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Councilors quiz BPS officials on bus plan Yawu Miller

Gov. Deval Patrick signs Massachusetts’ new election reform legislation into law last week at the State House. The bill includes early voting, online voter registration, post-election audits and pre-registration. (Eric Haynes/Governor’s Press Office photo)

Election reform legislation modernizes state’s voting Martin Desmarais With the signature of Gov. Deval Patrick, a new Massachusetts election reform bill became law last week and has advocates heralding the legislation as making the state a leader in voting modernization.

Pro-voter advocates entered this legislative season with a laundry list of changes and state legislators have delivered some of the major ones — and in particular some of the reform that had previously put Massachusetts way behind more conservative states.

Signed by Gov. Patrick on May 22, the state’s newest election reform bill includes early

voting, online voter registration, post-election audits of voting machines, and pre-registration for 16and 17-year-olds.

“This legislation makes our democracy stronger,” Gov. Patrick said in a statement. “With this new law we are making it easier and more efficient to register and vote, ensuring more people have an opportunity to participate in the election process.”

Early voting gives voters up to 11 days before a general election to vote at a designated early voting site. Early voting will apply to all November state elections, excluding primaries, beginning in 2016 and will also permit early voting by mail.

Online voter registration will

be done via the completion of a digital affidavit of registration, and the state will establish a website to update citizens on the status of their registration.

Pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-old voters allows them to be registered as “pre-registrants” in the annual voter registry and registered to vote once they hit the legal voting age of 18. Pre-registration will be completed at the Registry of Motor Vehicles and in high school classes.

Post-election audits of voting machines will be conducted at 3 percent of the state’s precincts after presidential elections with a target to improve the integrity of the voting system. voting, continued to page 8

Jackson remained unconvinced.

“We’re not talking about Making the case for put- crosswalks and lights,” he said. ting 7th and 8th graders on the “We are putting young children MBTA was a tough job, made into situations where they have to all the more so by skeptical city make adult decisions. We have to councilors and an audience of think about these issues in light disgruntled parents and school of the real issue — the underlybus drivers. ing issue is whether or not young But Interim School Superin- people will be safe,” Jackson said. tendent John McDonough made Jackson and others at the hearthe case for the change, which ing questioned how the school would save the school system $8 department can ensure the safety million and, along with other of students who don’t feel safe measures, help plug a $107 mil- navigating neighborhoods where lion deficit in the department’s gang activity is rampant. $1 billion budget.

Rice said the plan could proFlanked by vide school Tr a n s p o r t a bus service for tion Director students who Carl Allen and “If you live in East have to make Ch ief Op er- Boston and go to Boston multiple transa t i n g O f f i - Latin, you would have fers between cer Kim Rice, to take a bus to the Blue bus and train McDonough routes to get to explained last Line, the Blue Line to school. week that his the Orange Line, and District a d m i n i s t r a - the Orange Line to the 1 Councilor tion has spread Green Line. That’s a Sal LaMatcuts through- long day for our kids” tina, Disout its departtrict 4 Counments. Allen — Sal LaMattina cilor Charles described how Ya n c e y a n d school departDistrict 5 ment officials Councilor are working with other city agen- Timothy McCarthy questioned cies to improve crosswalks and the school officials about the pedestrian lights near schools to plan. McCarthy asked whether make students’ commutes safer. the school department has conAllen also said Boston Police, sidered substituting vans for school police and MBTA Police buses (they have). LaMattina officers would work with school echoed Jackson’s concerns. officials and volunteers to “If you live in East Boston ensure that students are safe in and go to Boston Latin, you high-traffic areas, including bus would have to take a bus to the and train stations where teens Blue Line, the Blue Line to the often congregate.

Orange Line, and the Orange “Our objective is to create pos- Line to the Green Line,” he said. itive adult presence at the stations “That’s a long day for our kids.” and prevent negative interactions Rice re-iterated the departwith the police,” Allen said. ment’s commitment to providing buses, continued to page 10 But District 7 Councilor Tito

Churches finding second life as condos Yawu Miller There’s no doubt the real estate is on the rebound in Roxbury. In February, a triple-decker on Whiting Street sold for $730,000. And earlier this month a single family home on Waumbeck Street reportedly received an offer of $480,000.

While real estate brokers say inventory is limited in Roxbury, the neighborhood’s Queen Anne Victorians, brick row houses and wood-frame triple-deckers are

fetching higher and higher prices.

It’s only a matter of time before another valuable Roxbury building-type makes its way to the housing market — churches.

In the South End and other neighborhoods of Greater Boston, dozens of churches have been repurposed for housing and other uses in recent years, many of the 63 churches, rectories and other buildings sold by the Archdiocese of Boston.

Now, as the Charles Street churches, continued to page 9

The former St. Peter and St. Paul’s Catholic Church in South Boston now serves as a 36-unit condominium complex. Many churches in the Greater Boston area have been converted to condominiums as the cost and scarcity of real estate continues to increase.

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2 • Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER

Venezuelan official cites country’s African history Yawu Miller From the earliest years of Spanish settlement in South America, Africans played a key role in shaping the history of the continent — from slave revolts in the 1500s to African military leaders in the war of independence against Spanish colonial rule in the 1700s.

But despite the fact that the majority of Venezuelans define them-

selves as morena(o) — or brown, to reflect a mix of black, indigenous and Spanish blood, Venezuelans have historically been reluctant to acknowledge the continued African presence in their country.

“If you talk to many Venezuelans today, they tell you the same speech: ‘We’re all mestizo. We’re all the same people. Why do we have to have special programs for African people?’” says Venezuelan Deputy

Consul General Omar Sierra.

“That mentality creates invisibility of Afro-Venezuelans and indigenous people. If we are all equal, how can you explain that in all African communities, all the social indicators are at the bottom of the ladder?”

Speaking during the annual meeting of the Boston Pan African Forum, Sierra gave a history of Afro-Venezuelans and outlined the efforts of the governments of the late

Boston Pan African Forum President Joyce Hope Scott introduces Venezuelan Deputy Consul General Omar Sierra. (Banner photo)

President Hugo Chavez and current President Nicolas Maduro to recognize the contributions of Africans to Venezuela’s history and culture and remove barriers of discrimination that have kept blacks living in second-class status.

Africans were first brought to present-day Venezuela as slaves in 1528 to work in copper mines there. In subsequent years, African slaves were forced to work in the agricultural sector, fueling the South American colony’s economy, which depended on the export of cacao and sugar.

From the beginning, Africans who ran away from slavery formed independent Cimarron communities in Venezuela, where African music and customs are still practiced. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, during the Bolivarian revolution against Spanish colonialism, African men and women served as military leaders, winning decisive battles against Spanish forces.

In exchange for military support from the Haitian government, Venezuelan revolutionary leader Simon de Bolivar agreed to end slavery in the colony. Slavery was phased out in the country by 1863.

But in the 1930s, the Venezuelan government began official policies aimed at whitening the country, banning the immigration of Africans to the country and incentivizing European immigration with promises of free land.

Sierra said the anti-African tide turned in 1998, when the newly-elected Chavez became the first Venezuelan president to openly acknowledge his African and indigenous ancestral roots.

Beginning in 1999, with the Chavez government’s controversial re-writing of the Venezuelan constitution, Chavez ushered in a series of reforms aimed at redressing the Afro-Venezuelan community’s history of dispossession, according to Sierra. The reforms included government expropriation of fallow land from wealthy landowners for redistribution to Afro-Venezuelan communities.

The Chavez administration also signed on to the 2001 Durban Declaration and Programme of Action from the World Conference on Racism, a United Nations initiative aimed at ending racist international policies.

The Chavez government also began re-writing history text books used in the Venezuelan schools to include the histories of Africans and of indigenous people.

“They called genocide ‘genocide’,” Sierra said. “They documented slavery. They taught who the Cimarrons were.”

In 2005, the Chavez administration began celebrating Afro-

Venezuelan Day on May 10th, to commemorate the date in 1795 when Afro-Venezuelan military leader Jose Leonardo Chirino won a decisive military victory against the Spanish.

The Chavez government also commissioned statues commemorating other Afro-Venezuelan military leaders who led slave revolts and fought in the war of independence and created a National Council for the Development of Afro-Venezuelan Communities, charged with helping preserve the Cimarron-descended communities where African cultural customs are still practiced.

Sierra said cultural change is still slow to come to Venezuela, noting that blacks are still underrepresented in the white-dominated corporate media.

“Venezuela is known for three things: soap operas, oil and beauty queens,” he said. “But you never see black people in those areas.”

