have seen over […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
State slow to improve criminal justice data collection
A WELL-KNOWN management maxim warns, if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. By that reckoning, those trying to better the state’s criminal justice system are often flying blind. How long, for example, does the average probationer in […]
Posted inPolitics
Walsh evolution in confronting racism takes center stage
THE BOOKENDS TO Marty Walsh’s seven-year run as mayor are all you need to look at to understand how the issue of race has gone from long-simmering, but often backburner, […]
Posted inPolitics
Biden taps Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for labor secretary
PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN has tapped Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to serve as his labor secretary, a move that would elevate the former union leader to a prominent national post and set in motion […]
Posted inPolitics
Harvard professor Danielle Allen exploring run for governor
DANIELLE ALLEN, an acclaimed Harvard political theorist whose research has focused on ideas of citizenship and justice in ancient Greece and modern America, is making the leap to political practice by launching an exploratory run for governor. Allen, the director […]
Posted inHealth Care
Vaccination catch-22 in black community
WITH TODAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT that the United Kingdom has approved use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, the first Western country to sign off on mass use of an immunization, the crucial effort […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Congressional reps back calls for more inclusive State House
EIGHT OF MASSACHUSETTS’S nine members of the US House of Representatives have signed a letter to State House leaders in support of a group of Beacon Hill staff members of color, who demanded reforms to […]
Posted inOpinion
Starting a corporate anti-racism movement
BY NOW, WE’VE all protested, cried, vented our outrage with our peers and urged our white friends and associates to join the cause of anti-racism. The question now is: What […]
