Cross Roads For Black Lives Matter

Cross Roads for Black Lives Matter

Several events have taken place in the new civil right movement also known as Black Lives Matter. The movement has grown to encompass not only the disparately racist killing of unarmed Black males by the police, but working class people of all races and genders.

Since January 1, 2015 three people a day have been shot and killed by the police. This number includes the nineteen years old unarmed Black man in Wisconsin, Tony Robinson, who was killed in his home after a police officer broke into his apartment without a warrant. The number also includes a man in Georgia was obviously unarmed as he was without clothing and another man, homeless in Los Angeles. I am sure when you search the internet the shooting of unarmed  working class people of all races by the police will be found readily. In Wisconsin thousands have demonstrated and blocked highways since the death of Tony Robinson.

The recent Department of Justice report determination that the racism of the Missouri police was systemic and institutional is further evidence of the need for changes in the racial bias of police departments nationwide. Essentially some police officers’ interaction with the Black people of Ferguson and elsewhere are that of an oppressor who collected money for the state and harass, arrested or killed those who do not pay up. The report was no optimistic of change for the better In the near future. One can only assume that continued actions by advocates are needed. Hundreds are still demonstrating against the racism of the Ferguson police. 

The shooting of two Ferguson police officers is unfortunate and a crime that should be punished the same as Michael Brown killer should have been punished. These individualistic shooting are not a part of legitimate protest movements; no more than racist shootings are a legitimate part of police conduct. Mass collective action is what makes social justice movements work.

In response to unacceptable continuing killing of unarmed people some of the Black Lives Matter organizations, including the Massachusetts Human Rights Commission, the Progressive Labor Party, and others will rally against racist police killings and intimidation. The rally will take place on March 21, 2015, 12 Noon, Korean War Memorial Worcester. Community United Collective which has taken a lead in the movement for social justice is rumored to be having internal issues. Hopefully it will be able to return to its more militant former self.  The coalition of Clark students has had a tepid appearance since it bold actions in the Fall of 2014.

One of the reasons for the tepidity might be that the City of Worcester has summoned a Black Lives Matter Advocate to a Clerk Magistrate hearing. These hearings are intended to intimidate people and send a chill into a protest movement. The City of Worcester has no evidence of any wrong doing and therefore it has not charged anyone with anything nor has it gone to the District Attorney. It brings to mind the words of Councillor Lukes “The Worcester Police have been reduced to just harassment”.   I asked to meet with City Manager Augustus and Chief of Police Gemme about the matter, but they have not respondent to the inquiry.

Besides the rally on March 21, 2015 organizers are promising other responses to the City Manager’s and City police’s attempts to intimidate the movement for social justice. Community United Collected has sent out a press release which seemingly has been ignored by the mainstream Worcester media.  The Civil Liberty Union of Massachusetts has for years been at the forefront in the fight for police accountability by its lawsuits and it might have to step up once again with others.

The Nativity School of Worcester

The Nativity School of Worcester

The Nativity School of Worcester is a model for all schools. It has its limitations, but it also has a pedagogy viable for children from Worcester’s working class neighborhoods. It strives to be “A Place Where You Can Be Good”, a place where children are removed as much as possible on a daily basis from the temptations of the streets and negative peer pressure. The School does this by requiring participation in after school programs, Saturday activities, and summer sessions.

This method of teaching works on several levels. The children have less distractions and worry. Their main concerns can then be directed toward academics and the positive reinforcements of peers and a highly motivated teaching staff.  A part of this is due to the relatively low class sizes which averaged no more 15.5 per class.

The Nativity School is a fully accredited private middle school and it has an academic curriculum that includes language arts, reading, mathematics, science, social studies, Spanish, and world religions and morality as well as a Renaissance program that includes drama, music and art classes that culminates in performances each semester.

It is a member of the Society of Jesus School Association; it is not a Worcester Diocesan school or a Worcester Public school. It is funded entirely by grants and donations. No money comes from the College of the Holy Cross, even though the Nativity School was founded through the efforts of the Jesuits from Holy Cross College. The School’s tenth annual auction fundraiser is scheduled to take place on April 10, 2015.

The Nativity School is located at 67 Lincoln St. near the intersection with Goldsberry St.  The building was a former Girls Club building. The Nativity School originally was located in All Saints Church on Pleasant St. and it moved to the new location a couple a years ago. There was a lot of speculation that it would move to the former Boys and Girls Club building on Ionic Ave.: that did not come to be.

