Racial Issues

Latest Articles

'Sorry' was the wrong word

Diverse-city
I’ve waited a long damn time for this state to become less white. Now, I can see at least a few people of color every day without breaking a sweat, when nearly nine years ago I could go days upon days without seeing a single non-white face.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | September 16, 2010

Deval Patrick and the mosque

Letters to the Boston editor, July 2, 2010
I was extremely disappointed to read your close-minded, ignorant, and bigoted position on Governor Deval Patrick’s meeting with Muslims at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | June 30, 2010

Review: Harlan — In The Shadow Of 'Jud Süß'

How film became a murder weapon under the Third Reich
The story of Veit Harlan, the director of the Third Reich’s most notorious anti-Semitic film, still provokes and fascinates.
By PETER KEOUGH | May 26, 2010

Freedom Watch: Speak no evil

Why are African-American leaders silent about slavery in Sudan?
It wasn’t the first time members of the Congressional Black Caucus had heard – and done nothing about – Sudan’s dirty secret. Even before a recent House international-relations subcommittee hearing on human-rights violations in Sudan, they knew that kidnapping and slavery had become a barbarous byproduct of Sudan’s bloody holy war.
By TIM SANDLER | May 20, 2010

Review: The Girl on the Train

The truth gets sidetracked in Téchiné’s Train
Here in this country, we’re familiar with the practice of pinning a crime on a member or members of another race.
By PETER KEOUGH | April 29, 2010

Make yourself uncomfortable

Xiu Xiu bloom on Dear God
In the past month, Sandra Bullock’s husband betrayed her by screwing a white supremacist with a face tattoo, a Georgia teenager was granted the right to take his boyfriend to prom, and Ricky Martin declared himself a “fortunate homosexual man.”
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | April 06, 2010

UMass racial-confrontation case may finally come to a close

Is justice being served?
A racial incident that rocked Western Massachusetts two years ago may finally be laid to rest this week, as a black former UMass Amherst student charged with aggravated assault returns to court, apparently having reached an agreement with the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
By JEREMY C. FOX | March 31, 2010

A very long way to go

Diverse City
“You’ve come a long way, baby.”
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | April 02, 2010

Tired sleuth

Can Walter Mosley kick the crime-novel habit?
Has Walter Mosley gone off crime fiction? With the creation of Easy Rawlins in 1990, Mosley perfected the African-American side of the genre — along with a poetic and insightful take on post-war LA up through the 1960s — in 11 consistently solid books, the most recent coming out in 2007.
By CLEA SIMON | March 16, 2010

The Soft Pack | The Soft Pack

Kemado (2010)
This Los Angeles foursome first emerged in 2008 as the Muslims, a name they elected to change after they grew disgusted with and exhausted by all the ignorant — and often racist — bullshit that came out of people's mouths during shows/interviews/conversations.
By MIKAEL WOOD | February 03, 2010

The war over peace

A decade after the 'Boston Miracle,' violent crime has again overtaken parts of the city. Can the miracle makers create a new peace?
In the early infancy of this five-week-old year, Boston has been rocked by four homicides and 10 non-fatal shootings. By the time this goes to print, there may well be more.
By CHRIS FARAONE | February 05, 2010

Ask a Black Woman: Harry Reid edition

Diverse City
Just in time for Black History Month, another installment of "Ask a Black Woman," thanks to JT in Portland who in early January asked me: What's your take on the Harry Reid thing?
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | February 03, 2010

Is there 'hope' in Hollywood?

Three controversial (and sure to be Oscar-nominated) films tackle race in the age of Obama
Buoyed by President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, many had hopes for change after his election.
By PETER KEOUGH | January 29, 2010

Rainbow Nation

The US isn't the only country exploring its complex racial history. South Africa prepares for its moment in the sun.
After a torturous history of being treated like second-class citizens, the black population in this country stunned the world by pulling off the unimaginable: voting a black man in as president.
By LANCE GOULD | January 28, 2010

Finally, a GOP gubernatorial contender!