Sierra’s presentation to the Pan African Forum last week, came days before anti-government activist Leonaldo Lopez received an alumni achievement award from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he graduated in 1996. Lopez was arrested in February by Venezuelan authorities for his leadership role in the university student protests against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

After serving as vice president under Chavez, Maduro was elected in 2013 by a slim 1.5 percent margin with the support of poor Venezuelans, who benefitted from an improved standard of living under Chavez.

The protests began in February after university students, complaining of crime and inflation, took to the streets and seized some government offices. During the protests, 37 people were killed, 550 were injured and more than 2,000 were detained by police, according to figures released by Amnesty International.

The Amnesty International report cited allegations that Venezuelan security forces used live ammunition on protesters and tortured prisoners during the protests. The report also alleged that anti-government forces committed human rights abuses and called on both sides to negotiate an end to the violence.

Sierra did not address allegations of government abuse, but noted that most Afro-Venezuelans did not participate in the demonstrations.

“It was mostly in the lightskinned, upper class neighborhoods,” he said. “The corporate media portrays this like it’s a national movement. With these protests, you have to follow the money. You have the rich people protesting and the poor people living their lives.”

The Fellowes Athenaeum Trust Fund has released a

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR COMMUNITY PROGRAMS at Dudley Branch of the Boston Public Library Send an email to fellowestrust@yahoo.com to receive the RFP and to find out more about how to apply.

Technical Assistance Sessions will be held on: June 5, 5:30-7:00p.m. and June 7, 10:00a.m.-12:00p.m.

The deadline is on July 11, 2014 at 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER • 3

Chinatown development brings rare affordable units Martin Desmarais As real estate costs skyrocket around Boston, Chinatown has been at the center of housing advocates’ fight to keep long-time city residents from being forced out of their neighborhoods. Last week, Chinatown residents got a boost with the groundbreaking on a long-awaited project to add more affordable housing to the neighborhood.

The new $26.7 million project, located between Oxford and Ping On streets and abutting Essex Street, is slated for 67 affordable housing units in a 10 story building. The Oxford Ping On development will contain 48 studio apartments, 16 one-bedroom and three two-bedroom apartments. It also includes plans for seven units to be used to help homeless people transition from life on the streets through a partnership with Home Start and St. Francis House.

The Chinese Economic Development Council is developing the project, which is scheduled for completion in late summer 2015, with $5.5 million in funding from the City of Boston. Eastern Bank is a main local lender funding the project. Project design was handled

by Chia-Ming Sze Architect Inc. and the project will be completed

by Consigli Construction Co. The project will fill a vacant site on Oxford Street, which has

been used solely for parking since the 1950s.

Mayor Martin Walsh was on hand last week to celebrate the groundbreaking with project officials.

“I’m proud that the City of Boston’s commitment to this project will create 67 units of affordable rental housing for working people in Chinatown,” Mayor Walsh said in a statement. “The construction of Oxford Ping On will rebuild and preserve an important portion of Boston’s Chinatown community. We are proud to partner with an exemplary team of builders and designers.”

Edward Chaing, chairman of the Chinese Economic Development Council’s board of directors, called the project a “momentous occasion for Chinatown” and said it will be a “transformational project” resulting in much-needed, modern and affordable residences for the Chinatown community.

Started in 1974, the 40-yearold development council has long dedicated its efforts to backing the economic development of the Chinese community in Boston, particularly in the city’s Chinatown. This is the organization’s third 100 percent affordable housing project, having developed some of Chinatown’s first affordable housing in the 1980s and also putting up an elder hous-

ing complex in the 1990s.

Min Wu, acting executive director of the Chinese Economic Development Council, said the Oxford Ping On development showcases her organization’s dedication to developing projects that support the community even when it is a long-haul effort to do so. The Oxford Ping On groundbreaking is a culmination of more than seven years of work.

“That is a main part of what we do on a daily basis and it is getting more and more difficult to develop affordable housing so it takes longer,” Wu said.

The fact that the development is 100 percent affordable housing contributed to the lengthy development process, but Wu said her organization had no intention of backing down from the plans.

“Part of the reason that it is 100 percent affordable housing is because our board members have always insisted that, if we are going to build, we are going to build affordable housing,” she added. “It takes a lot of patience and a lot of planning, but we have a lot of good advocates on our team.”

The development council also had strong backing from Chinatown residents. According to Wu, the council views Chinatown as at the heart of the affordable housing fight with its downtown location, proximity to hospitals and being at the intersection of so much public transportation —

The Oxford Ping On development in Chinatown will bring neighborhood residents a much needed 67 units of affordable housing. The project is being developed by the Chinese Economic Development Council and has $5.5 million in funding from the city.

(Image courtesy of Consigli Construction Co.) and as such cannot afford to lose ground to gentrification.

In this context, the Oxford Ping On development was able to garner widespread support.

“We have a lot of support from community members in Chinatown,” Wu said. “There have really been many sources of support from a lot of people in the community here.”

Oxford Ping On developers also credit the Walsh administration for backing the project, both

in providing $5 million in funding but in also really stepping up to help the project finally reach the start point this year.

“I think this is a sign that the city is turning its attention to affordable housing, or housing that people can afford to live in, as a general problem,” Wu said.

“The City of Boston is well aware that people are being forced out of their traditional Chinatown, continued to page 10

4 • Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER

Established 1965

African Americans must revive comittment to higher education The employment qualifications for jobs with a future more frequently include a college degree. Inspired by the opportunities, African Americans now enroll in college in greater numbers. However, statistics indicate that 40 percent of those who attend college as freshmen do not graduate in six years. The drop-out rate for community colleges is even higher — 50 percent. Those who leave college without a degree are left with substantial debt and no greater opportunity for employment.

A quick assumption might be that race is the primary factor determining the drop-out rate, but that is not the case. The best correlation is with the income of the students’ parents. Only about 25 percent of freshmen from families in the bottom half of the income distribution will earn a degree by age 24. Almost 90 percent of freshmen with parents with income in the top 25 percent will graduate. The level of income is the more significant determinant.

The University of Texas has decided to resolve this problem. It accepts applicants from the top 10 percent of any high school in the state. Since the drop-out rate of students from high schools in low income areas was unacceptably high, the administration launched a program to retain students. They decided to place in a special program every student with at least two of the following “adversity indicators”: low SATs, low family income, and less-educated parents. An article in The New York Times by Paul Tough provides an account of the program.

Many of those interested in helping to improve opportunities for blacks in education have inadvertently made the situation worse by overplaying emphasis on the problem. Sometimes talk about the education achievement gap makes it sound as though blacks students suffer from a learning disability. The strategy at UT was to “convey the idea that you have selected them for

this special program not because you fear they will fail, but you are confident they can succeed.”

The approach is to inspire confidence so that students believe they belong and are intellectually capable of performing the class work. They found at UT that with some support, students in the program performed as well as the students who did not have the problems that qualified them for special attention.

Unfortunately, many colleges have not yet developed a strategy to diminish those horrendous drop-out statistics. This was less of a problem in earlier decades. In 1950, only 6.25 percent of U.S. adults had earned a bachelor’s degree or more. The percentage of college educated blacks then was substantially less. But now 31.7 percent of American adults have at least a bachelor’s degree. This makes the employment environment very competitive.

From post-slavery days African Americans had an abiding belief in the value of education. Those few who were able to go to college were greatly respected. In some towns there were celebrations at the end of summer to honor and send off college students with the support of the community.

With the exception of the historically black colleges and universities, the black students did not really expect to be fully accepted. In fact they could not even be admitted to the segregated colleges, and their numbers elsewhere were too few to create a college community for blacks.

Nonetheless, the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement and the spirit of the times served as sufficient motivation.

African Americans must regenerate a commitment to education and begin the process of preparing children for academic achievement from an early age. It is unwise to rest in the hope that other colleges will develop programs like the one at UT to motivate black students from families with modest incomes.

LETTERSto the Editor

Calls for preservation of Whittier Street development

It was great to learn that the Boston Housing Authority will be investing more than $300 million into the neighborhood around the Whittier Street housing project. The investments in housing and community development have to potential to do immense good in the area, which seems to stretch from Mission Hill to Blue Hill Ave. No one in their right mind could argue against the incentive of hundreds of millions of dollars in development. But the question remains: why do the Whittier Street buildings have

to come down? At first glance, the buildings are not blighted. There’s no rampant, out of control crime in the apartments or the area around them.

