While reparations are typically linked to slavery or historic discrimination, contemporations focus on contemporary discrimination. With contemporations, there is no need to determine the responsible parties’ intention, only the impact of their decisions and actions on community and personal wealth.
race and ethnicity
Posted inOpinion
Fight racism, pause development on public land in Roxbury
CITY OFFICIALS deliberately designed Boston to separate the Black community and prevent it from taking advantage of the economic success Boston has seen. Nowhere is this more more evident than […]
Posted inOpinion
Jackson’s stand against ‘colorblind’ Constitution
IN HER celebrated exchange with Alabama’s Solicitor General, the newest Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, eviscerated his argument that our Constitution is and should be “colorblind.” Rather, she declared, the intent of […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Baker signs law banning hairstyle discrimination
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Tuesday signed the CROWN Act into law, making Massachusetts the 18th state to ban discrimination based on “natural hairstyles.” The governor held a joyous bill signing […]
Posted inThe Download
Black girls disciplined in school more often than Whites
In the last normal school year before the pandemic, Black girls in Massachusetts were disciplined in school at more than three times the rate of white girls. Often, Black girls […]
Posted inEducation
Black girls disciplined in school more often than Whites
IN THE LAST normal school year before the pandemic, Black girls in Massachusetts were disciplined in school at more than three times the rate of white girls. Often, Black girls […]
Posted inOpinion
State not living up to environmental justice responsibilities
JUST OVER A YEAR after Gov. Charlie Baker signed “An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy,” which contained protections for environmental justice populations, the state has found […]
Posted inOpinion, Race/Racism
Juneteenth a chance for new customs and rituals
TWO YEARS AFTER George Floyd and just days after the final victims of last month’s racial murders in Buffalo, it’s hard not to reflect on America’s long and painful history […]
Posted inRace/Racism
House votes to ban hairstyle discrimination
IN 2017, Mya and Deanna Cook, 15-year-old twins, were disciplined because they wore box braids to school at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden. Box braids and other protective […]
Posted inOpinion
Why Boston should pursue reparations
ON JUNE 9, 2021 Boston City Councilors Julia Mejia and Kenzie Bok submitted an order calling for “a hearing on reparations and their impact on the civil rights of Black […]
Posted inOpinion
I wish I had teachers that looked like me
IN THE FIFTH GRADE, I was inexplicably popular. I would strut down the hallway at the very end of a single file line with my class, dressed in a floral […]
Posted inPolitics
Partnering up on the campaign trail
RUNNING FOR OFFICE tends to be an every-man-for-himself type of pursuit, but candidates in two recent municipal elections found success by partnering up on the campaign trail. In campaigns in […]
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
Senator invites Duxbury football team to meet with him
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ON THE SAME DAY Duxbury High School fired its head football coach, state Sen. Barry Finegold invited the varsity team to meet with him, as someone […]
Posted inUncategorized
Poll finds racial tilt on government priorities
BLACK AND LATINO residents of Massachusetts are more likely than white residents to support a stronger government intervention in society, according to a poll released Wednesday by the MassINC Polling Group. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Walker warns of bumpy road in communities of color
REV. LIZ WALKER of the Roxbury Presbyterian Church said on Wednesday that she was honored to be a part of the state’s effort to roll out a COVID-19 vaccine – […]
Posted inOpinion
The era of Christopher Columbus is over
WHEN I WAS A KID growing up on the second floor of an East Boston triple decker, Columbus Day was a pretty big deal. Alternating with the North End, the […]
Posted inOpinion
Faneuil Hall name change needed
IN LIGHT OF the lynching of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter uprising, we call on the city of Boston to engage in the ongoing conversation, initiated by […]
Posted inThe Download
Michael Curry: Waging a duel-front war on the pandemic and racism
The last several months have been dominated by two seismic issues convulsing the nation — the global coronavirus pandemic and a burgeoning movement for racial justice. For Michael Curry, that’s […]
Posted inPolitics
Race comments roil public sector workforce
MANY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES are learning the hard way: The right to free speech doesn’t extend to racist speech when you’re on a taxpayer-funded salary. Some of the recent examples are particularly […]
Posted inThe Download
Race comments roil public sector workforce
Many public employees are learning the hard way: The right to free speech doesn’t extend to racist speech when you’re on a taxpayer-funded salary. Some of the recent examples are […]
Posted inUncategorized
Officials of color unveil 10-point plan
THE PRESS CONFERENCE in front of the State House started with a moment of silence – 8 minutes and 46 seconds to be exact, the amount of time George Floyd, an unarmed […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Healey: ‘America is burning. But that’s how forests grow’
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY, in a passionate speech on Tuesday, suggested the protests sweeping the nation may yield long-term benefits. “Yes, America is burning. But that’s how forests grow,” she […]