AT THE END of this past year’s term, the US Supreme Court issued a decision finding that affirmative action programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Reasoning that college admissions are zero-sum and consideration of race necessitates “employ[ing] race in a negative manner” as […]
Race
Posted inThe Download
Lawsuit alleges racial discrimination in tenant screening tool
Two Black women from Massachusetts are at the center of what could become a landmark federal case about whether software that screens potential tenants is illegally biased against Black and Hispanic applicants. Rachael Rollins, the US attorney for Massachusetts, weighed in on the case, Louis vs. SafeRent Solutions, in a court brief this week, arguing […]
Posted inCourts, Opinion
SJC backslides on racial disparities in policing
IN A DECISION issued last week, the Supreme Judicial Court acquiesced in the disproportionate stopping and frisking of young people of color in the Commonwealth by upholding a police officer’s reliance for the intrusion on a juvenile’s “blading.” This amorphous amalgam of vague body movements and racially applied factors is so ambiguous that the SJC […]
Posted inRace/Racism
King sculpture on Boston Common breaks ground
BOSTON UNIVERSITY STATEHOUSE PROGRAM A LARGE GROUP of dignitaries held a ceremonially groundbreaking at the Boston Common on Wednesday for the “Embrace,” a sculpture commemorating the moment when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife heard he had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Wednesday was the 95th anniversary of the birth of […]
Posted inThe Download
Shifting narrative on report on traffic stops
When the Legislature passed a law banning the use of handheld cell phones while driving, a major concern voiced by lawmakers was that it would be enforced disproportionately against Black and Hispanic drivers. Lawmakers required the state to conduct an annual analysis of traffic stops to identify racial disparities. The first report resulted in mixed […]
Posted inOpinion
Affinity groups are a way to retain teachers of color
I FELT A SENSE of community the moment I walked into my school as a new classroom teacher. Our guidance counselor met me at the door, smiling ear to ear. Within an hour, another Black staff member introduced herself to me and welcomed me into the community. “I make sure to go out of my […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Parole commission investigating racism hits data roadblock
It’s déjà vu all over again. A recently released report regarding structural racism in the parole process ran into the same barrier that has hindered myriad other attempts at analyzing the criminal justice system: a lack of good data. The commission, established by the state’s December 2020 police reform bill after the murder of George […]
Posted inNews Analysis
We’re reporting Census data all wrong
This report was initially released by the Boston Foundation’s Boston Indicators project. CENSUS DATA on race and ethnicity are invaluable for understanding who we are as a region and how we’re changing over time. Invaluable, yes. But also imperfect. Headlines during the census count last year focused on challenges facing Census Bureau workers during a pandemic and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
SJC splits 4-3 on racial implications of traffic stop
A CAR FULL OF MEN are stopped by the police for a traffic violation. One passenger jumps out and acts aggressively. After restraining him, the police search the other occupants in the car, find a weapon on one man, and arrest him. Does the race of the men matter? The issue of race in the traffic stop became a sharp […]
Posted inOpinion
An eyewitness view of school segregation — in Needham
FOR 60 SECONDS in the early evening, the best view in Greater Boston transportation is aboard an outbound MBTA commuter rail train as it passes Millennium Park in West Roxbury, goes over the Charles River, and into Cutler Park Reservation in Needham. For Needham-bound commuters, it is a peaceful and at times majestic end to […]