The grass and plantings around the apartments is well maintained. There’s no broken glass or broken windows. I understand there may be some serious renovations needed inside the units, but can’t that be done without tearing the whole thing down and replacing it with wood-frame housing that looks more at home in the suburbs than in the heart of the city?

The public housing that was built in the 1940s and 1950s in Boston is not

always the prettiest architecture. But among those that were built, Whittier stands out one of the best and best-looking. The development should be preserved in its present form for its current occupants.

It’s no secret that the land there is becoming more and more valuable, and there are many city planners who would like nothing more than to see a high-rent high-rise at the corner of Whittier and Tremont streets. That would be a shame.

D. O’Hearn Dorchester

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Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER • 5

ROVINGCamera

OPINION How real is the GOP’s war on racism?

Earl Ofari Hutchinson Former 2012 GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney wasted no time in angrily denouncing and calling for the resignation of Wolfeboro, N.H., police commissioner Robert Copeland. Copeland made brief headlines when his N-word slur of President Obama went public. New Hampshire GOP Senator Kelly Ayotte, GOP senatorial candidate Scott Brown, and a slew of other GOP state officials also called for Copeland’s scalp. This was welcome and, at first glance, it seemed like yet another turning point for the GOP in its war with racism. Particularly, since it followed fairly close on the heels of the denunciation of nutty rocker Ted Nugent after yet another one of his patented vile racist broadsides against Obama earlier this year. GOP notables also ripped Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy for his equally offensive remarks about blacks.

The GOP has been on a bit of a noisy campaign against racism since Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus unveiled a hundred-pluspage blueprint last year on how to dispel the public’s image of the GOP as a safe haven for unreconstructed bigots and professional Obama haters. A centerpiece of this campaign is to immediately blast anyone in or affiliated with the GOP who pops off about minorities or gays. It’s a tough sell for a bigger reason than just the need to smack down an individual bigot.

The same instant that Romney and other big gun GOP officials in New Hampshire were screaming for Copeland to step down, the official New Hampshire GOP State Committee did not utter a single word about Copeland’s slur, let alone call for his ouster on its website. At the same instant, two other ultra-conservative, tea party-aligned GOP groups embedded in the state, the Liberty Caucus and the Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire, are waging a relentless battle to oust a slew of GOP state senators considered too liberal. One of them, not coincidentally, is the state senator who represents Wolfeboro. These two “independent” groups have plenty of money, plenty of backers, and a well-spring of voter support behind them.

They are hardly an anomaly in New Hampshire. There are legions of like groups in other states that are giving the GOP mainstream incumbents night sweats in the run-up to the No- Many millions vember mid-term elections. In most still back the GOP cases, their challenge to well-heeled GOP established incumbents will fall precisely because they flat on its face. They will likely not like the party just win a single primary race as was ev- the way it has always ident in the first big round of GOP been and shudder at primaries. But they don’t need to dump an incumbent to win. Their the thought that it raucous, spirited, and intense cam- could change. paign against them is enough to serve notice that any deviation by a GOP incumbent from hard-core conservative orthodoxy will be punished. The punishment is that masses of hard-nosed conservative voters will play hooky from the polls in November.

There are millions of GOP backers in the South and Heartland, and the gaggle of right-wing webs, blogs and talk radio jocks that have made it amply clear the GOP’s only flub is that it’s not truly conservative enough. They have hammered the GOP that any retreat from its core beliefs and message will perpetually doom it to political extinction in national politics. They warn that if the GOP suddenly started pandering to minorities and gays it could kiss millions of their fervent supporter’s goodbye. Indeed, many who didn’t think Republican presidential contenders John McCain and Romney were authentically conservative enough for their tastes did stay home in 2008 and to an extent in 2012. It was evident even in the backwash of the 2012 defeat, when a parade of GOP hardliners jumped all over Romney and wailed that he and GOP candidates lost because they weren’t conservative enough, or their self-inflicted gaffe wounds did them in. They denounced and sloughed off any talk from the GOP party leaders of re-messaging, mounting an aggressive outreach to minorities, even Hispanics, and do a reversal on immigration, and they won’t let up on that.

Copeland, Nugent and Bundy, and the other GOP namesake clods are the softest of soft targets, to make examples of when they go off the racial deep end. A swift and seemingly indignant rebuke of them makes good PR copy.

They serve to burnish the new image of the GOP as a party that will not tolerate bigotry and is no longer afraid to call out those who spew it. Yet the hard political reality remains that the Copelands, Bundys and Nugents will not suddenly evaporate. They can be counted on in any season to show up and pull the lever for a GOP candidate. Their votes will be even more crucial in November in the closely divided districts where Democratic incumbents are under ferocious assault and are vulnerable.

GOP party leaders will continue to feign outrage at the idiotic ravings that comes out of a GOP mouth. But many millions still back the GOP precisely because they like the party just the way it has always been and shudder at the thought that it could change. Robert Copeland resigned under pressure but that doesn’t mean that the GOP will win or even wants to win its war on racism.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author, political analyst, and radio host. He is an associate editor of New America Media.

The Banner welcomes your opinion. Email Op-Ed submissions to:

yawu@bannerpub.com Letters must be signed. Names may be withheld upon request.

Why do you think there are so many shootings in the United States?

People just don’t have patience, and you can get a weapon easily.

Guns are accessible and people are angry.

Brandon G.G.

I think it’s because weapons are more easily accessible and people aren’t able to talk about their problems and use violence instead.

A lot of people grow up in abusive homes and see violence every day.

Saquoya Craig

Guns are being manufactured and distributed. If you want to eradicate a problem, you have to get at the roots.

Bro. Taqua

PCA Skills Trainer Roxbury

Certified Nursing Assistant Roxbury

Community Organizer Dorchester

There’re too many guns on the street. It’s too easy to get guns.

There’re a lot of ridiculous kids who don’t have good parenting and it’s too easy to get a gun.

I think people have no control over their kids. I saw three shooting scenes yesterday in Dorchester.

Harold Watson

Yolette Rose

Leonna Porcher

Retired Dorchester

Student South End

Personal Care Attendant Dorchester

INthe news

Dr. Ray Hammond The Reverend Dr. Ray Hammond has joined the Boston Medical Center Health System Inc. Board of Trustees. The BMC Health System Board oversees the operations of Boston Medical Center and BMC HealthNet Plan and their affiliates.

Hammond, founder and co-pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston, is well known for his extensive involvement with various Boston community organizations and his advocacy on behalf of youth and the underserved.

“As a physician, pastor and community advocate, Ray brings with him a unique understanding of the challenges facing the community we serve,” said Ted English, chairman of the BMC Health System Board. “We are fortunate to have someone of his knowledge and compassion on our team as we continue to guide the operations of the hospital and health plan and ensure that we are in the strongest position possible to fulfill our mission of providing high quality healthcare and support programs to our patients.”

In addition to serving as co-pastor of the Bethel AME Church, Hammond is chairman and cofounder of the Ten Point Coalition, an ecumenical group of Christian clergy and lay leaders working to mobilize the greater Boston community around issues affecting black youth. He also serves as a trustee of the Yawkey Foundation and the Executive Director of Bethel’s Generation Excel program.

Hammond graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his residency at New England Deaconess Hospital. He has a master’s degree in religion with a focus on Christian and Medical Ethics from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

He is married to Reverend Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, the co-pastor at Bethel AME and a retired pediatrician.

6 • Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER

NEWSBriefs

City officials put on truck for Chief Chats program Landscape painting class coming soon to a park near you

ronmental matters. On June 21, the truck will be at Hyde/Jackson Square in Jamaica Plain, and residents can discuss health and general welfare matters with Arroyo.

Like the pioneering space monkeys Able and Baker 55 years ago, Boston’s Chief of Environment, Energy & Open Space Brian Swett and Chief of Health & Human Services Felix Arroyo will be the first city officials to enter the “City Hall To Go” truck as the Chiefs Chats program is launched next month.

“With the truck in the community, residents will be able to engage directly with members of my administration, and to reach necessary city services in a convenient and local access point,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh in a press release announcing Chief Chats.

On June 13, the truck will park at the Bowdoin Street Health Center in Dorchester, allowing residents to communicate with Swett about envi-

The Boston Parks & Recreation Department, along with Holly and David Bruce, will be hosting the 18th annual ParkARTS watercolor workshops during the month of June at five Boston locations.

As described by the Parks & Recreation Department, “the watercolor painting workshops enable artists of all skill levels to create their own green-space inspired masterpiece.”

