inside this week
Adjunct faculty calls for pay equality pg 2
A&E
business news
‘TRIGGERED’: ONE-MAN SHOW REVEALS REALITY OF ABUSE pg 14
Dudley’s Seafood Market serves up fish in Uphams Corner pg 10
plus Venice Biennale on view through Nov. 26 pg 13 5 questions: Keith Hamilton Cobb pg 13 Thursday, July 6, 2017 • FREE • GREATER BOSTON’S URBAN NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1965 • CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
www.baystatebanner.com
Problems persist in Probate Court Employees cite ongoing discrimination, mismanagement under interim director By YAWU MILLER
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District 7 City Council candidate Angelina Camacho airs her views while rivals Brian Keith, Charles Clemons Muhammad and Rufus Faulk look on.
D7 candidates face off in debate over city issues Eleven of 13 display varying knowledge of policy By YAWU MILLER
The tone was mostly cordial as 11 of the 12 candidates for the District 7 City Council seat shared their views during a candidate forum last week held at ABCD’s Thelma D. Burns building in Grove Hall. But the answers the candidates gave on issues — from gentrification and displacement to safe injection sites — showed a wide range
in their understanding of public policy and the City Council’s role. Former state Rep. and Department of Neighborhood Development Director Charlotte Golar Richie posed questions to the candidates, alternating among them. When asked about the lack of affordable housing in Boston and the displacement of low- and moderate-income renters, Brian Keith, an executive with a startup airline company, said he would rely on his experience as a neighborhood activist, engaging for-profit developers
to negotiate more affordability in their developments. Youth worker Rufus Faulk said he would galvanize neighborhood associations to advocate for more affordability. Education advocate Kim Janey cited a menu of policies she supports, including regulating shortterm rentals, supporting the Jim Brooks Stabilization Act and creating more home ownership opportunities by leveraging funds from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust.
See CANDIDATES, page 6
In the four months since Felix D. Arroyo was removed from his post as the Suffolk County Register of Probate, lines remain long, case files still go missing and staff treat people of color — including filers, attorneys and staff — with blatant disrespect, according to staff and attorneys interviewed by the Banner. Two weeks ago, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice issued a report alleging “a toxic racially-charged hostile environment that fosters identity-based harassment” in the Trial Court, which administers the registry of Suffolk Probate Court. Registry employees say instances of racial and sexual harassment have gotten worse since Arroyo was deposed by a court administrator.
Questionable impact
Three registry employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Arroyo’s successor, Terry Klug Cafazzo, has turned a blind eye to instances of discrimination. The staff members recounted instances of discrimination and assert that changes Cafazzo has instituted has done little to improve the office environment. In some cases, they say things are worse. Two attorneys who file cases regularly with the registry, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, backed up the employees’ claims, noting
that they routinely spend hours waiting in line just to be seen by registry staff. “The average for me is three to four hours, just to put in a case,” one attorney said. “It can take up to seven hours.”
Forced out
Arroyo’s dismissal occurred on February 3, after a report prepared by Cafazzo cited him for mismanagement. Arroyo has maintained that he sought to improve registry operations, but was sabotaged by longtime office staff and denied requests to bring on senior managers to make needed adjustments. After Arroyo’s departure, Cafazzo was allowed to bring in two assistant managers and three additional case specialists. But probate staff interviewed by the Banner said that the changes she put in place have not improved workflow or productivity. For example, staff report that Cafazzo halted use of case tracking software, thereby making it impossible to accurately quantify how many cases go missing. “The cases get lost easily,” a probate staff member said. “Almost every day there are cases missing.” Cafazzo also eliminated a separate “language line” Arroyo set up to service complainants who are not fluent in English. Attorneys cited in news reports say the separate line made overall wait times longer, but those interviewed by the Banner said
See PROBATE COURT, page 17
Cop suspended for offensive video Clip suggests blacks are police’s enemy By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans declared on Thursday that he would suspend the Roxbury-based cop behind a racially-derogatory video that appeared to denigrate members of the district the officer is charged with serving. For many, the incident inflames long-standing fears that the police department cannot be trusted to treat people of color with respect and equality.
Joseph DeAngelo Jr. is a patrol officer who has served in District B-2 for four and a half years. He created a mock buddy-cop movie trailer that implies black people are synonymous with crime. The trailer spoof introduces a white officer friend of DeAngelo’s and an injured dog as heroes “in the fight between good and evil.” The video closes with an image of black women in carnival costumes and the line, “This summer, black people have met their match.” DeAngelo told superiors
ON THE WEB DeAngelo’s video: www.facebook.com/pastorbrucewall/videos/10154554366156447/ Transcript of DeAngelo’s interview with internal affairs officers: http://ow.ly/
kGNa30dicov he created the video during work hours and that the image of black men it included (directly prior to the carnival image) was a photo he took of residents in his district, according to June 12 interview transcripts released by the BPD. DeAngelo texted the video to friends
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See DEANGELO, page 8
Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans participates in a weekly peace walk through Dudley Square.