SAY IT LOUD, CANDIDATES, AND FAST

In November, the week before the presidential election, I went for an evening run down a chilly, leaf-strewn Columbia Road. As I moved through Uphams Corner, past the Strand Theater, I saw something I had not seen since I moved to Dorchester -- a political rally, and a good one. People were honking their horns, waving signs and gleefully chanting “O-BA-MA!” As I weaved through the crowd, a man in his sixties, clutching and waving a sign, saw me coming and enthusiastically stepped onto the curb to greet me, “Vote Obama!”

More recently, I have gone for a number of evening runs through Uphams Corner. As of yet, though the mayoral election will have a more direct impact on the lives of residents here in the next four years, I have not seen a similar rally in support of any of the three mayoral candidates: Kevin McCrea, Michael Flaherty or Sam Yoon. I imagine they are probably scratching their heads and wondering why.

This summer, I spoke at a Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative meeting in Roxbury. I told a story about three young men walking a pit bull past a crowded bus stop in Uphams Corner. I related how when the dog saw me, the only white person, it lurched aggressively and started growling as the owner said, “Gooood Boooy! Go get ‘em.” The teenagers in the audience heard what I said and snapped up. Some chuckled. I continued by explaining how many neighborhoods in Boston are still deeply segregated, and how this city is in denial that it is stuck in the past and not making a lot of racial progress. Incredulous, the people in the church -- over one hundred residents, youth workers, ministers, community leaders, etc. -- interrupted with shouts and cheers of “Amen!” while a few others stood and clapped.

Shortly before that, I stood at a High-Risk Youth Network meeting in Dudley Square and told how the young men I work with are telling me that they are getting stopped and frisked and followed by the police like never before because it is an election year. I explained that I could not believe that I was not allowed to talk about this in public without putting the future of my work in Boston at risk. Again, everyone in the room clapped and interjected with “Amens!” and other words of support.

I tell these stories because I think they reveal a deep hunger in the community to hear the truth spoken about racial progress in this city. Boston has been stuck in the past for the last sixteen years and we in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury want to know whether the candidates in this race are courageous enough to admit it, and, if so, what they plan to do about about it going forward. Though the candidates have touched upon issues that relate to this indirectly in sound bites and during the debates, it is one thing to skirt around the edges of an issue and entirely another to boldly step up and tell residents that have been forced to remain silent for a long time where you stand.

As I wrote in a post below, in Boston in 1971, J. Anthony Lukas wrote of a young man from the South End, “One summer, Richard worked for a Globe delivery truck, earning ten dollars a week. But well-paying jobs were virtually impossible for a black teenager to find. Any hustler with a modicum of skill and daring could do much better on the street.”

Today, sadly, not much has changed. In Boston, young men go into the financial district at 9am on workdays and see nearly all white faces. They walk by restaurants and bars in Beacon Hill and the Back Bay and see the same. They return home to deeply segregated neighborhoods and wonder what is going on. They apply to 10, 20 and even 30 entry level jobs and can’t get hired. They wonder why African Americans, Cape Verdeans and Latinos are under-represented in the police and fire departments. They walk past construction sites in their own neighborhoods and wonder why people with out-of-state plates and no vested interest there have jobs and they don’t.

People in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury are tired of hearing about how much racial progress has been made when realities like these speak otherwise. Residents here want and need to know whether the candidates plan to acknowledge these realities, which is a huge step in this city, and secondly, how they plan to address them going forward.

Back in April, Mayor Menino nearly pulled the plug on the popular Elma Luis memorial project because of a perceived slight to a friend of his. Countless other stories in recent weeks show that the mayor systematically rewards his allies and shuts out any who criticize or disagree with him. This has resulted in a reality where prominent clergy or community leaders that dare to speak the truth on Boston’s lack of racial progress are faced with the dire prospect of losing vital development projects and funding for critical programs.

Residents here need to know, first, whether the candidates will stand up now and hold the mayor accountable on these issues so that community leaders do not have to risk running afoul of the mayor, and second, if elected, whether the candidates will punish community leaders for pointing out when they could do more, or whether they will welcome advocacy and/or criticism if the slow pace of change continues.

President Obama was different from the candidates in Boston’s mayoral race because he didn’t have to stand up and say where he stood on many of these issues. Many voters knew, implicitly, because of their shared backgrounds and experiences, where he stood. This is not the case for voters in Boston’s mayoral election. The candidates here will have to go a lot farther to let voters know they stand with them on these issues and that they are not afraid to stand up and say what needs to be said. If they do not go the distance and boldly speak the truth on this city's shameful lack of racial progress, and so far none of them have, I suspect there will be no rallies in Uphams Corner like the one I saw for President Obama in November.

