Dear Friends:
The runoff between the two mayoral finalists is in less than five weeks. While no candidates of color made it to the finals, communities of color still need to be at the table.
Some of us began a conversation today to call on the candidates for significant commitments to Boston’s communities of color as a condition for seeking the votes of communities of color. We are reaching out to you to be a part of this collective effort and to participate in a Communities of Color Leadership Group meeting on Tuesday, October 8th, from 6:00 – 9:00 pm at the Boston Teachers Union, 180 Mt Vernon St Dorchester.
Here is our proposal in a nutshell:
1) We ask that the two mayoral finalists provide to us, by Monday, October 7th at 9pm, an outline of their plans to stabilize, grow, and improve the lives of Boston’s communities of color.
We ask that those plans state specific outcomes that we can expect at the end of their 4 year term and that they outline how they will begin to implement policies in the first 100 days as well as one year to begin to achieve measureable progress in the areas of -
· Jobs and Employment
· Housing and Development
· Education
· Public Safety and Racial Profiling
· Diverse, Progressive Leadership and Changes to the Power Structure
2) That we hold a Communities of Color Leadership Group meeting on the evening of Tuesday, October 8, to review and discuss the candidates’ responses, as well as plans for communicating these plans to our communities, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. After 8:00 pm, organizations and individuals interested in endorsing will convene a separate meeting to discuss candidate endorsement.
We know that the election is around the corner. We are trying to balance the need for a good process with the need for a timely response. As such we will have a very tightly planned agenda and will work hard to manage time so that we attempt to get consensus within the group. It may be that there will be other items that need to be addressed that arise before or during the meeting and we will create space for people to identify those steps and self-organize to create additional gatherings.
This meeting is meant to be for people to lead a larger constituency of people of color and who can commit to take the information from the meeting back to their constituents. The meeting from 6-8pm will be only review the issues that the candidates have raised and create a forum for people to understand and evaluate those plans. This portion of the meeting is designed for those people who are part of 501c3 organizations that seek to engage the community but who cannot participate in partisan activities.
In addition the meeting that will follow from 8-9pm will allow those who are looking to endorse either as an individual or as part of a 501c4 or PAC to have additional conversation to create next steps based on the previous conversation.
The meeting is for people who have not yet committed to a candidate for the election in November. Those who have already given their support to a candidate can help their candidate by making sure they have the strongest plan, but they should not attend the meeting because they will not be entering with an open mind.
Finally, we will do our best to invite as many leaders as we can, and hope that people will not feel slighted if we miss anyone. We have tried to do this as an offering to our community but acknowledge that it has been organized with very little time. Nonetheless we hope that it will serve as an opportunity to connect and unify our communities. At the very least we will get detailed plans from two men who are seeking to lead our city during a pivotal time in our history.
We wanted to get this letter out immediately so that people could plan for Tuesday night. We are still in the process of finding a location for this meeting. Please RSVP to commofcolorleadership@gmail.
Sincerely,
In ongoing formation -
Cheryl Crawford, MassVOTE
Eric Esteves, NAACP Boston
Samuel Hurtado, South Boston en Accion
Lisette Le & Kelly Bates, Right to the City Vote
Lydia Lowe, Chinese Progressive Political Action
Gloribell Mota, Neighbors United for a Better East Boston
Alejandra St Guillen, Oíste
Charles Wynder, Jr & Phil Reason, Boston Workers Alliance
Mariama White-Hammond, Project HIP-HOP
· Jobs and Employment
· Housing and Development
· Education
· Public Safety and Racial Profiling
· Diverse, Progressive Leadership and Changes to the Power Structure
2) That we hold a Communities of Color Leadership Group meeting on the evening of Tuesday, October 8, to review and discuss the candidates’ responses, as well as plans for communicating these plans to our communities, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. After 8:00 pm, organizations and individuals interested in endorsing will convene a separate meeting to discuss candidate endorsement.
We know that the election is around the corner. We are trying to balance the need for a good process with the need for a timely response. As such we will have a very tightly planned agenda and will work hard to manage time so that we attempt to get consensus within the group. It may be that there will be other items that need to be addressed that arise before or during the meeting and we will create space for people to identify those steps and self-organize to create additional gatherings.
This meeting is meant to be for people to lead a larger constituency of people of color and who can commit to take the information from the meeting back to their constituents. The meeting from 6-8pm will be only review the issues that the candidates have raised and create a forum for people to understand and evaluate those plans. This portion of the meeting is designed for those people who are part of 501c3 organizations that seek to engage the community but who cannot participate in partisan activities.
In addition the meeting that will follow from 8-9pm will allow those who are looking to endorse either as an individual or as part of a 501c4 or PAC to have additional conversation to create next steps based on the previous conversation.
The meeting is for people who have not yet committed to a candidate for the election in November. Those who have already given their support to a candidate can help their candidate by making sure they have the strongest plan, but they should not attend the meeting because they will not be entering with an open mind.
Finally, we will do our best to invite as many leaders as we can, and hope that people will not feel slighted if we miss anyone. We have tried to do this as an offering to our community but acknowledge that it has been organized with very little time. Nonetheless we hope that it will serve as an opportunity to connect and unify our communities. At the very least we will get detailed plans from two men who are seeking to lead our city during a pivotal time in our history.
We wanted to get this letter out immediately so that people could plan for Tuesday night. We are still in the process of finding a location for this meeting. Please RSVP to commofcolorleadership@gmail.
Sincerely,
In ongoing formation -
Cheryl Crawford, MassVOTE
Eric Esteves, NAACP Boston
Samuel Hurtado, South Boston en Accion
Lisette Le & Kelly Bates, Right to the City Vote
Lydia Lowe, Chinese Progressive Political Action
Gloribell Mota, Neighbors United for a Better East Boston
Alejandra St Guillen, Oíste
Charles Wynder, Jr & Phil Reason, Boston Workers Alliance
Mariama White-Hammond, Project HIP-HOP