The School strives to have a relatively low student to teacher ratio. These low ratios are an important part of the teaching methods of the Nativity School. Seen below is a breakdown of the number of teachers and their qualifications:

Total faculty/staff: 15

Lead Teachers: 4

Nativity Fellows: 8

Non-teacher administrators: 4

Number of faculty with graduate degree or in process of attaining a graduate degree: 100%

Adult to student ratio: 3:1

As a way of attract teachers the Nativity School has what it calls the Nativity Fellowship. It is a program that offers the chance for novice teachers to learn and practice their crafts and provide the students with their knowledge. Some of the benefits and incentives to the Fellowship teachers are room and board, stipends and insurance, graduate degree programs, transportation, Americorps Awards, and loan deferment.

For those readers who will be future teachers, Joel Kent, Business Manager, is the guy to contact for more information about the nativity Fellowship at jkent@nativityworcester.org or 508-799-0100 ext. 104.

When I worked at the College of the Holy Cross it was emphasized that our work must be of a measurable quality. The same standard applies to the Nativity School. It is not good enough for it to just say we have sixty-two students in the program; the outcomes are also important. An example of this standard evaluation is that for each graduating class at the Nativity School the students came in at grade level and after four years each class was above grade level. The graduating classes of eight graders were at the tenth or eleventh grade level. Other “measurable” results of the Nativity School’s pedagogy are one hundred percent of graduates were accepted into and receive financial aid to attend private high schools and seventy eight percent of graduates chose private high schools.  One hundred percent of the graduates have been accepted into four year colleges or specialized post-high school programs.

No school is perfect. The statistics do not show the retention rate of the accepted students. Some boys have dropped out of the Nativity School. President of the School, Alex Zequeira, said that the retention rate is improving. It was always above ninety percent and that it is now closer to ninety nine percent.

There is an economic ceiling for admission. All of the boys presently at the School are from a low income social economic environment and are eligible for free/ reduced breakfast and lunch. The tuition for each boy is fully covered by scholarship.  Enrollment is limited to boys from Worcester. The student body is composed of students from the following Worcester neighborhoods: Webster Square, Vernon Hill, Main South, Grafton Hill, Burncoat Street, Brittan Square/Lincoln Street, Belmont Hill, Lincoln Village, Great Brook Valley, Plumley Village, Columbus Park, Quinsigamond Village, Shrewsbury Street, Lake Quinsigamond, Beaver Brook.

Presently the admission policy for the School is limited to boys grades five through eight.  The President of the School, Alex Zequeira, explained that it is in the middle school years that boys are most likely to be affected by the adversities of an economic environment. The admission is open to boys of all faiths. There are discussions among the trustees about when to admit girls to the School. It is a disappointment that the admission of girls has not happened sooner.

The student body is diverse with the majority of the students being so called minorities.  The ethnic makeup of the student body is the following:

Hispanic/Latino: 44%
African/African-American: 35%
Caucasian/White: 11%
Other/Multi-Race: 5%
Asian:                                                                                                        5%

 There is a dress code: the boys are required to wear a dress shirt, tie and jacket. This reminded me of my years in parochial school in which the same dress code existed. I grew to dislike wearing a tie and only relatively recently began wearing a tie for my work. I think the boys will develop this same dislike of ties, but this dress code will allow them to see themselves apart from the adversity some must face daily. I coincidently ran into the President of the Nativity School at Abbie Lee’s restaurant. With him were students wearing a dress shirt and tie and a former student who dressed more causally. Maybe it was my imagination, but I perceived ties and dress shirts were not the clothing of preferable choice.

Of course it is not possible for Worcester Public Schools to emulate the Nativity School or that matter any private school. The Worcester Public School system has many students and there are other impediments such as contacts and politics.  I think that the model presented to us by the Nativity School could be done in the Worcester Public Schools in a pilot program, similar to the School for gifted children being set up in Doherty High School.  A middle school with a limited student population chosen at random or by the criteria found in the Nativity School could be set up in one of the Worcester public middle schools building. Of course the students and their parents will have to agree to mandatory after school programs, Saturday activities, summer sessions and a possible new dress code.

There are many people and programs that are helping children in somewhat an uncoordinated many in Worcester. There is a need to coordinate those efforts and a Nativity School model would be a possibly good way to focus those efforts.  It would provide a real life way of understanding what it would take to expand the Nativity School model to public school.  As one parent at the Nativity School told me, the education her son received at the Nativity School is something every child deserves an opportunity have.

The Legacy of Charles E. Scott

The Legacy of Charles E. Scott.