With less than a week to go before the primary, time is running out for the lightning bolt that struck President Obama’s campaign to strike in Boston. Address these questions with courage in tonight’s MassVOTE Forum and across this city this weekend, candidates, and here’s to hoping that lightning strikes twice.

COOL IT

Yesterday, I was walking down by the water near Carson Beach in South Boston. It was a beautiful day, and the beach was packed with people enjoying it.

As I walked, I noticed two state troopers walking down the beach in full uniform and making people open their coolers to see if there were any alcoholic beverages inside.

Not only did this strike me as ridiculous, I mean, is it really that big of a deal if someone wants to have an adult beverage on the beach on a gorgeous day?, but it also struck me as incredibly illegal.

Police must have, at minimum, reasonable suspicion that someone is committing or about to commit a crime before they can stop them, and they generally must have at least probable cause in order to search something.

Is bringing a cooler to the beach evidence that someone is committing or about to commit a crime? Man, I hope not.

SOTO(ES)MAYOR

There has been a lot of talk during Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing about her comment that a "wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion than a white man who hasn't lived that life."

It's been more than talk, actually. Republicans have pounced on this remark and are trying to use it to discredit her as a racist. Lost in the media hubbub and staggering hypocrisy in this (this is the same Republican Party that nominated an openly racist Barry Goldwater and whose poster child to this day, Ronald Reagan, not only worked on Goldwater's campaign but promoted constitutionally segregated neighborhoods in California, opposed the 1964 civil rights law, and opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965) is an open and honest conversation about whether Judge Sotomayor has a point.

In the Souls of Black Folk, WEB DuBois wrote that, "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line." So far, the same can be said for the twenty-first century. In numerous posts below, I have described how when I lived in the Back Bay, the majority of people were overwhelmingly white, and how now, living in Dorchester, I often find myself the only white person around.

This is significant with respect to Judge Sotomayor's comment because a true understanding of the affairs of men and women comes from spending time with people of varying cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds and learning how they live, what their challenges are, etc. If whites are segregated from African Americans, CapeVerdeans, Haitians, Latinos and other minority groups, it is very difficult to gain a true understanding of the world.

A great example of this is the picture above, taken last night at 2am. A front-end loader was doing heavy construction work right in the middle of three houses where people were sleeping. And I mean heavy construction work. They were dropping huge pieces of metal to the ground. The crashes literally thundered through the neighborhood as my roommates and I watched and listened in disbelief. Where I used to live in the Back Bay, this never ever would have flown. Not in a million years.

When I moved here, I couldn't understand why residents here would never complain about this kind of thing, because it happens all of the time. Or why they wouldn't call the police when something bad happened. Or why they wouldn't talk to them after I called them. But now, after three years, I am starting to understand. There are a million different reasons, and all of them are complicated. And I never would have learned any of them had I not lived here. Not just working here and then going home each night, but actually living here and going through the same things residents here go through each night when the sun goes down and each morning when it comes up. And I have only lived here for three years. My understanding is not even close to Judge Sotomayor's, or the many other residents that live here and in the neighborhood where she grew up.

Recently, a judge in the Boston Municipal Court got upset at a criminal defendant in the courthouse because the young man showed up on the day of trial wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The young man's excuse was that he didn't own a button-down shirt had no other clean clothes to wear. The judge pounced on this as ridiculous, and it was hard to blame him. Had I not lived here, and seen over and over again young people going without clean laundry, and wearing smelly clothes, and never learning effectively about hygiene or doing laundry, I would have agreed with him in a second.

But what the judge didn't know is that the young man's mother was a crack cocaine user, and so he likely grew up under those very conditions. In the suburban white world, these "excuses," as we often call them, seem ridiculous because we usually grow up learning that things like laundry and collared shirts and hygiene are not only normal, but required. We often say, in response to hearing these excuses, that at some point a child becomes an adult and has to take responsibility for her/his life. While this is true, too often when we whites say this, and often judgmentally, we are utterly unaware of what is actually going on -- not out of malice or hostility, but because we have never been exposed to poverty in the inner city and have no real way of knowing that a child can grow up never learning what we learned because of of tragic circumstances, such as mom being unavailable because her addiction to crack cocaine consumed her.

And all of this goes right to the heart of Judge Sotomayor's point. Those that have lived in and moved between both worlds, and particularly those that have been on the receiving end of racial biases and prejudices, are more likely to make better, more-informed decisions than those that have not. If you ask me, what she is saying sounds like a common sense observation of reality.

THE RACIST DOG

On Monday, as it drizzled as in a scene from Dickens, I waited under the cover for the 15 Bus at Dudley and Magnolia Streets. After about 20 soggy minutes with no bus, I got frustrated and took out a file to review.

As I did, I noticed three young men approaching the bus covering. One had an adolescent Pit Bull mix on a leash. The dog walked by the four others before me, none of whom were white, none of whom were in a suit, and didn't care to notice.

