Editorial

News reports attacking the management of the Whittier Street Health Center ignore the achievements of the Roxbury nonprofit and the extraordinary pressures facing health centers today.

For decades, African Americans have been participating in Fourth of July events. They have marched in parades, attended barbecues and cookouts, and gone to fireworks displays. Blacks joined in the celebration as fellow citizens despite their acute awareness that they did not fully enjoy all the rights of Americans.

According to polls, more than 70 percent of Massachusetts voters supported a “Fair Share” tax that would impose a 4 percent surtax on personal income in excess of $1 million. The extra funds were to be used only to finance public education and transportation. However, those opposed to this initiative petition filed suit against such a constitutional amendment, and they prevailed in a 5-to-2 decision of the Supreme Judicial Court.

Tracy Heather Strain and Randall MacLowry, two highly skilled film makers, have produced a documentary on Lorraine Hansberry. The film focuses on Hansberry’s early life and the challenges she faced in getting her play into a major theatre in New York.

A Harvard Harris survey in Aug. 2017 found that 57 percent of respondents are unfavorable to the Black Lives Matter movement. Similarly in a CNN poll in Sept. 2017, 59 percent of whites are against the professional football players taking a knee to protest police violence.

The Asian American Coalition for Education has joined in a lawsuit alleging that Harvard has unlawfully denied admission to a large number of Asian students with high admission test scores and grade point averages. They have charged Harvard with racial discrimination.

It is time for African Americans to understand that the performance of whites is no longer the gold standard of academic and professional achievement. Their ice is actually not colder.

It is time for African Americans to understand that the performance of whites is no longer the gold standard of academic and professional achievement. Their ice is actually not colder.

The National Football League proposal to eliminate protests by players at games severely violates the spirit of the nation’s First Amendment to the Constitution. The issue is not whether team owners have the right to establish rules of conduct for their players, but whether it is advisable for the league to stifle the unassailable right of free speech.

Recent reports indicate a widening gap between pay for CEOs and the pay of the ordinary worker. The excessive salaries of some CEOs contribute to the nation’s concern for income disparity.

As the #MeToo movement gains momentum and the penalties for even being accused of sexual harassment are increasingly severe, society must not circumvent judicial due process in order to prevent injustice.

While ethnic issues are indeed important there are often other considerations of greater significance than the questionable concept of race. As blacks become more involved in sophisticated political, business and professional activities, personal commitments regularly emerge more forcefully than binding ethnic ties.