Ruralcounsel, reread the article carefully. This has nothing to do with “not taking responsibility for what their children are taught and blaming it on racism and lack of political voice”. It has to do with creating better schooling for Black children who are stuck being schooled in lower-class areas and Whites simply not caring about these issues as they don’t affect them. Now take into account that Whites are the majority (both racially and as far as wealth goes). From that you can conclude, if issues are prevalent and whites don’t care, issues won’t get resolved. These white political leaders obviously feel as though they won’t receive much backlash if they don’t oblige the needs of the Black community, as the article even states the area doesn’t have very many Blacks so of course Blacks have to go to all this trouble in making their needs met unlike the White community. This is a White privilege. I don’t understand why these political leaders aren’t more sympathetic to Black needs in Boston. Being grown men in positions like this, you’d think they’d be understanding to this type of issue unless of course there’s an element of racism. The Black community in Boston is realizing that they will always have to go to a lot of trouble in order for them to get their needs met if they do not pick a decent political leader who is sympathetic to Black issues.

It’s enough of a shame these little Black children have to be raised in lower-class areas due to poverty; poverty of course stemming from how Blacks were prohibited from all things good in this country by Whites only 35 freaking years ago. If it weren’t for abusive anti-black racism, the amount of blacks who are poor and lower-class wouldn’t be so high. It’s not just some dark skin color related issue as to why a lot of Blacks are stuck in poverty which is is what a lot of racist want you to think. No, Blacks having a darker skin color is not why the majority of them are lower-class while the majority of Whites live it up in higher-class areas, even when there are a great deal more Whites than Blacks; it’s an issue of how Blacks weren’t even allowed in so much as a decent bathroom 35 years ago, much less a decent living environment with decent jobs. With that mistreatment and suppression ending only a few decades ago and the children of our grandparents being forced to grow up lower-class, it should be obvious as to why the Black community of today is in the state it’s in; meanwhile I all I see over the internet posting websites is the majority (Whites of course) criticizing and bellyaching about the status of the Black community as if it’s just that their an irresponsible race, when the White race brought on this Black struggling.

It’s enough of a shame these little Black children have to be raised in lower-class areas due to poverty; poverty stemming from how Blacks were prohibited from all things good in this country by Whites only 35 freaking years ago. If it weren’t for abusive anti-black racism, the amount of blacks who are poor and lower-class wouldn’t be so high. It’s not just some dark skin color related issue as to why a lot of Blacks are stuck in poverty which is is what a lot of racist want you to think. No, Blacks having a darker skin color is not why the majority of them are lower-class while the majority of Whites live it up in higher-class areas, even when there are a great deal more Whites than Blacks; it’s an issue of how Blacks weren’t even allowed in so much as a decent bathroom 35 years ago, much less a decent living environment with decent jobs. With that mistreatment and suppression ending only a few decades ago and the children of our grandparents being forced to grow up lower-class, it should be obvious as to why the Black community of today is in the state it’s in; meanwhile I all I see over the internet posting websites is the majority (Whites of course) criticizing and bellyaching about the status of the Black community as if it’s just that their an irresponsible race, when the White race brought on this Black struggling.

Perhaps the family, with help of the surrounding community in which the children are raised should take responsibility for what their children are taught. Not blame it on racism, or lack of political voice, or failure of “government”. There was a time when it was forbidden to teach blacks to read and write, and they fought hard for that education. Now, it has become popular urban culture to shun a basic education, and act lawlessly.

The bottom line is that everyone is held individually accountable, by society and our legal system. If someone isn’t learning proper behavior as they grow up, they aren’t going to fare too well as adults.

So yes, more articles because they raise the bar on consciousness and conscience.

Youth violence is a great topic, I’m glad you brought it up. I’m not sure if you live in an area with youth violence, or if you work with youth in the City of Boston — I do both.

Menino, unlike Flaherty, but like many residents of areas that see youth violence, understands that this is actually a public health issue — not one that should be addressed solely by police and punitive measures, that’s what Flaherty is pushing for, and that’s reactionary.

Menino has public health workers trained to go out into these communities on a regular basis and confront youth before violence happens. He also knows that violent-behavior patterns start far before children reach high school age and has backed legislature which would mandate Conflict Resolution Curricula in all schools statewide. In fact, he has already implemented these courses in several BPS sites.

I agree that there aren’t enough African-Americans in the BPD at high levels — you should talk to the BPD Union about that — oh, wait, they endorsed Michael Flaherty.

Also, Michael Flaherty publicly commented that there were no Latinos serving as department heads. In fact there are, they just don’t look like Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, so he couldn’t possibly have known. Racist rears its ugly head again.

You want new leadership, but I’m not willing to take it at the expense of racism.

You’ve cited some issues here, but only at surface value, show me what Flaherty and Yoon can do? Matter of fact, show me what they’ve done!

Anecdotal evidence and empty promises won’t fool the residents of Boston.

Racism is institutionalized and normalized in our country; it exists in all aspects of our lives. The way to combat this is to have anti-racism be the bottom line for all projects and policies pushed forward.

Boston is the only city in the country where the Mayor has publicly declared that racism is the cause of public health disparities AND where there is a clear blueprint for how to combat racial and ethnic health disparities. Our Public Health Commissioner, Bárbara Ferrer, is nationally recognized for her commitment to this cause and both her and her Medical Director, Nancy Norman (who works clinic-hours at Dimock), have, on multiple occasions, been asked to present for the Black and Latino Caucuses. Also, at the Boston Public Health Commission, all employees are mandated to attend the “Undoing Racism” multi-day workshop.

As a Latina in Boston, the issue of fighting racism is paramount to my choice of candidates. When Michael Flaherty makes comments to African-American youth entering a pick-up basketball game along the lines of: ‘well you guys will be good at basketball {because you’re black},’ it just shows me how much he doesn’t understand racism and how he has not been able to branch out from that ‘White Boston’ in which he grew up and was educated. For me any white man who doesn’t understand the privileges they’ve been afforded because of their sex and race, can never adequately represent people of color.

However, the NAACP has led that charge in many ways because they are now beholden to the corporations that feed them. They have even changed their mission statement to water it down. I know this because I was an NAACP Legal Chair in New Hampshire.

To wit:

they removed words like “keep the public aware,” and “take lawful action to secure elimination of discrimination,” and the new version contains none of that.

The other thing that is happening is that the media and mass culture has marginalized many of our concerns because they will put gay rights as a major issue, or [pick any other social issue] in front of black Civil Rights. I’m all about fairness for all, but I suggest you read

“White Privilege — Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh. It is linked on my Citibankisracist.blogspot.com page and my http://christopher-king.blogspot.com pages.

http://www.case.edu/president/aaction/UnpackingTheKnapsack.pdf

To wit:

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn’t a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed….. and many many more. I discussed these things with an old friend of mine (like from 3rd grade, 1973) who is now a Man of the Cloth, Anglican — and we got deep into white solipsism in the Church as well.

Eternal vigilance is indeed the price of liberty.

-Christopher King, J.D.