Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced the city's first Chief of Equity about a week after announcing the new Equity Cabinet position.
The appointment of scholar and policy activist Dr. Karilyn Crockett to the seat was announced in a press conference Monday.
Dr. Crockett will oversee the mayor's newly-created Equity Cabinet, tasked with addressing racial equity in at every level of city government, and head the mayor's agenda to dismantle racism in Boston.
Walsh said the city's Equity Chief had to be someone who understands the legacy and ongoing reality of racism in Boston — and who can get things done in Boston City Hall.
A PhD and lecturer of Public Policy and Urban Planning at MIT, Crockett spent four years as the city's director of economic policy research and small business development — and was instrumental in pushing for stricter policies around minority inclusion in city hiring.
In a speech accepting the nomination, Crockett recalled the legacy of racism in Boston, including bitter fights over school desegregation, as well as the present-day reality of racism embodied in the stark educational, health and wealth disparities between white residents and residents of color, especially Blacks and Latinos.
And Crockett did not mince words in describing Boston City Hall as part of that legacy.
“For far too long Boston City Hall has been an agent of racism, exclusion and old-crony gatekeeping of the city's prosperity and power,” Crockett said. “Today is a somber day to recognize this painful and enduring truth.”
Crockett said changing the culture at Boston City Hall from one of exclusion will be no small task, but commended Mayor Walsh for, she said, helping begin a long-overdue conversation about the ways Boston continues to fail its residents, especially its residents of color.
“What good is it to hear that you live in a prosperous and thriving city if the racial wealth gap prevents you from passing on wealth and prosperity to your children and their children?”
