Category: Human Rights
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Isaura Mendes’ Rise Above Grief
In 1990, there were 152 murders in the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. But even though people were dying on the streets near her home, Isaura Mendes did not think about the violence much. She assumed the men she knew were killed because they had done something wrong – maybe drugs or gang activity.…
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Budget Amendment Seeks to Provide Homeless Families with Nutritious Meals
BOSTON, Mass.—For many homeless Massachusetts families, dinner means mini-fridges, microwaves, and the closest fast food chain to their hotel room. But legislators are hoping to change that with an amendment to the annual state budget that would bring nutritional food to displaced families living in hotels and motels. The proposed pilot program would bring together…
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Priced Out: Development Drives Rising Rents in Union Square
It’s 7:30 on a sticky Tuesday morning in mid-June. The bus is packed with teenagers studying for exams and finishing homework. Windows are cracked and hot air blows in, moving the stagnant air. Droopy-eyed professionals move aside as the bus approaches School St., allowing students to exit the bus and start their day, alleviating the…
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College Representatives Meet with Mayor Walsh to Discuss Student Housing Conditions
BOSTON, Mass.—On June 3, Mayor Marty Walsh met with representatives from all 22 of Boston’s colleges to discuss the safety of students living off campus. Students in Allston and Brighton, as well as other neighborhoods, often live in old, dilapidated buildings. Landlords skimp on renovations while keeping rent prices high, leaving students in pest-infested and…
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Forty Years Later, Busing Crisis Stirs Controversy
BOSTON, Mass.—Three Boston city councilors stirred up controversy recently by voting “present” when Councilor Charles Yancey proposed a resolution to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional. While 10 of the 13 councilors voted in favor,…
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To Protect and Serve? Police Militarization from "Urban Shield" Has Boston Residents Worried
Faneuil Hall was full of tourists, the smell of food and the sound of a street performer drumming on buckets. A circus tent was set up just outside City Hall Plaza, the sounds of the announcer and the cheering audience filling the typically empty plaza. No one – not the tourists, not the street performers,…
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Somerville Reforms Immigration by Withdrawing from Secure Communities Program
SOMERVILLE, Mass.—Mayor Joe Curtatone took historic steps toward the protection of undocumented immigrants on when he signed an executive order to withdraw the city from Secure Communities, a program enacted by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) two years ago to remove undocumented immigrants who pose a threat to public safety. “[The program] is a…
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Assault: The Beating of a Homeless Man in Allston is Part of a Nationwide Trend
ALLSTON, Mass.— On January 26 at 2 a.m., two men – C. J. Parsons and Anthony Varrichione – allegedly assaulted a homeless man named Michael Hudson in front of a house on Allston St., where the two men were at a party. According to witnesses, Hudson had been asking for money After telling him to…
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An Interview with the AIDS Action Committee’s New Executive Director, Carl Sciortino
BOSTON, Mass.—After nine years representing the 34th Middlesex District as a state representative, Carl Sciortino of Medford left the legislature last month to join the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts as its executive director. He formally announced his resignation in March, effective as of April 7. In the legislature, Sciortino served on the Joint Committee…
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Mothers for Justice and Equality Takes on Gun Violence
ROXBURY, Mass.—On 2 September 2010, someone gunned down 18-year-old Eric Smith on Blue Hill Ave. in Roxbury. The very next day, Eric’s aunt, Monalisa Smith, vowed to the Boston Herald that “those who are out there committing these crimes will understand the devastation they’re causing.” While nearly four years have passed and police have yet…