Robitaille gives it a go. Plus, voter unrest, Reid puts his foot in it, and more.
Speaking of the GOP, it appears the party has a candidate — at last! — for the gubernatorial race, provided he doesn't wimp out like Rory Smith did when he realized he was in a no-win, not-ever situation.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | January 13, 2010

Main man of Mattapan

From the curb to the club with Singapore Kane
Ask any group of teens on Blue Hill Ave how many of them rap and you'll get more affirmatives than you would surveying kids at Mass and Boylston for slap-bass skills. Allston might be a crab bucket of indie-rockers, and one in three JP residents is an abstract painter, but MCs in Boston's black communities have more competition than nail salons in Dudley Square.
By CHRIS FARAONE | December 01, 2009

Menino, again

Plus: Latino gains, same-sex defeat, and a buzz for pot
At a time when Americans are racked by anxiety about the uncertain future of a weak economy, Boston voters handily returned Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to an unprecedented fifth term.
By EDITORIAL | November 04, 2009

Holding his punches

The pundits think a desperate Michael Flaherty needs to throw haymakers at the mayor, but he insists steady pressure will win the fight
All year, Boston’s political observers have been watching for signs of an anti-Menino tipping point in the mayoral race.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | October 21, 2009

Ask the Black woman: 'Good Hair' edition

Diverse City
Time to don the official robe and mantle of Black Representative, and answer a question of "blackness."
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | October 14, 2009

A child shall lead them

Balls, Pucks, and Monster Trucks
There's good news from Sanford: my hometown is experiencing a surfeit of leadership, and it's manifesting itself in a couple of areas.
By RICK WORMWOOD | October 07, 2009

Desegregation Day

Southie: Ugly Crowds at the Trouble Spot
Southie: Ugly Crowds at the Trouble Spot
By TOM SHEEHAN | September 17, 2009

Review: The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

Idiotic, but not a total lemon
Cash for clunkers? Not completely.
By SHAULA CLARK | August 19, 2009

Ask the black woman

Diverse City
I've lived in Maine for seven years and been writing for this fine publication for about five, and during that time I've covered a wide array of subjects on the issue of diversity in Maine.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | August 19, 2009

The Gates case isn't about race

Doesn't Matter If You're Black or White Dept.
The weeks-long hubbub over the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. by the Cambridge Police Department has centered on race, understandably, for two reasons: 1) the African-American population has suffered inequitably in its relations with law enforcement across this country, and 2) a race story is easier for the media to tell — and to sell.
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | August 05, 2009

Me, myself, and race

Diverse City
I have been told by many different people at many different times that I put too much thought into race, that perhaps I overreact and see race as a factor when it might not be.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | July 22, 2009

King, as in mayor

Another page from an optimist's agenda
To begin with, I'd like to set down the political and ideological frame of reference under which I try to live.
By TOM SHEEHAN | July 13, 2009

Who's next?

What the Banner 's closure means for Boston's African-Americans
If Melvin B. Miller has his way, last week's shutdown of the Bay State Banner — the African-American-focused weekly paper Miller ran as editor and publisher for nearly half a century — won't be the end.
By ADAM REILLY | July 21, 2009

Moving Off the Plantation?

Rhode Island's identity crisis
Rhode Island, whatever its obsession with history, has only lately begun to come to terms with the darkest stain on its past: slavery.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | July 01, 2009

Send in the clowns

The wacky worlds of Michael Jackson and Ozzy Osbourne
The New York Post got to resurrect its priceless "Wacko Jacko" headline. Barbara Walters scored Super Bowl-level ratings without having to lift a pretty little finger. And Michael Jackson, well, no matter how you slice it, he got screwed royally.
By MATT ASHARE | July 02, 2009

Violet hour

The Color Purple is vivid on stage
The color purple describes both kids' icon Barney and a bruise. And sure enough, both child-friendly uplift and florid abrasion are wound into the sprawling, heartfelt musical based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer-winning 1982 novel about a beaten-down young black woman learning to value herself over the course of 40 years in the first half of the 20th century.
By CAROLYN CLAY | June 23, 2009