Category: Opinion
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Fifty Years After the Fair Housing Act, Discrimination is Still an Issue
The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) of 1968, celebrated this past April, begs the question: where do we stand as a nation half a century later? The enactment of this law is the legacy of the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and many other civil rights activists, and as a…
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The Forgotten Crisis: Nobody Thinks It Could Happen to Them
Sometimes when I talk to groups about homelessness, unless they’re activists, I get a blank stare, like I’m talking to a bunch of empty chairs or an empty room. I get it: homelessness isn’t sexy or trendy like climate change, gun control, LGBTQ rights, or even animal rights for that matter. Those are all important…
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Awakening
Over the last few years I have felt disconnected from the black community, not coming from them but me. It wasn’t on purpose, mind you. I wasn’t as young people call it these days “cooning;” that means Uncle Tom for you folks that aren’t up on street slang. I railed against everything that affects us,…
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Stand Together
I said I wouldn’t criticize Mayor Marty Walsh and the City of Boston about the Point-in-Time Count (homeless census). I lied. I mean I really wasn’t going to say much of anything more than what I said in my last column, then I read that the mayor was looking to get a raise; not only…
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Stand Together
I said I wouldn’t criticize Mayor Marty Walsh and the City of Boston about the Point-in-Time Count (homeless census). I lied. I mean I really wasn’t going to say much of anything more than what I said in my last column, then I read that the mayor was looking to get a raise; not only…
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Boston Pride talks public accommodations law and legal protections for trans people
Members of the LBGTQ community, in particular transgender people, and allies are working to protect the public accommodations law adopted by the Massachusetts legislature in 2016. The law specifically protects a person based on their gender identity, but could be repealed if voters choose ‘no’ on the ballot question in November. Freedom for All Massachusetts…
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What Comes After Trump? Lots of work.
I was scanning through news stories the other day when I came across a really sad and horrible story. In Florida, a black family was awarded a measly four dollars in damages in a wrongful death suit after a deputy shot the father through a garage door—his own garage door, by the way—because of a…
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Puerto Rico: Forgotten by the United States
Since its annexation, the U.S. government has not given Puerto Rico enough support. The United States have looked the other way when Puerto Rico was governed by corrupt leaders with the support- or should I say non-support- of our country. As Stephen Kinzer noted in a recent Boston Globe piece, the history of Puerto Rico…
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A Lesson In Impermanence
My wife worked hard almost all of her life, except for a ten year period where she was very sick, and she decided, about 9 months ago to treat herself to her final car. She’s never had a really nice car before and she sprung for a 2017 Toyota Camry. It was beautiful and I…
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Looking in the Mirror: Part Two
A few years ago a woman I was dating asked me this question: “Why are there hardly any women selling Spare Change?” It was a question I had heard before and for the life of me I couldn’t answer it. I remember mumbling something about I didn’t know if the board of directors or anyone…