In virtually every corner of the Boston metro region, an issue that comes up frequently is how people face down institutional racism. This collection of talks draws together a diverse group of leaders and thinkers tackling distinct problems that grow out of persisting racist views.
A group of community organizers and students met in a classroom in Harvard's Graduate School of Education to speak with aspiring educators. The question they raised: _Are We Being Educated or Incarcerated?_ "There's too much emphasis on behavioral class management and curriculum development. As a result of such, there's very little engagement and relationship development between teachers and students. Consequently, our urban youth of color are not being effectively educated; they are being mentally colonized, marginalized, and incarcerated." — Emdin (2016) and Quiceno (2017) This discussion gave some youth an opportunity to share with Harvard students and education professionals their personal narratives about the disciplinary issues they have encountered within the public and charter school system. They also offered some recommendations to dismantle the "school-to-prison pipeline".
Criminal justice reform is one of the most pressing issues facing lawmakers in Massachusetts. A reform bill is working its way through the statehouse, however, prisoner advocates argue that too often the policy makers do not reflect the communities who are disproportionately impacted. In this anniversary gathering, organizers of the original gathering [#StuckOnReplay](http://forum-network.org/lectures/stuckonreplay-striving-social-justice/ "") attempt to move the conversation out of the State House and back into the community.
GrubStreet, the Boston Literary District, and Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Equity joined forces to host "Who Are We When We’re At Home: the Black Experience in Boston” during the [Muse and the Marketplace 2017](https://grubstreet.org/muse/ "grub street conference link") conference at the Park Plaza Hotel. Boston Globe Associate Editor and Op-ed columnist Renee Graham moderates a conversation about the experience of code/switching that's common to African Americans nationally but also particularly in greater Boston, a city with its own very complicated and contradictory racial history. She’s joined at the table by the poet Charles Coe, historian Kerri Greenidge, and Boston’s Chief Resiliency Officer, Dr. Atyia Martin.
Bishop Karen Oliveto served as senior pastor of the 12,000-member Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco for eight years. She was the first woman to be senior pastor at Glide, the fifth largest United Methodist congregation in the US. Bishop Oliveto has the distinction of being the first openly lesbian bishop in The United Methodist Church. She and her wife, Robin Ridenour, a nurse anesthetist and United Methodist deaconess, were married in 2014. Bishop Oliveto now serves as the leader of 400 churches in the Mountain Sky Area of The United Methodist Church.
In this original, provocative contribution to the debate over economic inequality, Ganesh Sitaraman argues that a strong and sizable middle class is a prerequisite for America’s constitutional system. For most of Western history, Sitaraman argues, constitutional thinkers assumed economic inequality was inevitable and inescapable—and they designed governments to prevent class divisions from spilling over into class warfare. The American Constitution is different. Compared to Europe and the ancient world, America was a society of almost unprecedented economic equality, and the founding generation saw this equality as essential for the preservation of America’s republic. Over the next two centuries, generations of Americans fought to sustain the economic preconditions for our constitutional system. But today, with economic and political inequality on the rise, Sitaraman says Americans face a choice: Will we accept rising economic inequality and risk oligarchy or will we rebuild the middle class and reclaim our republic? Thumbnail: Charles Booth [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Throughout the presidential race of 2016 and in the weeks that have followed the election, turmoil has broken out in cities across the country, sparking critical conversations about racial inequality and the deep divisions that exist in our society. The products of institutionalized racism—police brutality, mass incarceration, gentrification, separate and unequal schools, and an ever-growing wealth gap between Black and White Americans—cause pain and frustration for many in our South End/Lower Roxbury community and throughout Greater Boston. Now approaching our 125th anniversary, United South End Settlements’ philosophy of “neighbors helping neighbors” has taken on new meaning: our community has transformed from a predominantly low-income, immigrant community to the neighborhood with the greatest wealth disparity in Boston. Micro-segregation in the South End prevents neighbors from building bridges across differences and creating an inclusive community. To bring this reality into the light and open up a community-wide dialogue, USES President & CEO Maicharia Weir Lytle will host and moderate the Harriet Tubman Forum on Race and Education.
Anticipating the imminent inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the next U.S. President, writers & activists gathered on the weekend marking the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. in fifty cities, across three continents, for a counter-inaugural demonstration: [**#WritersResist**](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WritersResist&src=typd ""). **[More: See Act II](http://forum-network.org/lectures/greater-boston-writersresist-act-2/ "")** In Boston, attendees queued in long lines around the Boston Public Library, waiting for doors to open for the event. Rabb Lecture Hall was filled to capacity and inside, 25 presenters read poems and speeches intended to inspire everyone to resist bullying, advocate for immigration reform, women's choice, healthcare and open borders. In the words of the organizers, "...to re-inaugurate our shared commitment to free expression, civil rights, and the values essential to a democracy." Readings and performances by Rob Arnold, Laura van den Berg, Michelle Garcia, Krysten Hill, Richard Hoffman, Helen Elaine Lee, Jennifer De Leon, Marianne Leone, Alma Richeh, Jabari Asim, Liana Asim, James Carroll, Martha Collins, Kofi Dadzie, Martín Espada, Danielle Legros Georges, Jennifer Haigh, Giles Li, Dale Peterson, Marta Rivera, Alexis Rizzuto and Fred Merchant. Presented by Daniel Evans Pritchard, founding editor of [The Critical Flame](http://criticalflame.org/writers-resist-boston/ "").
It's not enough to talk about Boston's problems stemming from racism. Mayor Marty Walsh intends to devote 2017 to doing something about it. Wrapping up the November event "Boston Talks About Racism", hosted by the Mayor at the Cutler Majestic Theater, reconciliation specialist Jennifer Henderson explained a technique for talking about racism that was first employed in Louisiana: The Welcome Table. Through storytelling and sharing in a safe space, "We build a bridge strong enough to bear the weight of the truth we have to tell each other," she said.
Ceasar McDowell is the President of the Institute for Social Change and a professor of urban planning at MIT. He joined Boston Mayor Marty Walsh at the Cutler Majestic Theater in November 2016 to help kick off a year of talks intended to ask Bostonians to address real and present issues of racism. Follow the ongoing conversation via Twitter with #IAmBoston.
Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO James Rooney spoke to a full house at the Cutler Majestic Theater as part of the Mayor's day to begin tackling the pernicious and deep-rooted problems racism has created. Rooney made a pledge: "The Chamber, our board, our members and our staff will be engaged in action-oriented processes...on issues of board diversity, economic mobility, access, education, workforce development and jobs."
