Opinion

Last week in New York City, Black Enterprise hosted its second annual Chief Diversity Officer Summit and Honors, presented in partnership with Fidelity Investments, Merck, and The Executive Leadership Council, the preeminent organization representing senior Black executives in corporate America and corporations throughout the globe.

Juneteenth marks our country’s second Independence Day. That fact in itself calls on us to remember, reflect, and recommit to the principles of our democracy - liberty and justice for all - but ones that we have never fully embodied.

Education administrators at all levels need to act now to resist a rising tide of efforts against social science knowledge. That tide includes bans on state funding for teaching DEI in schools, public colleges and state agencies.

Boston’s Haitian leaders at the forefront of the migrant crisis are overwhelmed and the state’s safety nets are stretched. The established Haitian community must step up to help expedite the integration of Haitian migrants into the local community.

What conduct is sufficiently ignominious to require government officials to expunge the names of prominent individuals from public buildings? 

At a time when some conservative leaders are questioning the legitimacy of Black studies and disparaging lessons about Black history or racism as “woke” or mislabeling them as “Critical Race Theory,” we at Greater Grove Hall Main Streets did something different.

On June 6, Mayor Michelle Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper announced their proposal to move the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science from Roxbury to the West Roxbury Educational Complex. We understand many students, staff and families have conflicting feelings about this proposal, but as longtime Boston school teachers, we believe moving the city’s most diverse exam school to the least T-accessible neighborhood in the city is not in the best interests of our students.

Boston lost a giant last week with the passing of Mel King, but his vision, impact and legacy provide us with a clear guide in creating a more equitable city.

What happens to our public institutions when democracy fails? When elected officials ignore the will of the people, governing bodies lose their independence, and the fundamental right to local democratic control is stripped away?

At last count, nearly 200 right-wing think tanks, advocacy groups and parent groups have railed against CRT teaching in the schools. Fox News has been on a virtual nonstop crusade against anything that remotely smacks of CRT in the schools.

Some 45 years ago, I was a young Asian American college student in California, who worked with Chicano/Latino and Black students statewide to protest the first major attack on minority admissions.

As schoolchildren, we were taught that in the Battle of San Juan Hill, the courageous Teddy Roosevelt led his valiant Rough Riders to victory against a larger enemy force during the Spanish-American War. But that narrative is far from the truth.