As it approached me, it abruptly lurched at me and started growling. I flinched back as the man yanked hard on the leash. As the three walked on, I heard the one with the leash say aggressively, relishing that I was still within earshot, "Good boy! Good boy! Go get 'em."

Later that day, still sorting feelings of anger and sadness, I went to lunch in Dudley Square. I walked by a constructions site near the sidewalk on Washington Street. There, operating the machinery and tools, doing all of the digging and other labor, were six men, all of whom were white.

Later that afternoon, as I waited for the 15 at Greenville and Dudley, a fire engine pulled out of the firehouse in Dudley Square and zoomed past me. As I peered in, though I can't be totally sure because it was moving quickly, I am nearly certain I saw four firemen, all white.

As I saw all of this, walking through neighborhoods and riding buses where I am often the only white person, I started to think about the young man with the dog earlier that day. My anger was becoming harder to justify.

CRIME TIME

The Globe reports today that crime is emerging as a key issue in Boston's mayoral race.

This is great news, and a great time to propose a crime prevention strategy that might effectively make our city safe. Here are a few ideas that I think will stop violence effectively in Boston:

1. Police are...

The relationship between the police and urban residents is as bad as ever and getting worse.

There is a simple truth that the establishment in Boston has ignored for years: if you alienate urban neighborhoods touched by crime and violence by overpolicing them, and compel residents to testify against their wishes without offering any plans or funding to keep them safe, eventually they will sour on you.

One of the best ways to fix this is to reassign officers that are from or live in the districts where they work to walking beats to meet residents, build relationships with them, and make sure that everyone knows that they are there and that they can be trusted (see "Nice Ride" post below for a great example of this). This shouldn't be something that happens once in a while. This is something that should be happening all day and night year-round.

Connecting with the community is one of the most important aspects of working in it, and officers that refuse to do this critical function should be reassigned to administrative duties or terminated for failing to perform an essential function of the job.

2. Streetworkers with something to offer

All of the streetworkers in the world working out of facilities open 24-7 are a waste of time and money if they have nothing to offer the young men they work with.

Right now, The Boston Foundation's StreetSafe initiative is proposing more streetworkers and extended hours for facilities that serve "proven-risk" youth (1% of the youth population that causes more than half of violent crime). This is a great initiative, but one that is doomed to failure if the rest of the city does not get hip to what really causes crime.

Every young man I have ever talked to in Dorchester and Roxbury has told me that if he could find a well-paying job that would enable him to eat, take care of his family and afford an apartment we would never see him on the block again.

In the 70s, J. Anthony Lukas wrote of Boston that "Well-paying jobs were virtually impossible for a black teenager to find." Sadly, the same is true today. In fact, now even minimum-wage jobs are nearly impossible for young men with criminal records to find.

For our streetworkers to be effective, they must be able to offer the young men they work with realistic alternatives to underground employment, whether it is programs that offer them something of value in exchange for their time or jobs that will enable them to survive.

3. Programs with something to offer

Most programs out there expect participants to volunteer. This results in programs that reach kids that are inclined to volunteer, which usually means they have parents that are helping them and supporting them each day with rides, bus fare, etc.

As a result, the kids that are causing violent crime, the ones that are marginalized and often do not have supportive families, or families at all, do not end up in the programs that are designed to reach them. Simply put, it is not realistic to expect young people that are on their own to buy into something when they can be out on the street using that time to make money instead.

We must begin to implement programs that offer young men something of value in exchange for their participation. For example, I recently started a program that offers young men credit for the court fees and fines that they owe in exchange for their participation. As a result, we have been experiencing extraordinary levels of interest from young men that have been traditionally very difficult to reach. Another great example is Villages Without Walls, an excellent program that got young men from the Greenwood section of Dorchester to show up everyday last summer to organize and work in the community in exchange for pay.

New York City has adopted a program called CEO, where it takes men straight from prison and places them directly into a 6-month transitional job, during which time caseworkers help them find full-time employment that will last into the future. Even using a most rigorous outcome measurement, the program has drastically reduced recidivism and saved taxpayers millions of dollars.

These kinds of programs reach young men much more effectively than traditional programs, and Boston should start to get behind them. So far, the old guard has been very resistant to these new models. Hopefully this will change.

4. It takes more than a summer job to eat year-round

Summer jobs are great, but they are only a temporary fix. When September comes around, if a young man can't find another job he's either going hungry or right back to his hustle. A man has to eat year-round.

The mayor of a city like Boston has incredible resources at his/her fingertips. Sadly, we have not been utilizing the full potential of these relationships.

First off, we should offer corporate tax breaks and other incentives to companies that train and hire a certain percentage of young men with criminal records as part of its workforce. And maybe even to insurers that agree to insure those companies for their employees after the proper training. This is a no-brainer, and a great way to begin welcoming into the mainstream economy young men that have been excluded from it since, well, always.

