How this grassroots activist came to support Marty Walsh

I am tired of the media implying that all of the people of color who are endorsing Marty Walsh are "old school Boston" and that John Connolly is getting the "new" “diverse” Boston. I resent that the voices of lots of grassroots folks, like me, and many others are being discounted. I grew up in Roxbury and I live in Dorchester. I love this city and I know that we have a long way to go until we are One Boston. In the first round I was with John Barros, but when he lost – I had to decided which of the two remaining candidates would best support my hope for Boston.

After the election I talked to colleagues and we decided that in this round we wanted to come together. We were mostly in our 30s and 40s and we work on issues from affordable housing to immigration to youth development. We represented Black, Latino and Asian communities from around the City. We are proud that Boston is a predominently people of color city, but we know that those numbers will mean nothing if different communities of color cannot unify to stand on the issues that are affecting us. Some wanted to just focus on issues and others wanted to make a collective endorsement. We created a process to do both.

First we looked at the previous questionnaires that they had submitted to the NAACP, Oiste! and Right to the City. Those were great but didn’t give enough detail. So we asked both of them to submit their plans for the 1st 100 days, 1 year and 4 years of their administration. We asked for concrete measurable outcomes by which we could evaluate them. We called a meeting to look at those plans and decide which was stronger.

In the end Marty Walsh’s plan scored higher because he got more specific. They only had 4 days to turn these around, so we didn’t expect them to be perfect, but we wanted to see them make some concrete commitments. We questioned whether Walsh could complete all of the things he talked about, but we thought that was better than Connolly who talked in broad terms about his vision rather than saying what he would specifically get done. I suspect the difference was because Connolly’s piece seemed to be compiled by cutting and pasting things from previous writings. I later heard that Marty reached out to leaders of color like John Barros and Linda Dorcena-Forry to get their perspective. Connolly talked a lot about reaching out in his submission, but Marty did it to create his submission and it made a difference in the quality of his answers.

After we scored their plans, we looked at their track record. We had tried to create a list of their voting record in advance of the meeting, but getting info on City Council votes was challenging. So we decided to go with the wisdom in the room. I knew that there would be people who had worked with both candidates on a number of different issues. So we posted up two pieces of butcher paper for each candidate. One sheet was for posting positive positions and good working experiences and the other sheet was for negative positions or negative working experiences.

Each leader focused on the issues that mattered to them the most so we had a diversity of things on the papers. A picture was worth a thousand words. Folks had a series of concerns with Connolly’s stance on issues and the way that he worked with people – in particular they were concerned about the way he had handled education issues and particularly the school assignment process. On the flip side people pointed to positive stances Walsh took on issues like CORI, immigration and recovery services. The one key concern with Walsh was whether he would be too defferintial to the unions.

Based on his plan and record people were leaning Walsh but could not move forward without hearing from him directly. So the group met with Marty and challenged him around our union concerns. He apologized for the impact that racism in the unions has had on communities of color. He also talked about what he has done in the past two years (that is how long he has been leading the building trades) to try to shift the culture in the unions and make more space for women and people of color. He went on to talk about housing affordability and other issues that were important to him. By the end of the conversation our group felt like he understood where we were coming from and that he was willing to work with us not just to get elected but to continue the dialogue after he got into office.

So if you want the process in a nutshell – Walsh put time into the details on his questionnaire and Connolly only shared a broad vision, which is not what we asked for. When we looked at their records, folks seemed to agree that Connolly says the right things but felt that he didn’t always take a stand in the end. Marty is less eloquent, but he has been willing to take a stand on the key issues.

We backed Marty based on his platform and his record and his willingness to work with us. I need to be clear – I am not hating on anyone who is supporting Connolly – if the group had collectively chosen him then that is who I would have been backing. But I am proud to have been part of a process where people came together and made a choice collectively based not on what was good for us individually, but what we thought would be best for our collective communities.

