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Mandela, MA and the bid to separate from Boston pg 3
A&E
business news
UMASS EXHIBIT CELEBRATES ROXBURYBORN ARTIST pg 17
Ujima Project aims to put economic control in neighborhood hands pg 12
plus First African American stars as ‘Phantom’ on national tour pg 17 JuggleMIT pg 18 ‘Community Legacy’ exhibit at MIT pg 18 Thursday, September 14, 2017 • FREE • GREATER BOSTON’S URBAN NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1965 • CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
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Police end body-worn camera pilot
Cabin/Praise House dedication
Walsh won’t promise to enact full program, will wait on study By JULE PATTISON-GORDON PHOTO: RICHARD HEATH
Patricia Chalinaru Dones (right), representing a Taino native, gives her blessing to the Cabin/Praise House created by artist/performer Ife Franklin (left) Sunday, Sept. 10 at Franklin Park.
What does it take to re-energize Dudley Sq? Business changes spark questions on the district’s needs By JULE PATTISON-GORDON
The storefront at a prominent corner junction near the Dudley Square transit hub has transformed from an Afrocentric goods and convenience store to a check cashing operation. The replacement of a culturally-focused store with a business that generally serves low-income clients with few other financial options raises questions about the shape Dudley Square’s business
future will take. PLS Check Cashers already was in the area, but shifted location when A Nubian Notion shuttered. According to Rodney Singleton, a resident long active in the community, a check casher does not help community members advance. He says the area would be better served by a hardware store, dry cleaners, bank or credit union. “Why is it that our community always gets the check cashing storefronts? It’s either a dollar store, MetroPCS or check
cashing. We don’t seem to aim high when it comes to storefronts or businesses in our community,” Singleton said. He argues that there are enough local dollars to support other economic options and therefore tenants. He underscores his point by citing the tendency of many to spend outside the district for groceries, as well as the robust sales of Black Market, a recently opened space that regularly
See DUDLEY SQUARE, page 10
The Boston Police Department’s body-worn camera pilot program came to a close on Monday, with its future unclear. While activist Segun Idowu says the police could — and should — roll out a formal program, Mayor Martin Walsh declined to commit to full body camera implementation in Boston. Instead, he said, he would review the pilot program data to inform his next actions. “My administration is committed to looking at what happens with the program,” Walsh told the Banner. “It’s my understanding that the program went really well —that we didn’t have any concerns with it, meaning there were no big problems. We’ll look at the information and see what we need to do here.” He later provided a statement to the Banner suggesting his thinking on use of the devices remains exploratory. “We want to be sure any new investment in public safety supports the transformative progress we have made in community
policing,” he said. “We look forward to learning more about the role body cameras can play in advancing this progress.” A spokesperson for the mayor said that a preliminary analysis of the pilot is expected to be completed within two to three months. Dr. Anthony Braga of Northeastern University is charged with conducting the independent review, which will include a cost-benefit analysis. Police spokesperson Mike McCarthy stated in 2016 that the pilot’s success would be evaluated based on factor such as costs, complaints received and impact on community relations. Activists have faced a lengthy battle to get to this point. Boston Police Camera Action Team, formed in 2014, pushed for several years to get a body a camera program enacted. In 2016, the city agreed to test one out. After overcoming police union resistance that delayed the program’s start, a six-month pilot was launched in Sept. 2016, and later extended to a full year in order to capture more data. One hundred officers were equipped with cameras.
See BODY CAMERAS, page 6
Re-writing Boston’s history of slavery Efforts underway to change historic names By YAWU MILLER
Dorchester activist Kevin Peterson wants Boston to remove Peter Faneuil’s name from the iconic building he built for the city in 1742. Roxbury activist Sadiki Kambon is calling for the city to strike the name “Dudley” from Roxbury’s commercial center and replace it with the name “Nubian Square.” These renaming efforts come as municipal leaders in cities across
the South are bringing down statues of Confederate generals who fought to uphold slavery in the Civil War. Peterson and Kambon are seeking their respective name changes for similar reasons: Peter Faneuil was a slave trader and Dudley family members are believed to have owned slaves. “The name Faneuil Hall is an odious symbol that reflects historical lies,” Peterson says. “The lie is that Faneuil Hall is a cradle of liberty. It is, in fact, a place that has a
ON THE WEB The Middle Passage Project:
www.middlepassageproject.org substantial link to the enslavement of other people.” The National Park Service, whose rangers give guided tours of the building, makes no secret of the fact that Peter Faneuil, a wealthy colonial merchant, derived much of his wealth from the trans-Atlantic slave trade — and built Faneuil Hall with the proceeds.
See FANEUIL HALL, page 8
BANNER PHOTO
The crypt in which eight members of the Dudley family’s remains are entombed in the Eliot Burying Ground. Legend has it that the pewter memorial that once graced the top was melted down to make bullets during the Revolutionary War.