The free classes offer participants

The English High baseball team celebrated their City League Championship on May 26, after defeating Boston International 18-6 in Jamaica Plain. This was the third consecutive championship for the team. Boston Public Schools athletic director Avery Esdaile (far right, rear) was on hand to present the trophy.

(aged 9 and older) the pleasure of two relaxing hours in the park painting their summery surroundings. The art instructors are able to work with all skill levels to perfect each participant’s painting technique. Materials will be provided by the Blick Art Materials Company.

All classes will be held from noon to 2 p.m., weather permitting.

The first class will be at the Boston Public Garden Lagoon on June 7.

The program runs, at various locations, through June 29. For more details, please visit the City of Boston’s website.

Roslindale Square holding music and art festival Roslindale is home to six elementary schools whose students will perform and exhibit their arts at the third annual Roslindale Youth Arts Festival.

The Roslindale Youth Arts Festival is essentially a recital for students to demonstrate the impact that the Roslindale Arts Initiative has in visual and performing arts instruction in the public schools. Working with the school’s principals and art teachers, the Roslindale Arts Initiative ensures that elementary school children have resources for arts in education. Funding is provided by private grants.

This year’s festival takes place on Saturday, June 7 at Roslindale

Square. The art exhibits will be shown between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The presentation and musical performances will begin at 11 a.m.

Mayor’s Youth Council recruiting neighborhood representatives The new Mayor’s Youth Council has been redesigned to engage young people in local government and is looking for neighborhood representatives.

“I have seen the positive results that come from having youth present at the table when decisions are being made – not just in the decision process, but also in their strengthened involvement and sense of responsibility to our city and their neighborhoods,” said Mayor Walsh last week in a press release.

Similar to a ward committee, but much younger, the neighborhood representatives will reflect the demographic composition of young people in Boston. If one neighborhood in particular has a preponderance of young people indicated in its census data, then more of the neighborhood representatives will be selected from that neighborhood.

Applicants must be Boston residents who will be entering grades 9-12 in the fall, and who are willing to dedicate three evenings of their time to volunteering every month of their term.

Aswalos House reunion recalls spiritual journey In 1968, after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., Thelma Cromwell-Moss opened the Aswalos House on Seaver Street as an after-school enrichment program and a workforce-development program for teenagers that focused on secretarial skills and GED preparation. The program was part of the YWCA. “No longer a building, the spirit of Aswalos is a part of anyone and everyone that was fortunate enough to participate within its soul,” said Cromwell-Moss, author of “My Lighted Path: the Spiritual Journey of a Black Woman on the Road Less Travelled.”

Late in 1990, with the help of a HUD grant and a federal grant to the YWCA, the Aswalos House was re-purposed into a transitional housing facility for teenage mothers and their children. The Aswalos House for Teen Mothers provided counseling services, schooling, job training and the coordination of permanent housing to its temporary inhabitants.

The name, Aswalos, is an acronym for “All Sisters with a Lot of Soul.” While the house has been shut down for lack of funding, those who participated in the YWCA program at any point in their lives are invited to attend a reunion event hosted by Cromwell-Moss, at the Dudley Branch Library on June 28 from noon to 4 p.m.

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER • 7

Why student debt matters: Q&A with Elizabeth Warren Marian Wang Elizabeth Warren knows what education can do. Her new book, “A Fighting Chance,” tells of what it did for her — starting at age 16, when she secretly applied to college and persuaded her parents to let her go.

After earning both a bachelor’s and a law degree, she immersed herself in bankruptcy law, which taught her how easily ordinary people can spiral into debt. Here, the Democratic U.S. senator from Massachusetts tells ProPublica why she’s decided to tackle the problem of student-loan debt, and what the government can — and should — do to help.

Why have you taken on the issue of student debt?

The cost of college has gone through the roof. More and more young people have to finance through bigger and bigger student loans. They leave school and they’re trying to start a life, start a family, get a job — and they’re drowning in debt.

I want every person to have the kinds of opportunities I had.

It’s personal. My parents struggled financially. My father ended up as a maintenance man, and my mother worked the phones at Sears. Education opened a thousand doors for me. I had loans, and I worked part-time, and it was enough to keep me going.

But the big difference is that I went to school at a time when this country was investing in students.

How big a problem are we talking about?

There’s $1.2 trillion outstanding in student loan debt. That’s more than credit card or car loans, more than any other kind of consumer debt except mortgages. It’s crushing people.

It also has the highest delinquency rate of all types of consumer debt.

That’s right. Because students can’t manage debt loads this size, particularly in a sluggish economy.

Why should people care about this issue?

Student loan debt affects the whole economy. Instead of buying a house or a car, young people are pinching pennies to deal with crushing amounts of debt. That’s not good for the economy. It’s not good for businesses. We need those young people entering the workforce and able to spend.

What is Congress doing to help?

This is the part that makes me grind my teeth. Right now, the United States government is making huge profits off the backs of our students. Our young people not only have to pay back the cost of the loans, they have to pay billions more in interest to the government — like an extra tax for trying to get an education. That’s just wrong. We ought to be investing in young people who are trying to get an education — not

making it harder for them.

Student loans are treated differently than many other kinds of debt under bankruptcy law, so it’s much harder for struggling borrowers to discharge their student loans. Do you think this should be changed?

Yes. I have co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Durbin, D-Ill., that called for making student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy. Keep in mind: Young people who have student loan debt — they didn’t go to the mall and charge up a bunch of things they couldn’t afford — but if they had gone to the mall, they could discharge those debts in bankruptcy. It’s only the student loan debt they can’t discharge.

So what should the government be doing?

For both private loans and federal loans, the fixes are pretty similar. We need to restore bankruptcy protections, provide better oversight of the government contractors that work with borrowers and process loan payments, and ensure that struggling borrowers can get help to modify their loans.

About those private contractors handling student loans, how could the Education Department be providing better oversight?

The first step here is transparency.

There’s not much information about how student loans are performing or how the loan servicers are working with borrowers to help them repay their debt. The Department of Education should collect better information and make it public.

The student-loan system is complex. What advice do you have people at different parts of the process?

For the person who hasn’t taken on any student loans yet, someone who’s looking at college: First, fill out the federal financial aid form.

It’s online and it’s free. Students who don’t fill out the form miss out, not just on federal grants and loans, but also on scholarships from their colleges and from their state. Fill out the form. It’s really important.

What about for people who are further along, and behind on their loans or teetering on that financial edge?

Find out about the help that’s available. The federal government has several repayment programs that can cut a borrower’s payment to a percentage of income, but it’s not as easy as it should be to enroll in these plans. People have to search online to learn about the programs and call their servicers to ask about them. For some people, this will provide real help.

The cost of college is a huge, underlying part of this student debt conversation.

How do we meaningfully attack the cost problem?

One of the ways we can do that is to make sure that colleges have skin in the game for getting their students educated and able to repay any money they borrow. It’s going to take

Elizabeth Warren everyone working hard on this: the colleges, the government, and the students. We’ve all got to push in the same direction on bringing down the cost of school.

I’ll say one more thing. Three out of every four students today is in a public university. When I was growing up, the states invested in public universities to keep the costs low for students. Today, the states make much smaller investments than they made a generation ago. That means our students and their families have to pick up the costs. We need to make those investments in education so that all of our kids have a low-cost option for a high-quality education.

What are the odds that in this political climate Congress can get something done?

You can’t get what you don’t fight for. We make change when we get noisy and insist that Congress follow through. There’s so much at stake.

Fixing the student-loan problem is about building a strong future for our country. That’s where I’m focused and that’s where I’m going to stay focused.

ProPublica This story was co-published with Marie Claire.

8 • Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER

voting

continued from page 1

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot (above) delivered the keynote address at the inauguration of Gitte Wernaa as the Elizabeth J. McCormack Chair in the Humanities at Cambridge College early this month. (Don West photo)

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Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, executive director of MassVOTE, calls the election reforms a big step forward for Massachusetts. Like many election reform advocates, the Massachusetts effort is driven by a desire to increase voter participation in elections — and specifically participation from young voters, lower-income communities and communities of color.

“We are now moving into election modernization. Everything in me believes that these pieces of legislation are going to absolutely help us turn out communities of color. We are removing the excuses why people say they do not vote,” Crawford said.

According to Rock the Vote’s Voter System Scorecard, the new Massachusetts election reforms push the state from a rank of 42 to a tie for 10 in a ranking of state laws and practices that increase access and foster voter participation.

