One Civic Act

Today, I took part in a six and half hour training run by Race Forward, called “Building Racial Equity: Foundations.” It was a long time to spend on Zoom, but it was valuable to build a level starting point to engage on racial equity going forward.

On this Thanksgiving, it’s powerful to consider how the history I learned in grade school has erased the taking of land from North America’s Indigenous people. Today, I did quite a bit of reading on the movement to acknowledge that oppression. And I signed this petition to support closing Mount Rushmore and return public lands in the Black Hills to the Oceti Sakowin.

Today, I attended a virtual talk by Bryan Caplan, drawing on his book Open Borders . It was a fascinating discussion of the economics of immigration. It was also a fundraiser for St Mark Community Education Program (SMCEP) a non-profit that helps immigrants become U.S. citizens.

Today, I made a donation to the St. Mark Community Education Program , an organization that provides English-language and citizenship education programs for adult immigrants and their families.

Today, I listened to a recording of the second session of the Nonprofit Quarterly’s “Beyond the Board Statement: How Can Boards Join the Movement for Racial Justice?” The event was actually this past Monday, but I couldn’t join and hadn’t had the chance to catch up until today.

Today, I joined a Zoom call hosted by the Somerville Museum and the Somerville Media Center, during which the edited community reading of “Reading Frederick Douglass together” was broadcast. I recorded a segment, so it was good to see the whole piece come together. It was followed by an amazing talk by Keidrick Roy, a Harvard doctoral student, on race in America.

Today, I joined a call hosted by the Nonprofit Quarterly to talk about “Beyond the Board Statement: How Can Boards Join the Movement for Racial Justice?” It was a good conversation about the need to center around racial equity.

Today, I marched with the Movement for Black Lives as part of its Juneteenth mobilization. I attended the rally on Cambridge Common and marched to Cambridge City Hall, 90 degree weather be damned.

Today, I joined a national mobilization call for the Movement for Black Lives . This call was geared specifically toward rallying environment justice advocates for upcoming Juneteenth actions. Today, I also recorded a passage of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is 4th of July?” speech for a Somerville Museum/Somerville Media Center project called Reading Frederick Douglass.

Today, I attended a candlelight vigil for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others killed by police brutality and racist violence. This was a Somerville event, organized by people of color who have formed a new organization called Just Us Somerville . It ended with 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence, after which we were asked to leave the area in the silence that George Floyd heard as he cried out for help in the last minutes of his life.

George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died in Minneapolis after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer. Chauvin handcuffed Floyd and put his knee to Floyd’s neck, pinning him to the ground for nearly 10 minutes. Captured on video, the incident has inspired protests around the country, once again highlighting systemic racism and the grossly inordinate numbers of black men killed by the police. Today, I donated to the Lake Street Council , a Minneapolis nonprofit that advocates for the Lake Street business community. This is an area filled with businesses owned by people of color, and where there’s been a great deal of property damage from the Minneapolis protests. The Council is running a fund to help rebuild the area. Today, I also signed a change.org petition , with almost 10 million other signatories, demanding justice for George Floyd from the prosecutors.

Somerville-based Welcome Project is the primary means by which the city’s immigrant population can participate in and shape community decisions. It’s a critical support for a significant portion of the City’s populace — a community that is struggling through the coronavirus. Today, I donated to the Welcome Project for its Immigrant Assistance Fund .

Today, I made a donation to the Asian Community Emergency Relief Fund . The Asian-American community in Greater Boston is hard hit by the coronavirus. Many members are immigrants in the shuttered food, hospitality and child care sectors. Language barriers and immigration status constrain access to public benefits. And anti-Asian sentiment is on the rise sharply.

Today, I attended a virtual bystander intervention training, co-hosted by Asian-Americans Advancing Justice . The context is the rising number of hate crimes against Asians in America, associated with the spread of coronavirus fears. I’ve been meaning to attend one for a long time, so this was a great opportunity and I learned a lot about intervention strategies.

Last November, I donated to a new scholarship fund that would support graduates of Somerville High School to go to college if they were “dreamers” — undocumented students or those who have a temporary status. Today, I attended another fundraiser for the scholarship fund and made another donation.

Today, I added my name to a petition asking Congress to pass the Climate Displaced Persons Act, a bill that would allow climate refugees to safely enter the United States and re-settle here.

Today, I attended a fundraiser run by Boston for All , an organization that brings the community together for initiatives related to inclusion. This fundraiser was for the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN) .

Today, I made a donation to the Somerville Dreams Scholarship, managed by the MIRA Coalition . What’s that, you ask? Here’s how they describe it: Somerville High School draws talented students from all over the world, but when they graduate, many face a huge obstacle: If they’re undocumented, have a temporary status, or are in the process of getting papers, they don’t qualify for federal financial aid. Most also won’t qualify for in-state tuition at Massachusetts public colleges. Invest today in students who’ve already been admitted to college, and help bring their dreams closer to reality!

The governments of many countries have stepped up their persecution of “other” people. That includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) people. Today, I made a donation to support the Rainbow Railroad , an organization that supports for LGBTQI people as they seek safe haven from state-enabled violence, murder or persecution.

Like most older cities in the U.S., Boston’s history is entangled with the practice of slavery. The founders and influencers of early America were more often than not perpetuaters of the slave trade. And this makes understanding and honoring the city’s history so delicate; slavery is deplorable, yet its economic impact is essential to our understanding of the city of Boston’s evolution. One artist intends to make this connection more visible with a memorial to the enslaved so that our community can understand, recognize, and grow from this history. Today, I made a donation to this powerful city-backed public memorial to those Africans and African-Americans whose trafficking and sale financed the building of Faneuil Hall.