If I had my choice of who I really want to lead our city I would choose Jesus Christ. Ghandi would be a great backup and I would love to see Cesar Chavez or Michelle Obama run our city. But since none of them are on the ballot, I have to choose the person who I think has the best chance of moving this city forward. I don’t care about who has the slicker ads who the more polished accent, I have already learned that those things mean little.

I AM NEW BOSTON - AND I AM SUPPORTING MARTY WALSH.

Connolly - Please honor the teacher code

Like many Bostonians I was watching the mayoral debate last night. There were lots of issues discussed and at the end of the day I am not sure who really won. However, there is something that happened last night that I was still thinking about this morning. I started a blog about the crisis in DC, but this issue was more pressing to me.

So I want to start by being transparent. I have decided to support Marty Walsh in this final round for mayor. Because I knew that might make me biased, I almost didn’t write this blog, but I have to speak my heart.

For the majority of this race John Connolly has been talking about his experience as a teacher. Within the teacher and youthwork sector there is some controversy about that because he only spent 18 months in the classroom; but I am not going to wade into that debate.

I take Connolly at his word that he became invested in the youth that he worked with and that he, like many teachers and youthworkers, wanted to see his students succeed. However, last night I was really disturbed by the fact that in the middle of his talk about education he cited the first and last name of a student who dropped out of school and had a child as a teenager.

I was shocked that he had named this young person. I imagined what that young man would think if he was watching that show. How his family would feel if they happened to be tuned in? Then I wondered what it would have been like to have my own life story reduced to a political point for a bunch of people who don’t know me.

The reality is that this was just an obvious case where a politician had crossed the line. Yet everyday our young people get reduced to statistics. A blip on someone’s graph or a data point lost within someone’s analysis. The poorer you are, the black you are, the less “educated” you are, the more it becomes okay for people to reduce you to a caricature.

The other day I had to sit down with a young man who has gone from being a superstar to unraveling before my eyes. He has been through so much in his life, but for months I watched him be fueled to excellence by the thought of overcoming what people thought of him. Then a month ago I saw his world start to come crashing down. We talked about how there were two versions of him in a struggle to see which one would win out. He looked me in the face and said, “What if the bad side is who I really am.”

The reality is that so many of our young people have given up any hope that they can be more. They see that so many people have written them off and they figure that so many people can’t be wrong. As a youthworker, a minister and a person who believes in transformation, I always hold out hope that even in the darkest of places that young people can be transformed. That God’s plans are always better than my own and that until we are stone cold in the grave, that our story isn’t over.

I have long ago come to realize that I can’t “save” everyone. I have seen young people laid in the ground before they realized their potential. And yet, I will never reduce any of my youth to their mistakes. I will honor their lives, keep their confidence and hold out hope that the best is yet to come. That is what it means to be a youthworker or a teacher. I ask that if Mr. Connolly is going to call himself one of us, that he hold to this sacred code.

On Art and Cultural Organizing.......

A few weeks ago I did an interview about cultural organizing and the work we do at Project HIP-HOP. Don't know what cultural organizing is? Then this radio interview will give you an understanding of the three components of cultural organizing (or at least as I define it.)

I believe that art is a crucial part of achieving social justice and this interview shares some of my hopes for young people. So I hope you will take some time to listen to the entire show. The section that I am on starts at 12:40pm. The song that proceeds my portion is by some artists that I respect and work with, so there will be more about them.

Enjoy listening, and feel free to let me know what you think -

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/accbillbanfield/2013/09/23/acc--on-music-arts-project-hip-hop-film-post-review

A new table - A new playbook

After getting over the sting of my own candidate not making it to the final, I had to step back and try to understand the bigger picture of the mayoral results. What does Tuesday’s election say about Boston and where it is?

Last night Labor spoke. Many of the pundits had counted them out. For quite a few months, they thought that labor couldn’t beat out the more polished candidates like John Connolly or Mike Ross. With a city that is 53% people of color, there were those who thought that a person of color would be able to ascend to the final round. Others thought that women would make their voices heard and coalesce around the only female candidate.