The Voter System Scorecard, backed by research and analysis from CIRCLE, Fair Elections Legal Network, Overseas Vote Foundation and The Pew Center on the States, uses a 21-point scale to assess how states serve voters. It focuses on three categories: • Voter registration, including automatic registration, permanent and portable registration, sameday registration, online voter registration, and restrictions on third-party registration drives.

• Casting a ballot, including whether votes can be cast on days other than the traditional Election Day, voter identification requirements, residency laws, the absentee ballot processes, and laws affecting military and overseas voters.

• Young voter preparation, including state requirements about civics education and evaluation, and the ability of young people to “pre-register” to vote before they turn 18 years old.

Prior to the new reform, Massachusetts only had a 5.8 score out of 21. The new election reforms signed into law last week give the state 11.8 out of 21.

Other top states include No. 1 Washington, as well as Iowa and the District of Columbia. Massachusetts joins fellow New England state Maine, which is No. 7, in the top 10. Prior to the boost from the new legislation, Massachusetts’ election laws and practices were on par with low-ranking states including Pennsylvania, Missouri, Alaska and Alabama.

While all happily accepted by the state voting advocates, the new

Massachusetts election legislation is far from groundbreaking — 23 other states have online voter registration; 32 states offer some form of early voting; 26 states have post-election audits; and 14 states have pre-registration.

However, having all the election reforms at the same time is something that puts Massachusetts into the position of starting to be a leader in election modernization.

“We are very pleased with the package that passed the legislature. It will bring Massachusetts into line with the leaders across the nation. We are not No. 1 but we are in the top 10 which is where we should be,” said Pam Wilmot, executive director for the Massachusetts branch of Common Cause.

“Ideally we would be in the top five, but that gives us something to aim for in the future.

“It is a huge jump from being the back of the pack to near the front. That is a big deal,” she added. “It is a victory for the voters of the state.”

Wilmot, who has been working on election reform for over a decade, said it has been very difficult to watch Massachusetts fall behind other states, which passed voter pre-registration laws, early voting practices and post-election audits years ago.

Nancy Brumback, vice president of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, agree.

“It was a little embarrassing that Massachusetts didn’t enact early voting, considering what other state have done,” Brumback said.

“This goes a long way to making that better.”

Massachusetts is still separated from the states with the most progressive election polices because it does not have laws that allow for automatic registration, permanent and portable registration and Election Day registration.

Election Day registration, which allows voters to simply turn up on Election Day, register and vote all at once, is really the Holy Grail for election reform advocates.

“We would very, very much like to see it. It solves a host of problems,” said Brumback. “That has been shown to be the single provision that increases voter turnout or voter participation.”

MassVOTE’s Crawford added redefining the voting precincts in Boston as another important reform for the future. She said her organization will celebrate this reform victory but won’t wait long to get back to work.

“There is plenty more for us to do. We are not done. We just now have more to work with to turning out the community,” she said.

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churches

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African Methodist Church and OneUnited Bank sort through details on the church’s bankruptcy and the value of its property, the sale of the Warren Street church building appears more and more imminent.

If it sells to a real estate developer rather than another church,

decline in church attendance have opened up more churches to condominium conversions: • The former St. Peter and Paul’s Catholic Church on Broadway in South Boston was converted in 2003 into 36 condos, with an additional eight in the building’s rectory. An 800-square-foot, one bedroom unit sold there last year for $385,000.

• A developer plans to convert the New Hope Baptist Church on

“Churches are among the most visible when they change hands, and the conversion of a church to condos or other space seems startling, but it’s not an unnatural process.”

— Nancy Ammerman the Charles Street church could become the largest church in Roxbury to undergo a condominium conversion.

Church condominium conversions are by no means new.

One of the first in Boston, Church Court on Massachusetts Avenue in the Back Bay, was built in the burnt ruins of the Mt. Vernon Congregational Church.

In recent years, the closing of Catholic parishes and a general

Tremont Street in the South End into six luxury townhomes, with underground parking and separate entrances for each unit.

• The Concord Baptist Church on Warren Avenue in the South End is for sale and is widely expected to be developed as condominiums.

Condominium conversions are just one re-use for vacant churches. Other churches in Boston have be re-purposed as community centers — the Jorge

Hernandez Community Center in the South End’s Villa Victoria housing development, and the soon-to-be converted Blessed Sacrament Church on Center Street in Jamaica Plain.

Wi t h c h u r c h a t t e n d a n c e trending down in the United States, more conversions could be in the works, according to Boston University Professor of Sociology and Religion Nancy Ammerman.

“Attendance numbers, however, are not the whole story in the number of empty church buildings,” she notes. “That is also about shifting populations.

People who used to live in working class neighborhoods in cities moved to the suburbs, and new populations moved into those neighborhoods. Those populations, often immigrants, might or might not have the same religious traditions. They, in turn, start new churches and mosques and temples. Some of them take over the old church and synagogue buildings.”

The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church took advantage of the shifting demographics of church attendees, moving to the former St. Andrew The Apostle Church in the Forest Hills section of Jamaica Plain.

The church’s former building, on nearby Forest Hills Street, is now

the Parkside Christian Academy.

“Urban landscapes are full of buildings that have gone through multiple ‘lives,’” Ammerman says. “Churches are among the most visible when they change hands, and the conversion of a church to condos or other space seems startling, but it’s not an unnatural process.”

With Roxbury real estate values trending up, properties like the Charles Street AME church building, Renaissance Center and commercial storefronts, all of which are subject to bankruptcy court procedures, could fetch

high prices on the market.

“Roxbury is emerging very quickly as a highly desirable neighborhood,” notes real estate broker Vernon Barsatee. “Despite the real estate cycle of the fluctuations up and down, the general market trend will only continue to increase. With most recent sales of a completely renovated three family on 34 Whiting St. selling for $730,000, this is a sure sign of changing values.

Roxbury will be growing with the new construction and developments taking place only add value to already increasing market.”

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bus service for students whose commutes involve multiple transfers.

Councilor Yancey reminded McDonough of the council’s budgetary power.

summoned to the council’s Iannella Chamber for hearings on plans to cut social science and history staff from the department’s central curriculum staff as part of a reduction of 119 of the department’s 2,000 central staff jobs. History and social studies will remain as subjects taught in

“We are putting young children into situations where they have to make adult decisions. We have to think about these issues in light of the real issue — the underlying issue is whether or not young people will be safe.”

— Tito Jackson “The Boston City Council is an elected body,” he said. “We represent the people. The city council has the option of approving or disapproving the budget of a department.”

School officials were also

Chinatown continued from page 3

houses,” she added.

Wu notes the speed in which luxury condos and developments are popping up all around the city — and near Chinatown in particular — while affordable housing projects, such as Oxford Ping On, takes close to a decade to complete.

Her hope is that things are changing and she said she believes the new mayor is helping pave the way for speeding up the development process for this kind of much-needed affordable housing.

“I think that there are probably plans in the works to make this a simpler, faster, process,” Wu said.

If there was ever any concern that there was not a high demand

the schools, and no teachers will lose their jobs as part of the reorganization.

Another hearing last week focused on the department’s efforts to recruit black and Latino teachers to the schools.

for affordable housing, the Oxford Ping On project squashed this doubt for its developers.

According to Wu, several times over the last several years — when rumors that the project was about to break ground circulated — people lined up out the door to ask about getting on the waiting list and the phone calls flooded in.

“There is a huge demand for affordable housing,” she said.

Though it has been a long road, it has also not deterred the Chinese Economic Development Council from looking forward to future projects.

“Affordable housing will also be a main part of our mission. I think, once we start building in the construction process, we will reconvene and think about where we go next,” said Wu.

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Crews Control Former NFL player, actor talks newest movie role

Kam Williams Since retiring from the NFL, Terry Crews has traded in his helmet and cleats to pursue an acting career while also becoming the ultimate family man and fitness enthusiast.

Over the past several years, omnipresent Crews has been seen almost everywhere, whether as the pecs-popping pitchman for Old Spice, portraying the overworked dad on “Everybody Hates Chris,” a tough guy in “The Expendables” film series, the loveable goofball in “White Chicks,”

Will McAvoy’s bodyguard on HBO’s “The Newsroom,” or randy congressman Herbert Love in “Arrested Development.”

2014 has been a busy year for Crews, who has already appeared in Tyler Perry’s “The Single Mom’s Club” and in “Draft Day” opposite Kevin Costner. And later this year, he will be starring with Sly Stallone in “Reach Me,” and reprising the role of Hale Caesar in the “The Expendables 3.”

