Opinion

Now archived in libraries and stored as memorabilia of a time past, the Green Book has passed into history, but structural racism has not. A persistent, truth-seeking set of questions will manifest the evidence of its existence today time and time again.

Violence has been a common strategy of whites to impede black economic progress. In addition to economic attacks on black towns, racial discrimination against individual black entrepreneurs has made it difficult for blacks to prosper in private enterprise.

Social acceptance of racial diversity has been retarded by the mistaken belief that so-called African Americans belong to one coherent racial group. In fact, black opinions are heterogeneous.

The present system does not work. With Jeff Sessions no longer serving as attorney general, perhaps astute politicians will see that severe punishment for minor offenses does not solve the crime problem.

The long, often bloody history of America is littered with groups that have imposed a kind of white frontier vigilantism on blacks, Hispanics, Asians and other pariah groups.

Whatever happened to the American Dream of owning a home and giving your children a better life than you experienced as a child? Is this ‘dream’ being deferred or denied? The stark reality is that between the rising cost of college and the equally rising costs of homeownership, much of the country that works for a living is in a financial catch-22.

For many in BPS, the past two weeks have been disturbing. The announcement of three school closings from one day to another was a deja-vu experience of irresponsibility that BPS families and staff know all too well.

Now that the theme of a blue wave bust has become a popular talking point expect that talk to accelerate in the run-up to November 6. The best answer to that is to ensure that this is nothing more than what it is, namely scare talk.

The Democrat that goes head to head with Trump will have to do something that no other Democratic presidential candidate has ever really had to do in a presidential race. That’s be willing to swap every dig, putdown, and insult that Trump will hurl at his opponent back at him, expose his lies, phoniness and shallowness and steal some of his media thunder.

As Boston grows, we must keep our focus on the families and communities that make our city the diverse, welcoming and world-class place it is. To do that, residents must be able to afford to live here in the city they love, families must be able to grow, and young people must be able to make our city their home.

I am Dr. Ford. I am a man, but I say that because of the terrible remembrance and epiphany that her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee brought back to me. I watched Dr. Ford choke up and almost fight back tears as she bravely told the traumatic story of the attempted rape of her by Brett Kavanaugh.

A Kavanaugh withdrawal then does not mean Trump and the GOP can just plop another Kavanaugh type on the bench and get that pick quickly confirmed. It will ignite another time-consuming fight. This time, time won’t be on the GOP’s side.