LOCAL NEWS
William Benjamin Gould's diary traces road to freedomThe day before President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, William Benjamin Gould took freedom into his own hands. Setting off in a boat from Wilmington, N.C., the skilled mason joined seven other slaves in rowing up the Cape Fear River to liberty. Gould chronicled his escape and subsequent three-year service in the U.S. Navy in a detailed diary that came to light close to a century after he wrote the last entry. More » |
Oops! New church filings reveal $600K in financial errorsIn yet another embarrassing disclosure in federal bankruptcy court, Rev. Gregory S. Groover Sr., pastor of the historic Charles Street AME Church, submitted revised 2011 financial statements that show previous submissions for the same fiscal year were wrong by more than $600,000. More » |
Warren's campaign message resonates with black votersU.S. Sen. Scott Brown's decision to skip a candidates forum at Roxbury Community College last week may well have been in his best interest. That was no clearer than when challenger Elizabeth Warren received a standing ovation from the audience that gathered in the Media Arts Center at Roxbury Community College. And that was before she even sat down. More » |
Community Voices: Really, Sen. Brown? Toma-hawk chops? War yells?What if Elizabeth Warren's mother was part black or Asian or Mexican instead of Native American? What if, instead of tomahawk chops and "F-Troop"-style war whoops, Sen. Scott Brown's staffers had donned blackface and strummed "Someone's in the Kitchen With Dinah" on the banjo as a way to deride her declaration of heritage? More » |
Community Voices: Anti-bullying laws should apply to gangs, tooWith the passing of anti-bullying laws -- and anti-hazing laws before that -- we now have two potential resources for addressing the gang intimidation, recruitment and initiation activity occurring in many of our schools. It appears, however, that peer violence is not called the same thing everywhere we go. It's "bullying" or "hazing" in our wealthy suburbs. It's "street" or "gang violence" in the poor sections of our cities. More » |
Community Voices: BPS helping students attend school closer to homeIn January I made a promise to our city's parents and children. Our families would like a school choice system that passes the common-sense test. Today's system does not. In the Bowdoin/Geneva area of Dorchester, where families speak 15 different languages and one in four falls below the poverty line, 2,000 students attend 100 different schools. More » |