The Face of Worcester Future

                        

                                         Courtesy: Panama Foto

The Face of Worcester Future

The anti violence rally on July 26, 2015 is a harbinger of Worcester’s future.  The ralliers were mostly Black and Latino, although there were a few older people in attendance, most of the people were young.  New faces giving a political event a new flavor.

The rally was on the surface about the rash of violent acts, including shootings in Worcester. However the main element of the rally, that could have been easily missed, was the young people of all races, especially Black and Latino youth making a statement of a nascent political awakening.

Some people in Worcester will look at the Canal District or the Blackstone Visitor Center or Union Station condos as the future of Worcester. In a certain sense these and other projects are. What some people do not see is that value comes from people and not buildings. The demographics of Worcester has been on a continuous march to a majority population with dark skin and duo languages.

Although not true for my generation, to a large extent young people today seek models and wisdom from their elders. The solutions that many of the ralliers put forward were based on eclectic philosophies such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and others. Everyone called for an end to self destructive youth violence and gang violence. I am sure that their solutions to the issue will be more sophisticated with practice and experience.

                                  Courtesy: Bill Coleman

Some older advocates passed out a flyer putting forward the ideas of the New Jim Crow racism and an end to Mass Incarceration of low income people, especially from the Black and Latino communities. The older advocates hoped that the young would be influence by those ideas as well as the need for police transparency and an end to the school jail pipeline.

The potential power of the young people in this rally might have frightened conservatives in Worcester as the ralliers are now being attacked with disingenuous allegations of criminality. These allegations are similar to the malicious prosecution of the Black Lives Matter protester by the City of Worcester.

The rally last Sunday is a sign that Worcester City Council might become more than an old boys club with its token colored person. There are several Black and Latino candidates running for City Council, including Bill Coleman and Sarai Rivera, who both came to the rally.

If not this election cycle, then in the near future the politically conscious young people of Worcester will change the look of Worcester government.