No, last night it was labor. Last night the unions made their voice heard. From bricklayers to plumbers to fire fighters, labor demonstrated their its power. Without the strong-arm politics of the past, labor organized their base, mobilized them to vote and put their guy at the top. As a person who believes in the importance of a living wage, fair working conditions and good benefits – I celebrate the importance of the labor movement. They gave us the weekend, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Marty Walsh is my neighbor and friend. While I respect him as an individual, I was concerned about the TV clips I saw from Marty’s celebration party. I saw a room full of mostly middle aged white men who probably don’t think of themselves as connected to me, but I bet they are feeling the pinch of the Boston economy just like I am. They were ecstatic to see someone like them make it to the final. I am sure they have hope that their next contract negotiation will go smoother. They hope that there will be more construction jobs for union members to feed their families.

However, as a young Christian, Black woman I know that there can be a huge downside to identity politics. You can get so focused on promoting someone who looks like you or who shares your experience, that you don’t get clear about what your vision is or how you want things to be run.

So my question to Marty’s base is – what is the point of having a construction job if your children won’t be able to afford the condos that you are building? If labor really wants to address the economic issues that are crushing them (and the rest of us), they have to start talking about affordable housing, inclusionary zoning, school-to-career opportunities, and other issues one which they have often been silent. Right now it seems like the traditional electoral structure just updated a page from their old playbook. I want to throw out that playbook and start with a whole new gameplan.

I haven’t figured out whom I will vote for and I have no idea who will win. I do know that I joined Team Barros because I believe in the issues that he raised and because I think it is time for a new day in Boston. I joined because I support a vision not because of one man. Our team grew to be a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, inter-generational team of people who believe that we can have “One Boston” where everyone has real opportunity. I am still committed to building that vision through elections but also through community groups like Right to the City.

Even as we were disappointed that it didn’t happen this round, last night many of us committed to continuing to build and organize for this fall, 2015 and beyond. Our table will be based on vision. We will elect leaders based on where they stand on the issues and for their ability to unite communities. I know that I will be getting calls from both camps to join their team. Instead, I want to invite them to join our team. We may not have gotten our candidate through, but we are still working and there is room at the table for white, working-class union guys, to sit with a Black, middle-class, activist gal to figure out how we make this city work for all of us!

The World is A Small Place

Yesterday I went running in the morning. The weather was really nice but to avoid mosquito bites I wore long pants and a bright orange T-shirt that I got from running a ½ Marathon in Philadelphia. It was amazing to run along the road and be surrounded by the mountains.

After I showered I met up with the rest of the group and we took a tour of the organization we were visiting – the MPP, the Peasant Movement of Papaye. I will do a full blog on this organization and their amazing work. As we were walking to see their 30,000 seed plant nursery, we passed a man and he was wearing the same tshirt that I had been wearing that morning. It was crazy to think that of the 2000 or so tshirts that were made for that race, there was a man in a small rural community of Haiti who was wearing that same shirt on the same day as me. It was a really small thing, but it reminded me how small the world is.

In some small way that tshirt made me feel connected. Now I am typing by the side of the road reminded of how much we have in common not only in the good, but the dark side of our human existence.

Last night I had the opportunity to check email and realized that I had gotten multiple emails about the murder of 17 year old black young man named Trayvon Martin. He was walking home from getting candy for a younger sibling and ended up being shot by a man who was part of the “neighborhood watch.” Despite witness accounts that the shooting was unprovoked, and despite the fact that Trayvon was unarmed, the man who shot him was not arrested.

Right now we are in Thomonde, Haiti and our bus cannot move because people in this city have decided to blockade the road until the police arrest the man who killed a young person named Wendy. They gave an ultimatum 48 hours ago and when it was not met, they took over the road that is our only way of getting to the community of Corail.

Because we are Americans, the United Nations just arrived to ensure our safe passage. We cannot see what is happening in the town but I pray that no violence is happening on my behalf. I cannot see the people but I can imagine that this community is not altogether different from my own. I can imagine that people are tired of being ignored about so many things, including the senseless killing of a young person.

