Category: Social Justice
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LGBTQ Asylum Seekers Face Higher Hurdles Despite Widespread Oppression
Cambridge’s LGBTQ+ Commission and the Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship co-hosted an event on Thursday, November 9, to highlight the struggles faced by those seeking refuge from queerphobia and the oppression it breeds. The event, titled Challenges, Experiences, Freedom: LGBTQ+ Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, featured speakers who have faced this grueling asylum process, and…
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Cuban Immigration in the Eye of the Storm
Cuban migration to the United States is the great loser under Donald Trump’s hostile policy toward Cuba and creates additional difficulties for citizens of this Caribbean island nation who were accustomed to benefits that their neighbours in the rest of Latin America never enjoyed. In a decision that keeps uncertainty hanging over thousands of people…
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The Roots of Exodus: Why Are People Compelled to Leave their Homes?
People are leaving their homes. It’s not because they want to but because they have to—to survive. Climate change, food insecurity, war and conflict; these are the root causes of this displacement. But is anyone doing anything to address them? Facts are facts, and one of them is that while everybody talks about the growing…
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ICE detains Nahant activist and single mother, protesters rally for her release
Photo: Steve Ahlquist. On Nov. 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement took Siham Byah, a 40-year-old single mother from Nahant, Massachusetts, into custody. Byah faces a final deportation order after attending a check-in at an ICE office in Burlington, Massachusetts. Her 8-year-old son is currently in Department of Children and Families’ custody. According to a press…
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Flogging Molly’s David King is One of the Lucky Ones – and He Knows It
David King has always known he was lucky, and it has fueled him throughout Flogging Molly’s 20-year career, a span of time in which they’ve continued their success as one of the most well-respected names in rock and roll. The Irish punk septet is now celebrating with the release of its sixth studio album, “Life…
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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…
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On Homelessness and Humanity
A couple of weeks ago, the executive director of the Homeless Empowerment Project, which publishes Spare Change News, read my column, “Homeless People Don’t Matter,” and it stayed with her for some time. “How did we get here?” she posted regarding the story, which was about the lenient sentencing of a security guard who assaulted…
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There is No Place Like Home
Janelle has been a guest at Rosie’s Place for almost a decade. She is a single mom with five children, ages seven through 22. She worked with Rosie’s Place’s public policy department recently to feel more confident speaking out for her rights. She gave testimony at the State House about her struggle to find a…
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American Fall: Anti-Flag’s Chris Barker on Distractions, Deregulations and Donald Trump
Anti-Flag have been making music for over 20 years, and still remain “eternal optimists.” Photo My Meghan Thomson The number two has surrounded Chris Barker his entire life. The decade in which Barker was born, “Christopher” was number two on the Department of Social Security’s “Most Common Baby names of the 1980s” list. His tenure…