Charles E. Scott was a Black Worcester City Councillor in the early 20^th Century.  For a Black man to become a Worcester City Councilor was an accomplishment at a time when the Kluxers were strong in the United States and in Central New England. It is even more remarkable as he was not born in Worcester, but he came from Sterling Massachusetts. At that time according to the Dr. Thomas Doughton, the Methodist Church in Sterling was encouraging Black people from the South to join their church.

No Black man has become a Worcester City Councillor since the death of Charles E. Scott. Stacey Deboise Luster had become a Worcester City Councillor in 1990s, a first for a Black woman, but Charles Scott was the last Black male City Councillor.

Even today there is something of a barrier for those not native to Worcester to gaining elected office.  Charles Scott married Agnes Gimby a Nipmuc who was native to Worcester and had some influence. Perhaps that saying of a strong woman being behind a strong man is true. Charles Scott and his family especially his grandsons Ron and Keith deserve all of the honor and praise this City can give them. Moe Bergman the City Councillor deserves credit for expediting the plaque of Charles Scott.

Sometimes I have thoughts that the honoring of Charles Scott has been influenced by the Black Lives Matter new civil rights movement. During the old civil rights movement there were always tokens improvements given in hopes of forestalling greater social justice. 

The real legacy of Charles Scott might be the City Council elections of 2015 which hopefully will be more integrated than most City elections. William Coleman says he might run again, but he is apprehensive of the crowded field. Krystian King has already declared; he ran for State Representative a couple of years ago and lost by a narrow margin. Juan Gomez a former City Councillor and Executive Director of Centro Las Americas told me that he is running. A new coming Linda Parham, known for her work with the NAACP, is according to a source running for City Council. I have not been able to reach Ms. Parham to confirm.

There was a rumor that Sarai Rivera would run for an at large Councillor seat and for Mayor. She told me that this is not true and she would run in her district. She said that Mayor Joe Petty was doing a good job and she was backing him. When I asked Mayor Petty about the Mayoral race he said he was running and that Councillor Gaffney has a right to run against him. Mayor Petty did seem unduly concerned about Councillor Gaffney.

Mayor Petty is sometimes hard to read. I rode a commuter van to Boston with the Councillor Petty for a couple of years and he was always under control and pleasant. However one day I mentioned to him that I was going to bring an anti war petition to City Council. He said in a moment of candor that he wished I would stop harassing the Council. Later he said that I had the right to bring the petition. I can only guess that Councillor Gaffney’s run for Mayor is at least an annoyance to Mayor Petty.

Councillor Gaffney is well disliked by many in the Black community for his “I went to school and work at the same time speech” during the Black Lives Matter discussions. Councillor Lukes who because of her “I support the cops” resolution is more disliked by the same people, came to the Charles E. Scott event, although I did not see any Black person speak with her.

This issue of race in America is the leading political issue even when masked as something else. Thank you Councillor Scott for another opportunity to bring it forward.

Harsh Winter Means Homeless Emergency

Harsh Winter Means Homeless Emergency

There is a human rights emergency in the City of Worcester.  The so-called homeless are suffering in the more than 600 hours of continuous temperatures below freezing. The City Council’s Committee on Public Health, chaired by Councillor Sarai Rivera, held hearings on the matter on February 23, 2015.

The Triage Center, located on Queen St., has exceeded its capacity daily because of the extreme cold and snow. It is licensed for 25 beds but some nights over one hundred people spend the night. This number is not representative of the number of people who need shelter as many people do not meet the criteria of the Triage Center or choose to remain outdoors.  One person who attended the meeting, Paul, said that the staff of the Triage Center was sometimes confused about the requirements.

The number of people sheltering in the Triage Center has brought complaints from the Shepherd/ King St. Neighborhood Association which was represented by former City Councillor Barbara Haller. Ms. Haller and I have locked horns before on numerous issues, but in this case I think she is right despite her motives.  She said that the Triage Center was never intended to shelter over one hundred people on a daily basis. Forty people were acceptable, albeit a number exceeding the Center’s license for 25 beds.  The old PIP Shelter had 37 residents when it closed its doors and was replaced by the Triage Center.

South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC) runs the Triage Center on the campus of Community Healthlink, a part of UMass Hospital. The SMOC representative, Charles Gagnon, detailed the efforts it was making to reduce the “overflow” of people to the Triage Center. He said that the goal was to develop a single point of entry for the people needing shelter; this is the vision developed by the Federal agency, Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Through HUD SMOC has 50 units of housing, 100 vouchers for housing and 15 housing slots. SMOC said it was looking at a long term solution of moving homeless people into housing.