Walk around downtown Boston any Monday morning and the overwhelming majority of faces you see are white. Same goes for the restaurants and bars, cultural sites, etc. I took a young boy from my neighborhood to the Barking Crab on Saturday and he was so uncomfortable being the obvious only black person there that he told me he wanted to leave. The only way I got him to stay was telling him that, "When we go out in the 'hood, I'm the only white dude around. On the 15 bus, at Poppa B's, everywhere, so if I can do it you can too or it's never going to change."

Change it must, because right now young boys like him and young men do not feel welcome in the mainstream economy and think that there is no point in even trying to enter it.

5. Mobilize the troops

Boston has a veritable army of educated young people in its colleges in universities. That the city has not tapped into this in an organized, effective way is unthinkable.

The city has proposed a database of gang members to share among law enforcement for effective prosecutions. I recommend a database of children, before they join gangs, who are easily identifiable by the adults in their neighborhoods and just about everyone else, that will pair student volunteers with young people for a minimum of one year.

Students that successfully honor a commitment to a young person for 8-10 hours a week for one year or more ought to be given scholarships or credit towards their student loans from their colleges or universities. The way to get the schools in line is to treat them as corporations for property tax purposes if they do not engage in these charitable activities, or, potentially, give them tax breaks in proportion to the amount of scholarships they provide for these committed students.

Kevin White used a pyramid system for his elections, where there was a "Committee of Five" trusted political lieutenants at the top, 22 "ward coordinators" that supervised 253 "precinct captains" that directed 2,000 "block workers" responsible for 25 "citizens." If a politician can utilize such an effective system to solicit votes, then our politicians today ought to be able to do the same to prevent kids from dying.

Boston should use this system to identify children in trouble and pair them with an army of students flush with social and economic capital that would emerge through a system of scholarships and loan forgiveness.

6. Fix the Boston Miracle

I detailed in a post below (Dear Mr. Mayor) how the "Boston Miracle" fell to pieces for what seems to be no good reason. In its place, we have been relying heavily on law enforcement and the results have been disastrous. It is time for a rapprochement between the players involved in the Boston Miracle. Hopefully the next mayor will lead the charge on this and some of the other ideas above.

CHARTER CHUMP

Luckily for Boston residents that are voting this fall, Mayor Menino's recent "Mitt-Romney" illustrates the calculus he and his political team seem to have been using for years: "Okay guys, whether this is right or wrong, innovative and promising or not,  if it's going to hurt us politically we need to squash it."

Sadly for us -- or more accurately, the thousands of children stuck in poverty and under-performing schools -- the city's apparent calculus does not hinge on whether something is the right thing to do.  It hinges on politics: "If I get behind this, will it hurt me with the teachers unions?  And if so, is popular support broad enough to make up for it?  If not, the kids will have to wait until the unions calm down and it is safer politically."

Though this sort of decision-making is not befitting of a place like Boston, we can't seem to get enough of the guy.  He comes around and shakes a few hands and before you know it we are all googly-eyed and could care less that we have a leader that is refusing to lead; a leader beholden to the interests of powerful groups; a leader whose craven political calculus crowds out innovation and promise.  

Instead of timely stands on issues and bold vision on promising initiatives, such as KIPP or CEO, we have a mayor that comes around only after he realizes he needs to change his position to save political face.

Boston deserves better.  This great city needs a leader that will take bold stands and lead us into the 21st Century.  It does not need more of the Charter Chump.   

NICE RIDE

On Friday afternoon, as I got off the 15 Bus in Uphams Corner, I saw Officer Monteiro ride quickly up towards a group of teens gathered on the sidewalk. 

"Hey everybody, what's up?"  "Nothin, how you doin'?"  "I'm good.  What's everybody up to tonight?"  "Ahhh you know, just chillin'."

He moved on to the next group, congregated in front of the liquor store.  "Hey [], what you doin' in front of the liquor store, you're too young to be drinkin'," he said playfully.  "And [], what are you doing out here?" he asked an older man he knew well. Don't you get drunk on me tonight, [].  I don't want you and me to have to meet up later, alright?" 

After, he moved on to the next group, riding and beeping his horn, talking to everyone he saw.  Everyone knew him, everyone talked to him, and it made me so happy to see him out there. 

It's a no-brainer that this is the best way to create a good bond between residents and police; a bond that is critical in communities touched by violence.  Although we don't see it nearly enough in Boston, luckily in my neighborhood we have Officer Monteiro.

As I turned up Virginia Street, two young men pulled up in a car.  Officer Monteiro looked in, recognized them, and screamed, "CLASS OF 2009, BABY!!!!  Whoooooooo!!"