He is currently a series regular on the Golden Globe

Aw a r d - w i n n i n g T V s i t c o m “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” playing Sgt. Terry Jeffords, whose ripped exterior belies a sensitive and beleaguered interior. He also just added author to his resume with the release of his first book, “Manhood: How to Be a Better Man.” And it was recently announced that starting this fall he will be serving as host of the game show, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

Crews spoke to the Banner about playing the character Nick-

ens in the new movie, “Blended,” co-starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

I loved “Blended.” It kept me laughing non-stop.

That’s great! And it touches your feelings along the way, too.

That’s the thing. What’s so good about the Adam-Drew collaborations is how she tempers him.

It’s the real deal. Their “50 First Dates” was the first comedy that I ever caught feelings on.

I was like, “Whoa! I’m feeling

the romance here. I want them to get together. Why do I care so much?” And I got emotional about it. That is what they bring, a magical combination that works every time.

I liked the two of them in “The Wedding Singer,” too.

They’re a great combination. My wife does that for me.

By myself, I’m a hard pill. But, wow! My wife makes me look Crews, continued to page 12

12 • Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER

Crews

continued from page 11

real good, because she smoothes my rough edges. That’s why I say, “Take your wife everywhere. It’s a good thing.”

You provide the comic relief throughout this movie. Just when we’re about to forget about Nickens, he pops up again with that Greek chorus.

You know what’s wild? Adam called me up and before I’d seen a script, he said, “Man, I wanna do this movie with you that we’re shooting in Africa. Are you down, brother?” I had no idea what was going on, but I was like, “Let’s go!

This is awesome!” I’m a card-carrying member of the Happy Madison Productions family. Adam put me in “The Longest Yard,” “Click” and “The Benchwarmers.” Every time he calls, it leads to nothing but great things.

That’s why I just said, “Let’s do it!” We didn’t really have this character all straightened out. We sort of figured it out as we went along. He came up with a great idea. He said, basically, “Let’s make him the South African Tom Jones.” Once we had that, we were off and running.

Had you been to Africa before?

No, that was my first time, and

I loved every minute of it. I traveled all over South Africa. I was in Cape Town, Soweto, Sun City and Johannesburg. I would’ve visited Durban, too, but we just didn’t have the time. We met the most beautiful people and ate the best food! And we went on safari in Madikwe, which is near Botswana. It was amazing. Some people say Sante Fe is spiritual, but you haven’t experienced anything until you’ve been to Africa.

You know the world is bigger than you are after you see Africa.

I was surprised that they shot the film in Africa at all, since it’s a romantic comedy that could’ve been made in Hollywood, not a drama that called for an exotic location.

I think the moviegoers are tired of always seeing L.A. and New York. Come on! I think you can only do but so much here. It’s about time that the rest of the world is represented in entertainment. Africa is a huge continent. The world is gigantic. We get a little insulated. New Yorkers never go anywhere because they think everything’s already in New York. You can go to Disney World or watch Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, but you have to travel to Africa to have the real experience. And if you ever do go, it will change your life. I was changed. It was one of the best

things I’ve ever done.

What do you think about the 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria?

Oh man, what can I say brother? I have four daughters.

I consider myself a feminist. My whole life has been about standing up for women, for anybody really, who’s been abused. So, I’m outraged about the way they kidnapped and are mistreating those young ladies. That’s sick! All I can think about is what if someone took my daughters from me.

It hurts. My heart is still breaking. You can post or tweet about it, but it’s not going to rest until we find them and get them back home safe and sound. But nothing will change until really righteous men stand up and say, “This is wrong! Females cannot be treated this way. Women are not property. Women are not second-class citizens.” Women all over the world deserve pay equal to men, a voice equal to men, education equal to men, and to be respected. We’ve got to realize that we’re all the same.

Since you’re a former pro athlete and you live in L.A., I also have to ask you what you think about the L.A. Clippers. Should the owner be forced to sell the franchise for what he said?

Wow! This is what I think

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about Donald Sterling. We need to forgive him. … Let me tell you why. We’re all guilty of what he did. I’ve said things about my wife which would make people think I was a horrible person, if somebody had recorded me. You say things in anger that you’d never normally say. If someone secretly records you in your own home, you’re going to offend somebody. Taking Donald Sterling’s team away from him, because people don’t like what he said doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t know Donald Sterling. I don’t like him. We’ll never hang out. But let people vote with their dollars. You have to recognize that this is a dangerous precedent. If you don’t forgive, you’re setting yourself up to be judged forever. And as soon as you say something somebody doesn’t like, they can take what you own away from you. I know a lot of people disagree with me, but I just don’t believe in a system that doesn’t allow you to apologize, change and move on.

That’s an interesting take.

You surprised me. Food for thought.

It’s the new McCarthyism. It’s just not right. What I’m saying is that everybody has done it.

You might not have said something about black people, but you might have said something worse than what Donald Sterling said, something horrible about your wife, your kids, your best friend, or someone else. If you can’t turn around, say “My bad. I’m sorry,” and be forgiven, then what do

you do now? Are we going to hold everybody to that standard?

People like to throw stones, but I say “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” We have to give mercy to get it.

What advice would you give your teenage self just coming of age, if you could travel back in time?

I would say, “Terry, behave like a king.” Because, when I was young, I spent a lot of time behaving like a fool. And fools get mad when people try to give them good advice. They actually get angry at ‘em. Because by being a fool, you start messing up everything, and all of a sudden you want to blame everybody else. You’re a victim! It was my mother … It was my father … It was my wife … It was society …

It was my being a black man …

It’s endless. But when you behave like a king, you make no excuses, because it’s your court, your world, and you’re responsible for everything in your circle. That’s what I would tell my younger self. “Dude, behave like a king, and know it’s up to you.” That’s the deal. And I say it to young men now.

With so many classic films being redone, is there a remake you’d like to star in?

That’s a big question. There are so many. I wanna be Radio Raheem, if they ever remade “Do the Right Thing.” Yeah, I would love to play Radio Raheem.

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER • 13

African American viewers missing in U.S. art scene Jamilah King If you go to Kara Walker’s new exhibit, “A Subtlety,” at the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn, a lot will overwhelm you.

You’ll likely wait outside in a line that snakes down Kent Street, across from rowhouses that were once owned by Puerto Rican families and now fetch millions. You’ll sign a waiver absolving the show’s curators of legal responsibility for the asbestos and lead that you’ll inhale while you’re in the dilapidated 158-year old factory.

And, once inside, you’ll see at least a dozen “sugar babies” made of molasses and resin — molds of black children literally melting before your eyes. You’ll smell the molasses as you walk through the exhibit anchored by a 35-foot tall sphinx made of what the artist has called “blood sugar” and sculpted into the shape of a naked mammy. You’ll also see white people. Lots of white people.

painful parts of their histories.

“You’re supposed to feel drawn in and horrified by the work. For me the sphinx does that. She can make something that’s repulsive and beautiful and sticky and troublesome all at the same time.”

The overwhelming whiteness of viewers isn’t unique to Walker’s exhibit. There are more than 17,500 museums in the United States that are visited by 850 million people annually, the vast majority of whom are white.

Art, particularly when it’s commissioned and it’s covered in important publications like the New York Times, is often seen as the exclusive domain of white folks. Museums, dating back to their modern origins in the 18th century, were usually built by wealthy white patrons and enjoyed by middle and upper class European families. In the American context, they served a specific purpose for opening up and exploring a new continent,

“African-American adults don’t go to museums today because their grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t go to museums.”

— John Falk This is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s reassuring that so many white people have a vested — or at least passing — interest in consuming art that deals with race. At the same time I found it unsettling to view art by a black artist about racism in an audience that’s mostly white. It reinforced the idea that black people’s histories are best viewed but not physically experienced.

Still, the exhibit itself is a striking and incredibly well executed commentary on the historical relationship between race and capital, namely the money made off the backs of black slaves on sugar plantations throughout the Western Hemisphere. So the presence of so many white people — and my own presence as a black woman who’s a descendant of slaves — seemed to also be part of the show. So often, race and racism in America are seen as the sole burdens of people of color, but this subtle interaction demands that white people be part of the conversation. It also, uncomfortably, reintroduces the slave as spectacle. Nearly everyone had their phone out and the Instagram hashtag #KaraWalkerDomino was filled with images of the exhibit. In that way, it was a deeply interactive exhibit, one as much about the present as the past.

