Panama’s ‘Festival del Cristo Negro’, the festival of the ‘Black Christ’, is an important religious holiday for local Catholics. It honours a dark, life-sized wooden statue of Jesus, ‘Cristo Negro’ – also known as ‘El Nazaraeno’, or ‘The Nazarene’. Throughout the year, pilgrims come to pay homage to this statue of Christ carrying a cross, in its…
Horace Seldon: Fighting Injustice, Celebrating Civil Disobedience
Horace Seldon was happily lying on his back, waving his hands and feet in the air the first time Shay Stewart-Bouley saw him. Shay was just starting out as Executive Director of Community Change, Inc., the anti-racism non-profit Horace founded in 1968, and she was at the organization’s forty-fifth anniversary party. It also happened to…
Parents Who Had Kids Torn From Them File Class Action Lawsuit
A group of parents who had their children taken from them by the United States government announced on Thursday, Sept. 6, that they are filing a class action lawsuit against numerous individuals and agencies that have helped facilitate this crisis. At the law firm Todd & Weld LLP in downtown Boston, three parents got…
Nonprofit Sector Needs to Recruit and Promote Leaders of Color, Report Finds
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…
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…
Black or White, They’re All Just Kids
A couple of weeks ago, not long after the school shooting in Florida, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesh made this statement while speaking at the CPAC meeting: “Now I’m going to say something that some people will say is controversial. So I’ll say it slowly so all the people in the back can hear me loud…
Social Media Surveillance by Police Targeted Black Lives Matter and Muslims
The Boston Police Department (BPD) primarily gathered and monitored social media posts and online activity from those in the Muslim community and those participating in protests, according to a newly released report from the ACLU of Massachusetts. The BPD used the surveillance software for years without the approval of the Boston City Council. The report…
Ai Weiwei: “The Only Conclusion is That There is a Lot of Inhumanity in Us”
Ai Weiwei, the Chinese activist, dissident, artist and exile’s new film “Human Flow” focuses on the people the world would rather forget: refugees. The film spans the globe, following stories from Afghanistan to Greece to Mexico. Interviewer: How did people become scared of refugees? Ai Weiwei: There is no one who willingly leaves their home.…
Boston Police release arrest reports from August’s ‘Free Speech’ Rally
Photos by Caitlin Russell Back in August, a handful of Nazis, White Supremacists, and “free speech advocates” came to Boston, where they were met by tens of thousands of counter-protesters. Or, as Boston Police (BPD) reported, somewhere between 200… And 2000. While the crowd was huge, only 33 people were arrested. And according to those…
Surge in Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes, Study Reports
A recent study from the California State University at San Bernardino has reported a surge in hate crimes against Muslims. Anti-Muslim hate crimes rose 78% in 2015 across the 20 states surveyed. The report reveals that last year was the worst year for anti-Muslim hate crimes since 2001, just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “Last…