Concern grows over Mass & Cass crime
Residents are worried that the summer months will only exacerbate the issue. According to the Boston Police Department, both arrests and calls for service are up significantly from last year.

Black Republicans in party’s spotlight
In recent years, Black Republicans have had little visibility in Massachusetts politics, with few holding positions of prominence in state government. In contrast to the administration of former Gov. William Weld, who appointed former state Rep.

State releases report on BPS as parents protest
Teachers and parent activists protested outside One Ashburton Place Tuesday morning while the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education discussed its review of the Boston Public Schools in what’s widely perceived as a precursor to state intervention into Massachusetts’ largest school district.

Housing, education among Coletta’s priorities
Earlier this month, Gabriela “Gigi” Coletta, a former staffer to City Councilor Lydia Edwards, was declared the winner of the race for the District 1 seat Edwards vacated when she took office as state senator.

Ethiopia’s civil war engulfs civilians in crisis
Ethiopia has been at war with itself for 18 months, prompting a mass exodus, thousands of casualties, and a famine that has left millions without food.

.

A time of confusion
One cause of the problems results from the spread of Covid-19. Awareness of the virus began during the presidency of Donald Trump, who failed to confront the danger scientifically. He seemed to call upon male authority to thwart what he referred to as the “Chinese flu.

Speaking of theories…
Marcel Verdier’s 1840s painting, “Punishment of the Four Stakes/Pegs in the Colonies,” depicts an enslaved Black man, naked and spread-eagle face down on the ground as he is whipped by another enslaved man. A white planter with his wife and infant child casually look on.

IN THE NEWS
The Massachusetts Bar Foundation (MBF) will elect Angela McConney Scheepers, Esq. as president at its annual meeting on June 7. Upon her election, McConney Scheepers will be the first president of color in the organization’s 58-year history.

They’ve served their time, they deserve safe, affordable housing
In the first year of the COVID- 19 pandemic, more than 600 prisoners were released from Massachusetts correctional facilities. These prisoners, who were awaiting a hearing or incarcerated due to parole or probation violations, were released in an attempt to lower the transmission of the COVID-19 in state run facilities.

City announces school meals contract
Mayor Michelle Wu joins BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius and City Fresh Foods, a Roxbury based employee and Black-owned business, announce that the will provide breakfast, lunch and after school meals all summer to BPS students..

Much agreement in 2nd Suffolk candidates forum
Hosted by Jamaica Plain Progressives (JPP), the NAACP Boston, Right to the City Vote, Chinese Progressive Political Action and Mijente, the forum spanned about an hour and a half, during which the four covered a range of topics from the state’s...

Boston Press Photographers Association
The Boston Press Photographers Association has installed its second annual outdoor exhibition, featuring the award-winning images from the 2021 annual Pictures of the Year Contest. Among the awardees is Banner contributor Angela Rowlings, who was recognized for her work documenting Kim Janey’s tenure in the mayor’s office.

Danielle Abrams, 54, multidisciplinary artist
Multidisciplinary artist and professor Danielle Abrams, who worked in performance, installation, drawing and collage, and who taught at Tufts School of the Museum of Fine Arts, passed away on Thursday, April 21, 2022, at the age of 54.

Dance in bloom at Cutler Majestic
Global Arts Live has turned its Winter Dance Fest into a Spring Dance Fest, recasting a January trio of stellar dance performances cancelled due to the pandemic into a three-evening series that runs from June 2 through June 5 at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Groovin’ with Chelsey Green
Chelsey Green will be performing music on stage at the BAMS Festival in Franklin Park on June 11. Green, who grew up in Houston, Texas, is a vocalist, violinist, composer and Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music who defies genres.

A musical created equal
United States history is getting a long overdue rewrite in “1776,” running at the American Repertory Theater through July 24. The humorous musical about the Founding Fathers, written originally in the 1960s, has been reimagined with a cast of diverse female, non-binary and transgender actors, the people excluded most from history.