“Kara’s work is courageous in that is just puts it out there,” says Hank Willis Thomas, a black artist who’s exhibit “Question Bridge” has appeared in more than 60 museums across the country, noting that some black audiences aren’t particularly interested in revisiting profoundly

according to Ford Bell, head of the American Alliance of Museums who was quoted by NPR in 2008. People of color — their customs, their cultures and, in the infamous case of Sara Baartman, their bodies — were usually the object of those white gazes.

But in recent years, as the country’s demographics have shifted in favor of a so-called majority-minority, the art world has made great strides in featuring the work of artists of color. It’s hard to imagine any work by an artist like Walker or Carrie Mae Weems, at the Guggenheim 50 years ago.

But while high art’s content has changed, its viewership, by and large, has not. Slightly more

than 68 percent of America’s population is white but 80 percent of museum visitors are, according to data from the National Endowment for the Arts. Interestingly, the number of black patrons has shrunk significantly in recent years, going from 19 percent in 1992 to 12 percent in 2008. In a study called “Demographic Transformation and the Future of Museums,” researchers summed up the problem: “Between 1992 and 2008, the gap between the percentage of white and nonwhite Americans who visit art museums also grew steadily.”

Researchers and scholars have tried to explain the story behind the numbers in a variety of ways: that museums are exclusionary and intimidating; that the art inside of them isn’t interesting or accessible to people of color; that families don’t forge strong museum-going habits; that patterns of work and leisure are changing so drastically in the United States; and that parents don’t have the time to take their kids to see art. In some cases, they can also be prohibitively expensive. But some experts point to even stronger structural issues.

In his book “Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience,” John Falk details historic patterns of segregation and discrimination that explicitly kept people of color out of museums. “African-American adults don’t go to museums today because their grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t go to museums,” Falk told the Baltimore Sun last year. “Their ancestors didn’t go because some of them were living in parts of the South where there were no museums. The few museums that did exist were segregated, and black people weren’t allowed inside.”

It’s these sorts of experiences that helped drive graffiti artists to their nearest walls and made art by and for communities of color exist largely in otherwise public domains.

And it may in part be what helped drive Kara Walker to the Domino Sugar Factory. “We’ve traditionally measured [museum]

Kara Walker’s exhibit, “A Subtlety,” is on display at the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn through early July. It features a 35-foot-tall sphinx made of sugar (above).

(Photo courtesy of Kara Walker) attendance as cultural participation, but it’s much bigger than that,” says Betty Farrell of the Cultural Policy Center of art that’s created and displayed outside. “We’re learning a much more expansive definition of what cultural participation means.”

Walker’s piece, which was commissioned by Creative Time, is free and open to the public through early July. In this way, it’s an example of the ways in which

the art world is trying to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

“More and more museums are getting their attendances endowed,” Thomas adds about the efforts that museums are making to reach out to new audiences.

“We’re on the verge of something that’s hard to [predict].”

But if the audience is any indication, that change will take time.

Colorlines

New expanded hours!

Open til 6pm Weekdays (Open til 10pm Thursdays! — food served til 8:30pm) Dinner, Baked Goods, Local Beer, Organic Wine!

COMING TO

“Art Is Life Itself!”

The Performance Series That Embraces Art, Culture & Spirituality MAY 22 “South End Character: Speaking Out on Neighborhood Change” Reading by Author Alison Barnett “Gentrification Jujitsu & Working Toward A Unified Vision, Influencing the Community Process”

by Christian Williams, Open Mic

MAY 29 “Sister Locks Workshop” Led by Certified Loctitian Regina Jackson, Acclaimed Storytellers Linda & Sumner McClain Featuring the Streetfeet Women Presenting “Grandmotherhood”, Open Mic

JUNE 5 Drumming Workshop with Drummer Alvin Terry, The Fulnai Haynes Jazz Collaborative, Open Mic

Special Events: SUN JUNE 1, 5PM - 9PM Join us for a Spanish Tapas and Sangria class With Chef Rachel (from Take Back the Kitchen) for more info go to: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/705028

SAT JUNE 7, 3:30PM-6PM Haley House Silent Auction & Wine Tasting At the Haley House Soup Kitchen 23 Dartmouth Street in the South End

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3.

MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY SOLICITATION FOR CONSULTANT SERVICES FEDERALLY-FUNDED PROJECTS

Counsel for the Minor: The minor (or an adult on behalf of the minor) has the right to request that counsel be appointed for the minor.

4.

Presence of the Minor at Hearing: A minor over age 14 has the right to be present at any hearing, unless the Court finds that it is not in the minor’s best interests.

MBTA CONTRACT NOs. Z92PS69-73 The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Design and Construction Department has identified the need for “on-call” engineering services to provide advice and consultation, on minimum notice, for a variety of smaller short-term, time-sensitive situations. The amount of $500,000 with $100,000 available for each of the five consultants selected has been budgeted for this project.

The scope of services will include advice to and consultation with the authority’s design and construction directorate on matters of design, construction and quality engineering on an as-needed basis. Services may include, but are not limited to: feasibility surveys/analyses; multidiscipline engineering (i.e. mechanical, electrical, civil, structural, etc.); construction engineering; contract management assistance; scheduling; quality control/quality assurance; construction systems and methods; construction planning; construction staging and constructability; construction innovations; field safety; construction training; computer management applications; environmental assistance; public information; and materials testing. Design and feasibility services may be required, and may be limited to the development of 30% design of a project. Should the authority decide that it is in its best interests, projects may be taken to the 100% design level, as well as construction phase services.

The DBE Participation Goal for this contract is sixteen-percent (16.0%).

The complete request for qualification can be found on the MBTA website.

Please use the following link: http://www.mbta.com/business_center/bidding_solicitations/current_solicitations/ This is not a request for proposal .

Richard A. Davey Mass DOT Secretary & CEO Beverly A. Scott, Ph.D. General Manager and Rail & Transit Administrator Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division

Docket No. SU14D0885DR

Divorce Summons by Publication and Mailing Teodebaldo Apolonio Peralta Coronado vs. Luz Ludovina Guzman Lantigua

THIS IS A LEGAL NOTICE: An important court proceeding that may affect your rights has been scheduled. If you do not understand this notice or other court papers, please contact an attorney for legal advice.

Date: March 24, 2014

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department

A petition has been filed by Stephen Mark of Mattapan, MA requesting that the Court enter a formal Decree and Order of testacy and for such other relief as requested in the Petition. And also requesting that Stephen Mark of Mattapan, MA be appointed as Personal Representative(s) of said estate to serve With Personal Surety on the bond.

You have the right to obtain a copy of the Petition from the Petitioner or at the Court. You have a right to object to this proceeding. To do so, you or your attorney must file a written appearance and objection at this Court before 10:00 a.m. on 06/12/2014. This is NOT a hearing date, but a deadline by which you must file a written appearance and objection if you object to this proceeding. If you fail to file a timely written appearance and objection followed by an Affidavit of Objections within thirty (30) days of the return date, action may be taken without further notice to you.

The estate is being administered under formal procedure by the Personal Representative under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code without supervision by the Court. Inventory and accounts are not required to be filed with the Court, but recipients are entitled to notice regarding the administration from the Personal Representative and can petition the Court in any matter relating to the estate, including distribution of assets and expenses of administration.

WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court.

Date: May 08, 2014 Ann Marie Passanisi Register of Probate Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department

NOTICE AND ORDER: Petition for Appointment of Guardian of a Minor 1.

2.

NOTICE TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES Hearing Date/Time: A hearing on a Petition for Appointment of Guardian of a Minor filed on 01/16/2014 by Joanne D. Williams of Dorchester, MA will be held 06/18/2014 09:00 AM Guardianship of Minor Hearing Located at 24 New Chardon Street, 3rd floor, Boston, MA 02114 ~ Family Service Office.

Response to Petition: You may respond by filing a written response to the Petition or by appearing in person at the hearing. If you choose to file a written response, you need to: File the original with the Court; and Mail a copy to all interested parties at least five (5) business days before the hearing.

Docket No. SU14C0144CA In the matter of Ismael Torres of Roxbury, MA

NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME To all persons interested in a petition described: A petition has been presented by Francis Villavicencio requesting that Ismael Torres be allowed to change his name as follows: Ismael Villavicencio IF YOU DESIRE TO OBJECT THERETO, YOU OR YOUR ATTORNEY MUST FILE A WRITTEN APPEARANCE IN SAID COURT AT BOSTON ON OR BEFORE TEN O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING (10:00 AM) ON 06/05/2014.

WITNESS, HON. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court.

Date: April 30, 2014 Ann Marie Passanisi Register of Probate

Docket No. SU14P0120GD

In the interests of Niguel Alexander Driggs of Dorchester, MA Minor

4.

