Category: Human Rights
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Sparing the Rod
Like most of us, I’ve been following the mess that is the National Football League this season. I’m not talking about the games themselves. I’m talking about the controversy. The Ray Rice situation is pretty cut and dry, and yes, count me among those who believe the league knew all along about that tape. But…
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BPD’s Race Problem: In the Wake of Ferguson, Local Activists Are Targeting Alleged Abuses at the Boston Police Department
Citizens, community leaders and activists gathered outside the Boston Police Station at 1 Schroeder Pl. on Thursday, 9 October 2014 to rally against racially biased policing. The event came one day after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts released a new report that found racial bias in police-civilian street encounters, and nearly two…
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Labels and the Immigration Problem
A few weeks ago, the Mayor of Lynn was explaining how the flood of immigrants has affected Lynn’s economy in a not necessarily good way. She said the city is spending more on education, and most of the new immigrant children don’t know English well enough to get a proper education in the school system.…
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Computerized Unemployment Insurance System Creates Hassles for the Unemployed
BOSTON, Mass.—When the Commonwealth’s $46-million computerized unemployment insurance system launched in July 2013, officials declared it an instant success. However, emails that the Boston Globe recently obtained demonstrate systemic flaws and high levels of user frustration with the new Massachusetts Unemployment Insurance (UI) online system. In the emails, which the Globe obtained through a federal…
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Farewell to a Friend
Much has already been written and said about my contributions to Spare Change News over the years, and as I prepare to retire from the Board of Directors, the only thing I can think of is my friend, mentor, and fellow Spare Change News co-founder Tim Hobson. Tim passed away on August 19, just a…
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James Shearer: Spare Change News’ Co-Founder Looks Toward What’s Next
James Shearer is perched on the edge of his chair – a red Coca-Cola can in his right hand, his left hand motioning constantly as he speaks. At the moment, he is talking about his life after Spare Change News, and he is excited. “What’s coming next is going to be hard, but it’s going…
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Ride for Food Takes on Growing Problem of Food Insecurity in Boston Area
DEDHAM, Mass.—Starting at 8:15 a.m. on Sunday, September 21, the first of three teams in the Ride For Food will begin their trek. The Ride for Food is a cycling fundraiser to fight hunger. It is sponsored by Three Squares New England (TSNE), a Dedham-based nonprofit. These bicyclists will ride one of three courses starting…
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Criminalization of Homelessness in US Condemned by the United Nations
By Carey L. Biron NEW YORK, N.Y.—A United Nations panel reviewing the U.S. record on racial discrimination has expressed unusually pointed concern over a new pattern of laws it warns is criminalizing homelessness. U.S. homelessness has increased substantially in the aftermath of the financial downturn, and with a disproportionate impact on minorities. Yet in many…
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Former Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn Looks Back on Busing, Forty Years Later
BOSTON, Mass.—Images of protests and violence in response to the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools are so lasting that movies like “The Departed” and the upcoming “Black Mass” still use them as symbols of racial disharmony 40 years later. Depending who you ask, the furor over busing was a fight over preserving decades of…