Mr. Gagnon also said that the harsh winter, the closure of the Long Island Center in Boston, and the periodic mercy patrols by the Worcester Police have a part to play in the overcrowding. Although he admitted he should have included the City and the neighbors sooner in the discussion of the overcrowding he felt at the time the extreme weather and demand on the Triage Center would subside.

 Councillor Rivera said that the system is broken. Mary Keefe, the District’s State Representative said that she was just learning of the issue.  Hopefully Representative Keefe will come up with a strategy that the City can take to the State.

Councillor Rivera is right in that the system is broken. There does not seem to be the political will to resolve the underlying causes that make people “homeless”:  an economic system in which we live from check to check, a devastated safety net, the health issues of the homelessness, and the prejudice against even the sight of homeless and “panhandlers”.  

Although not a surprise it is a disappointment that more people, politicians, and candidates did come to the hearing. I suppose a human rights crisis does not matter when the people cannot vote or contribute to a campaign.

Residents, Citizens, and the Franchise

Residents, Citizens, and the Franchise 

Until relatively recently, residency was the only requirement for people to vote in state and local elections in some states. There has always been a requirement of citizenship for people to vote in Federal elections. At the turn of last century 40 states had laws allowing non citizen residents to vote.  By the early 1920s no state allowed non citizen residents to vote. The disenfranchisement of non citizens is thought by some to be a reaction to immigrant workers coming to the USA. To a certain extent it was also a reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia as seen in the so called Palmer Raids and deportations of radicals such as Emma Goldman.

It is time to take another look at the franchise for non citizen residents of Massachusetts. There are at least three cities that have sent home rule petition to the Massachusetts legislature that would have allowed non citizen residents to vote in city council and School Committee elections, Newton, Cambridge, and Amherst. The legislature failed to act on these home rule petitions.  These Massachusetts cities did not have a majority “minority” population or school enrollment.

Cities such as Worcester, Lowell, and Southbridge could likely benefit from the allowance of non citizen residents voting as they have an increasingly rising percentage of immigrant population. This implies that their city governments do not reflect in a true manner the population of their respective city. Worcester for example has a large relatively old population that has fewer children in the school system. For them the Worcester Public School might seem to be a drain on their taxes instead of an essential fabric of our society. Many parents of children in the Worcester Public Schools are immigrant permanent residents who can’t vote the aspirations of their children. Although the school committee has not shown any overt biases on this matter, sometimes it seems to me that it struggles understanding the issues facing the immigrant population.

Besides the moral fiber of our city being positively enhanced by non citizen residents voting in local election there are other persuasive arguments in its favor. The first is that the non citizen resident is being taxed without being able to have the same voice as other tax payers. There should be not taxation without representation. The second reason is that the franchise encourages non citizen residents to participate more fully in the community.

It has been made clear by many to me that they don’t want non citizen to vote in local elections. Some of these anti resident franchise people are part of a movement to remove the franchise from citizens by means of voter ID laws, voter suppression, and voter intimidation. This is especially adversely impactful in the some of the "minority" communities in which people with a CORI have been permanently disenfranchised even though they are citizens.

If a home rule petition to allow non citizen residents to vote in local elections to have a chance of passage in the Massachusetts legislature there will have to be collaboration by people in the Massachusetts cities with a relatively high immigrant population Worcester, Chelsea, and more.  Ironically the collaborators would have to resort to extra franchise tactics such as rallies , marches, sit-in, similar to that used by women suffragettes. This battle will more than likely be won in the streets instead of the State House.

Even if the respective home rule petition fails the collaboration will likely have a positive effect and improve Massachusetts image world wide as a global place not restricted by what seems at times the unreasonable restrictions of nationalism and reaction.

Sex, Justice Thomas, and Love

Sex, Justice Thomas, and Love

Clarence Thomas and I were classmates at the College of the Holy Cross. We used to be friends, but now I feel betrayed.  The feeling of betrayal was reinforced on February 9, 2015 when he dissented from the denial of the stay that would have halted the enforcement of the Appeals Court’s ruling that Alabama state laws were in violation of the United States Constitution in the matter of same sex marriage.

We called him Cooze, after Bob Cousy.  Cooze was a political leftist during our time at Holy Cross and he modeled himself in many ways after the Black Panthers. He wore the army boots, leather jacket, and beret. During his first year of Yale Law School Cooze was mistaken for a street youth. When came back to visit we told him to buy a suit.

