Marty Walsh grew up in Dorchester, so he's familiar with how Boston got some of its scars. That's why he thought he had the issue of racism figured out. But on the road to becoming Mayor, he found out otherwise.
"My zip code—02125—is one of the most diverse zip codes in America. I thought I had the conversation about race down," the Mayor explained to a full house at the Cutler Majestic Theater. They were gathered there on a Saturday morning in November to open up the issue of racism in Boston again with a new initiative from the Mayor's administration. Walsh said he had been frustrated and angry during his campaign because he didn't have a good answer to questions he received about racism, and now he is determined to get one.
At the event, Mayor Walsh introduced Dr. Atyia Martin. She heads up the Office of Resilience and Racial Equity, a recent addition to the Mayor's administration. Her mission: to resolve the problems of institutional racism and social inequity in Boston. In 2015 the city applied to 100 Resilient Cities , a new initiative funded by the Rockefeller Foundation that provides resources to research and strategize around issues of resilience, safety and inequity. The November event featuring the Mayor was the result of her first year of work, and it teased the new initiative, Boston's Resilience Strategy , coming in 2017.
» Find more about the November 19th event, Boston Talks About Racism, on WGBH's Forum Network
At the same time that Martin's team—comprised of hundreds of citizens and working groups—began examining the pain points in Boston, rhetoric from the 2016 Presidential campaign inflamed racist attitudes nationwide and emboldened those willing to hurl hateful words—or worse—at their neighbors. In fact, just weeks after the election, the state's Attorney General said that 400 calls had already come in to the new hotline set up for reporting hate crimes.
Walsh, nevertheless, is optimistic about the turn politics has taken. Alluding to Trump's victory on November 8th, Walsh said, "Things happen for a reason." Still, he admitted that the results of the 2016 Presidential election hit him pretty hard.
"Tuesday was a tough election. Tough for me. Me personally." he said. Then he turned defiant. "Our country is in great transition. We have no idea where the leading is going to take us. But I can tell you in Boston we are not going to go backwards. We are going forward," he said.
Several others at the November event shared the Mayor's vision. Author and activist Debby Irving explained how her version of history had been "whitewashed", while Dr. Ceasar McDowell, President of the Interaction Institute for Social Change, offered hope for 2017. "When I see protesters in the streets by the thousands, denouncing hatred, fear and divisiveness, I know there is an America that wants to be," he said. See their talks and more on WGBH Forum Network.
Next, in early 2017, Martin's office is expected to present the framework that will guide Boston leaders in identifying the ingrained, racist ideas lurking everywhere from emergency response plans to education and city planning. It won't come a minute too soon for Mayor Walsh.
"This is the right conversation to have at the right time in the right city," he said.