Presence of the Minor at Hearing: A minor over age 14 has the right to be present at any hearing, unless the Court finds that it is not in the minor’s best interests.

THIS IS A LEGAL NOTICE: An important court proceeding that may affect your rights has been scheduled. If you do not understand this notice or other court papers, please contact an attorney for legal advice.

Date: April 18, 2014

Ann Marie Passanisi Register of Probate

To all interested persons:

An Automatic Restraining Order has been entered in this matter preventing you from taking any action which would negatively impact the current financial status of either party. SEE Supplemental Probate Court Rule 411.

Witness, Hon. Joan P. Armstrong, First Justice of this Court.

Date: May 1, 2014 Ann Marie Passanisi Register of Probate

Counsel for the Minor: The minor (or an adult on behalf of the minor) has the right to request that counsel be appointed for the minor.

Docket No. SU14P1052EA

SUFFOLK Division

You are hereby summoned and required to serve upon: Teodebaldo Apolonio Peralta Coronado, 44 John Eliot Square, #229, Roxbury, MA 02119-1176 your answer, if any, on or before 07/17/2014. If you fail to do so, the court will proceed to the hearing and adjudication of this action. You are also required to file a copy of your answer, if any, in the office of the Register of this Court.

3.

Estate of Charmaine Mark Also known as Charmaine V Mark Date of Death: 10/13/2012

The Plaintiff has filed a Complaint for Divorce requesting that the Court grant a divorce for Utter Desertion.

The Complaint is on file at the Court.

File the original with the Court; and Mail a copy to all interested parties at least five (5) business days before the hearing.

Citation on Petition for Formal Adjudication

To the Defendant:

SUFFOLK Division

Patricia M. Campatelli Register of Probate

file a written response, you need to:

Commonwealth of Massachusetts The Trial Court Probate and Family Court Department SUFFOLK Division

Docket No. SU10P1962GD

In the interests of Malach’i Shakill Branch of Boston, MA Minor NOTICE AND ORDER: Petition for Resignation or Petition for Removal of Guardianship of a Minor 1.

2.

NOTICE TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES Hearing Date/Time: A hearing on a Petition to Resign as Guardian of a Minor or Petition for Removal of Guardian of a minor filed by Carolyn A. Branch of Boston, MA on 04/17/2014 will be held 06/25/2014 09:00 AM Guardianship of Minor Hearing Located at 24 New Chardon Street, 3rd floor, Boston, MA 02114 ~ Family Service Office.

Response to Petition: You may respond by filing a written response to the Petition or by appearing in person at the hearing. If you choose to

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Duxbury Woods Affordable Housing Lottery www.s-e-b.com www.DuxburyWoods.com 2BR Attached condominiums for $169,700 3BR Detached homes for $188,500 Duxbury’s newest condominium community features 40 homes.

This is a lottery for the 10 affordable homes including eight newly constructed 2 bedroom homes and two renovated 3 bedroom homes. These 10 homes will be sold at affordable prices to households with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income. It is anticipated that the first affordable homes will be ready in late 2014.

Eight (8) new homes feature approximately 1,485 sq ft of one level living, central A/C, Energy Star tankless water heater, Energy Star windows, GE Kitchen Appliances, Kohler bathroom fixtures and a rear deck/patio. These 8 homes include a 2 -car garage Two (2) existing 3 bedroom homes have been renovated and the kitchens and bathrooms have been updated. These homes are approximately 1,600 sq. ft. and offer off street parking for 3 cars.

The Maximum Income Limits for Households are as follows: $47,450 (1 person), $54,200 (2 people), $61,000 (3 people), $67,750 (4 people), $73,200 (5 people) and $78,600 (6 people) Households cannot have more than $75,000 in assets.

For more information on the Development, the Units or the Lottery and Application Process or for reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities, please visit: www.s-e-b.com/lottery or call 617.782.6900(press 1 for homeownership and then press 4 for Duxbury Woods).

Applications and Required Income Documentation must be received, not postmarked, by 2 pm on July 17th, 2014 Applications and Information also available at the Duxbury Public Library at 77 Alden Street (hours M 2-8, Tu-Th 10-8, Fri-Sat 10-5) and the Town Planning Department in Town Hall.

Information Session on June 4th at 6 pm in the Mural Room in Duxbury Town Hall (878 Tremont St). The Lottery for eligible households will be held on July 30th at 6 pm in the same location.

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • BAY STATE BANNER • 15

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Open House: June 1, 2014, 2-4 PM at 368 Elliot Street, Unit 8, Newton, MA Application Accepted: May 19, 2014-June 13, 2014

TO THE BANNER

Lottery: June 29, 2014, Newton City Hall Cafeteria, 1000 Commonwealth Ave., Newton, MA The condominium is subject to a deed restriction that limits the amount of appreciation.

CALL: 617-261-4600 baystatebanner.com

Income Limits are 80% of area median income.

1 person - $47,450 2 people -$ 54,200

617-835-6373

Buyers should have sufficient income to pay property taxes, condominium fees and debt service.

Brokers Welcome

For Information and application contact Mark Maloney at 617-209-5228 or mmaloney@maloneyproperties.com.

Wellfleet Apartments Fred Bell Way, Wellfleet, MA “Now accepting applications” Wellfleet Apartments, “owned and managed by the Community Development Partnership is a 12-unit community consisting of one, two and three bedroom apartments designed for family households. A one bedroom accessible unit is also available.

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Wellfleet Apartments are currently fully occupied; however, a waiting list has been established. Applications are accepted on a first come, first served basis. Wellfleet Apartments are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service, Barnstable County HOME Funds and MA Department of Housing and Community Development HOME funds. Residents pay a designated percentage of their income for rent.

The first priority for occupancy is provided to eligible household applicants whose family income is 50% or less of the established median family income for the area as follows: Household Size

Income Limits

Household Size

Income Limits

1 persons 2 persons 3 persons

$30,100 $34,500 $38,700

4 persons 5 persons

$42,950 $46,400

For applications and information, visit our website at www.capecdp.org or write or call at: Community Development Partnership 3 Main Street Mercantile #7 Eastham, MA 02642 508-240-7873, Ext 17/TTY 1-800-439-0183 “This institution is an equal opportunity provider”

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HAMILTON GREEN APARTMENTS 311 Lowell Street Andover, Massachusetts 01810

Waitlist open on 5/24/2014 through 7/11/2014 Waitlist applicants will be chosen by lottery Rental Amounts and Minimum and Maximum Income Limits as of 1/1/2014 Rent

Household Size

2

3

4

5

6

50% $790

1BD Min Max

$25,170 $31,350

$25,170 $35,800

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

$942

2BD Min Max

N/A

$30,210 $35,800

$30,210 $40,300

$30,210 $44,750

N/A

N/A

$1,083

3BD Min Max

N/A

N/A

$34,890 $40,300

$34,890 $44,750

$34,890 $48,350

$34,890 $51,950

80% $1,169

1BD Min Max

$36,54 $45,500

$36,540 $52,000

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

$1,397

2BD Min Max

N/A

$43,860 $52,000

$43,860 $58,500

$43,860 $65,000

N/A

N/A

$1,610

3BD Min Max

N/A

N/A

$50,700 $58,500

$50,700 $65,000

$50,700 $70,200

$50,700 $75,400

Tenants pay for Electricity only – Utility Allowances are as follows: 1BR - $49; 2BR - $65; 3BR - $80 *Minimum income requirements do not apply to Section 8 Voucher holders. All utilities, except electricity are included in rent. Voucher holders are eligible. Applications are available at the property daily between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday or call Janira Delcompare @ 617-783-0039 ext 1271, TTY:711 or 800-439-0183. Application Deadline: July 11, 2014

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ACTION

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MADISON PARK DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, July 8 - August 7,

Madison Park Development Corporation seeks a senior manager to lead our Community Action Department work. Work includes all the duties of managing a department charged with innovating and implementing a wide range of programs designed to further our mission of selfsufficiency and social well-being in our community. Duties will include supervision of staff, budget development and monitoring, collaboration with multiple community partners, grant writing and reporting, planning process facilitation, and participation in the senior staff team of the organization. Programs include youth engagement and leadership, public health initiatives, workforce development, and civic engagement and public safety.

Mattahunt Wheelock Community Center, ($25.84 - $30.78).

One hour of preparation time for each hour of instruction.

Massachusetts license in the subject area required.

Apply via www.natickps.org

by June 2

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