Since post-Civil War Reconstruction, history is replete with moments of racial progress followed by backlash and retrenchment led by those benefiting from the status quo.
Race
Posted inOpinion
Lowering financial hurdles for Black, Latina women
From gender and racial pay gaps to a lack of assets, Black and Latina women often start at a financial disadvantage, lacking the generational wealth which often provides a safety net for their White counterparts.
Posted inOpinion
Could Supreme Court’s admissions decision affect Mass. climate law?
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
Posted inOpinion
Addressing the biases in school curriculums
DOCTOR, LAWYER, ACCOUNTANT. As a young Black woman, that was what I was told success looked like. In the course of my education, though, I was not exposed to any […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Rooney’s summer hiatus made permanent
BACK IN JUNE, Emily Rooney announced that Beat the Press on GBH was going on hiatus for the summer – “a first for us but a welcome break,” she said. […]
Posted inOpinion
Don’t ship Emancipation Statue away
WHEN IT WAS unveiled in Park Square in December 1879, the Emancipation Group statue of Abraham Lincoln standing over a kneeling ex-slave was described by The Boston Globe as representing the “most […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Lawmakers hear wide range of policy suggestions to address racism
POLICYMAKERS AND EXPERTS agreed at a legislative hearing on Monday: structural racism continues to be a problem in Massachusetts, impacting everything from economic inequality to incarceration rates to health disparities. But it became […]
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 inCriminal Justice
Report finds no racial profiling by Needham police
INVESTIGATORS HIRED by the town of Needham concluded “the weight of the available evidence” suggests four white police officers did not engage in racial profiling last year when they arrested […]
Posted inOpinion
Tax credits: the biggest stimulus no one is talking about
FOR COMMUNITIES OF COLOR, there has always been a strained relationship with our tax system, thanks to rules that keep the gap between black/brown and white wealth disproportionally wide. The […]
Posted inEconomy
In Hingham, a welcome to (well-heeled) black residents
IN THE END, Hingham’s gonna Hingham. And so the tony town on Boston’s South Shore finds itself facing a bit of blowback following an effort to show that it wants […]
Posted inOpinion
Failing algorithms in the throes of a pandemic
FOR YEARS I worked within health systems that perpetuated the idea that I was non-essential. My simple presence in the various medical spaces where I practiced as an emergency physician […]
Posted inThe Download
Op-ed on union power decried as ‘racist’
A four-month-old opinion piece published in CommonWealth is igniting fresh controversy. On Friday, a group of minority, union, and liberal organizing groups – including the Boston chapter of the NAACP, […]
Posted inRace/Racism
Op-ed on union power decried as ‘racist’
A FOUR-MONTH-OLD opinion piece published in CommonWealth is igniting fresh controversy. On Friday, a group of minority, union, and liberal organizing groups – including the Boston chapter of the NAACP, Neighbor […]
Posted inUncategorized
Blacks, Latinos migrating from Boston to Gateway Cities
BLACKS AND LATINOS in search of lower-cost housing are migrating from Boston to the state’s 26 Gateway Cities, according to mortgage origination data analyzed by MassINC researchers. In 2007, according […]