From left to right_ Michael James of Old Colony YMCA, Imari Paris Jeffries of Parenting Journey, Cassie Scarano of Commongood Careers (ceo and co-founder), Celina Miranda executive director of the Hyde Square Task Force and Jocelyn Sarg\Nonprofit leaders were asked to take an inward look at their sector to analyze why its leadership is not…
Domonique Williams Appointed Boston’s Deputy Director of the Office of Housing Stability’s
On Wednesday, April 4, Domonique Williams became Boston’s Office of Housing Stability’s new deputy director. Williams is a Roxbury resident and former housing attorney, and Mayor Marty Walsh — who announced Williams’ appointment through a press release — hopes that under her leadership, the city can expand its efforts to tackle a burgeoning housing crisis.…
Salvadoran Deportations: U.S. Rejects Refugees From Country it Helped Destabilize
Carrying a red plastic bag containing an old pair of shoes and a few other belongings, David Antonio Pérez arrives in El Salvador, deported from the United States. David Antonio, 42, is a divorced father of two who has lived in the U.S. for a total of 12 years. He has spent five years in…
New Opera Brings Stories of Marginalized and Brutalized Women to Life
For years, Coreen Douglas and Colleen Maybin would see each other every December when Maybin, from the Vancouver Opera (VO), would bring Douglas, from The Kettle Society, clothes for her organization’s clients. Every year they would talk about working together in the future, but neither was sure it would ever happen. Two years ago, the…
Boston Mothers Who Have Lost Sons Speak Out Against Police Brutality
Photos by Daniel Friedman In 2005, “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome” was published by Dr. Joy DeGruy. Last Monday, Rahimah Rahim referenced DeGruy’s work as she spoke about the loss of her 26-year-old son, Usaamah, killed by members of the Boston Police Department in 2015. “When we commit or we think we’re committing a negative act such as…
Understanding Why Societies Emphasise the Difference Between ‘Migrants’ and ‘Refugees’
Two years have passed since the outbreak of the ‘refugee crisis’. ‘The migrant crisis’ is an expression that European and domestic officials use to describe tens of thousands of suffering people who are surviving in inhumane conditions in refugee camps, attempting to shown them as a group of enthusiastic travellers, in search of a better…
As ICE deports higher numbers of Asian immigrants, a Dorchester family is left without a mother
Robert Sparks with his and Nhan’s three children. Photo: Anna Bloxham Robert Sparks and his wife Nhan, a green card holder and native of Vietnam, left their Dorchester home to attend a meeting with ICE – Immigration and Customs Enforcement – at an office in Burlington, Massachusetts on October 2. This was one of several…
Boston Takes to the Streets to Show Solidarity With Student Led ‘March For Our Lives’
On March 24, thousands marched from Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Roxbury to Boston Common for March for Our Lives, a rally held worldwide to protest gun violence following the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. Leonor Muñoz, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student, stood alongside her sister,…
Treat Homelessness Like the Health Issue It Is
Last spring a group of students, led by their Professor Dr. Debra Harkins, came up with Bill H.3933, which is based on an idea out of Hawaii that says homelessness should be treated as a medical condition; this could allow doctors to write prescriptions for housing. I know, it sounds far fetched, but when you…
Housing is a Human Right: Homelessness in the Shadow of Wealth
Leilani Farha doesn’t want to live in a world where people have to negotiate to use the bathroom. She doesn’t want to live in a world where residents in the United States, the richest country on the planet, live in encampments infested with rats. Farha doesn’t want to live in a world where people are…