As we are passing through, I see so many people who could live where I grew up. Except for the fact that some of them are wearing Yankees gear (which would not be tolerated in Boston), there are people who look like my friends. We just passed a young man with a shirt that says, First Haitian Church in Brockton and my heart feels even more connected.

Right now I am working to hide my tears from my fellow travelers. I am sad and I am angry. I am angry because anywhere you go in the world the life of Black people, the life of poor people and particularly the life of poor Black people is the least valued.

I would love to write some deep analysis of this, but the bottom line is that the life of my people means so little worldwide and right now I cannot be intellectual about it because I am just angry. Years of running a non-profit have taught me to be “level-headed” and “strategic” but right now I am actually happy that I have not lost my capacity for rage. Some things are just wrong and while I would love to believe that these things will change through reasonable, peaceful dialogue. I fear that things will not improve until more communities take to the streets and take over the streets.

So we are running pretty late to our destination, but I am grateful because I feel more alive and more connected. From Sanders, Florida to Thomonde, Haiti – we are connected in our struggle for justice for both Wendy and Treyvon. We must demand that the lives of our people and the lives of all people be sacred – this it the first level of the justice I am working for. While I am certainly glad that our truck was not hit, I do feel just a portion of the rage of the young men that were throwing the rocks. The struggle continues.

On the plane to Haiti

I am on the plane to Haiti preparing to return to then country almost 20 years after I was last there. I have gotten all my shots and I have tons of gifts for my host family and I am looking forward to going back. Now that I am hours from landing I am just starting to ask - "Am I emotionally prepared to return."

I was last in Haiti in 1992. I was a few weeks from my 13th birthday and I got to go with ny best friend because her mother was the trip nurse. When we arrived it was averaging 102 degrees during the day so it took a couple days to adjust to the heat. We would spend the mornings working in the nursery. At that age I loved that I got to hold the babies. Because the staff was stretched so thin it was our job to make sure that every baby got to be cradled each day.

I fell in love with one little girl named Antoinette. She had big beautiful eyes and she loved to smile. The fact that she was such a happy baby stood in stark contrast to the fact that she was born with HIV. I remember that I was not allowed to change her diaper because of this. I also remember that her mother still came to visit her, but had given her up because she was sick and could not give her the care that she needed.

Anoinette was indicative of so much of what I saw in Haiti - a beautiful resiliant spirit constrasting with a challenged and heartbreaking reality.

I don't to romanticize poverty or paint all Haitians as victims. Between the historical tyranny of the French, the imperialistic exploitation of the US, and the selfish corruption of the Haitian elite there is ore than enough blame to go around.

When I was there 20 years ago I stayed with a family that had three children who were 17, 19 and 21. I never quite understood what the father did but I remember that he was somehow politically connected to police. One day we were outside hanging out in front of the house and a military truck pulled up in front of our house. They said something to my host father and he called us all to come inside. As we went in the entire neighborhood started going in. Moments later I heard the screams and a woman pleading. Then I heard shots and sobbing.

I know that my host family all heard the same thing. We were all together and it was loud enough that they heard but we watched TV and ate as if nothing were happening. About 30 minutes later we were back outside and everyone seemed to pick up where we had left off before the army truck had rolled in. A couple of days later I got a frantic call from my mother who was worried about how we would get out of the country. It was she who informed me that me that there had been a coup d'etat in Haiti. Armed men had come in and removed the president and I hadn't even heard about it. I asked my host family what had happened and was told, "something happened downtown."

Understanding how something that serious could become so commonplace motivated me to want to understand more about Haiti's history. Studying Haitian history led me to learn more about American foreign policy and colonial history and ultimately led me to be an international relations major in college.

Even though I have not been able to return until now, I have tried to stay abreast of the situation in Haiti. For me Haiti remains a touchstone for what is going on in the world. If Haiti is getting better I will have more hope for the world. If things are as I expect or worse then I don't know how I will feel.