I knew him to be a gentleman with women, especially Black women. It came as a surprise, when during his nomination to the Supreme Court, I learned that he had divorced his first wife and remarried. I was also surprised when he rejected his sisters who had been at one time on welfare. I was hurt when he attacked affirmative action and started to blame Black people for poverty and racism.

Homosexuality during our college years was looked down upon. It might have even been a crime. Whether you were homosexual or not,  there was a fear of being called a homosexual. I am happy that the meaness and bullying that once was targeted against people who loved or were perceived to love other people of the same sex has decreased. Discrimination against homosexuals is now illegal in most areas of society.

Even today I have an irrational fear of being known as a homosexual. Today I thought  I was mature enough to not care what people thought of me, but I still have an irrational aversion to being known as a homosexual. I guess some of the damage that we suffer as children never goes away.

The logic of the equal protection of the Constitution found in the Fourteenth Amendment is a compelling argument for same sex marriage. When Justice Thomas wrote his dissent I was not too upset about it. I thought it was just Clarence being Clarence.  

That feeling changed when at the Political Artist fundraiser for the legal defense of Black Lives Matters protesters one of the poets talk of his personal life. His father is Native Indian and his mother is White.  He told us that when he was a boy he said to his father that he did not want to marry a White woman. His father told him to shut up; his mother is White. His father then said “You will marry the person that you love”.

That story cut through the pretext of Justice Thomas’ Dissent. The feelings of anger toward Justice Thomas had its scab removed. It motivated me to read his Dissent and write this column. People should be able to marry anyone they love when consent is given.

Justice Thomas’ Dissent stated that Alabama should be allowed to discriminate against homosexuals based only on the fact that it was past practice. There was no logic, theory, nor socially redeeming value found in the Dissent. It also contained a conundrum for Justice Thomas. He said that he was defending the people of Alabama; somehow he forgot that the Plaintiffs are people too. 

Police, Tenants Union, and Diversity Recruitment

Police, Tenants Union, and Diversity Recruitment

Each NAACP meeting I go to seems to have a ton of information and some surprises. The meeting on February 5, 2015 was no different.

There was a report by the NAACP housing committee coordinator of a tenant union called the Fruit Sever Tenant Union which is in a legal battle with a landlord operating under HUD rules.  Some of the Tenant Union’s members have been threatened with arrest by the Worcester Police, should they enter the building and meet with the tenants who are also members. Reportedly this is against HUD rules for HUD associated buildings. The issue is now being worked on by Congressman Jim McGovern who is reported to be clarifying the rules with the Worcester Police. At least one member of the NAACP expressed criticism of the threats of arrest made by the Worcester Police.

Officers Spencer Tatum and Miguel Lope, both in the gang unit, gave a presentation of the City’s efforts to diversify the Worcester Police Department. Office Lopez is also the Affirmative Action Officer for the Worcester Police. Although that position has no job description, he does outreach to the different communities about the Civil Service Examination that applicants for the Police Department must pass. The Civil Service Exam is given every two and it is used by all of the cities and town’s police 

departments to choose candidates. An exam taker must be between 21 and 32 years of age in order for the Worcester Police to consider the exam taker for a police officer position. The City’s thinking is that it wants about 32 years of service from each police officer. There is a form of forced retirement at age sixty-five. It is not clear to me that this practice does not violate anti age discrimination statutes.  People under forty years old are not protected by the anti age discrimination statutes.

The City of Worcester Police Department is under a consent decree agreed to in 1980’s that require a police force of 19.9 percent Black and Latino. The Asian population is not included in the consent decree nor are women. Presently there are no Asian women in the Worcester Police Department. During the last Civil Service exam seven Asian women passed the exam, but they were quickly hired by police department in other Massachusetts political divisions. There are today two Black women police officers; both of whom are near retirement.

Veterans passing the Civil Service Exam are by law chosen before other candidates. The military police who served in Guantanamo and who have taken the Civil Service exam will likely be hired first. It is not known how many military veteran exam takers will be White, Black, or Latino. Almost all Worcester Police officer applicants have BA degrees, although this is not a requirement.

The fee for taking the exam is one hundred dollars. One member of the NAACP said that he was interested in taking the exam, but he was unemployed. He asked if someone could give him the money for the exam. Officer Lopez said that there was a community group that paid for “minorities” who showed need to get money for the fee.

The City Fire Department was also under a similar consent decree. When, surprisingly, it reached its goal of 19.9 percent Black and Latino firefighters, it petitioned the court to be relieved of the consent decree. Subsequent the percentage of so called minorities in the City Fire Department has steadily fallen. It was suggested that the “minority “communities again sue the City to have a new consent decree for the Worcester Fire Department.