For the first time in four decades, the national NAACP convention came back to Boston with a point to prove and a long list of political priorities to hammer out.
Paradoxically, the 114th convention and its 13,000 attendees represent both a commitment to shared values but also a platform for the “rich diversity that exists within the Black community,” Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston NAACP, said on the Codcast.
“It’s public facing for people to see Black folks, primarily, in rigorous discussion and debate about some of this nation’s most pressing issues,” she said. “You take gun violence, for example. When we talk about responsible gun control, this is an issue where not all people agree, and not all Black community members are marching to the same beat. We all want safe and healthy communities. We all want to ensure public safety. But the way in which we get there may vary depending upon who you are, where you come from, and what your experiences are.”
Sullivan, who unsuccessfully challenged Secretary of State Bill Galvin in last year’s Democratic primary, didn’t rule out another run for office, but said she is focused on her role at the Boston branch of the NAACP and chairing the Healey administration’s Advisory Council on Black Empowerment.
“And I say that not to sidestep the question, ’cause I know that’s what you’re thinking,” she joked, “but to really help people to understand, look, you don’t have to hold elected office. You don’t have to have a title to play an active role in ensuring and securing our democracy for the future.”
Those who attend the NAACP convention each year get to propose, debate, and weigh in on the group’s national priorities. These resolutions can direct organizing efforts, impact political campaigns, and generally set the tone for racial justice initiatives going forward.
Over a nine-hour session focused on policy resolutions – shorter this year than at past conventions, Sullivan said – attendees supported resolutions ranging from better access to effective legal representation and equitable access to new technologies to changes to federal tax oversight policies to support lower income households.
One resolution committed the NAACP to work with Black farmers to receive funding from Congress “to compensate them for discriminatory practices by the Department of Agriculture.”
The NAACP, as an organization, has always focused on voting rights and access, educational opportunity, and economic opportunity, Sullivan said. Her next local initiative launches in two days – a campaign for ranked-choice voting in Boston that she is co-chairing with Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, executive director of the nonprofit MassVOTE.
For racial justice advocates, the literal changing climate has introduced a new wrinkle over the last several years, during which the NAACP has “really leaned into environmental and climate justice, understanding the disproportionate impact of climate change on communities of color and lower income communities,” Sullivan said.
Many of the resolutions, though framed through a racial justice lens, are not solely “Black issues,” Sullivan said.
“I do believe there are efforts to keep us divided and to put us into boxes so that people feel like, oh, if you’re advocating on an issue related to access to housing in urban environments, that you’re not concerned about housing access in rural communities, right?” she said. “And keeping us hyper-polarized in that way and creating division where there should not be division really does hold us back as a society.”
Boston’s troubled reputation – and history – when it comes to race issues cuts two ways. Sullivan noted that not only can the city’s perception discourage people of color from settling there, but it can feel like erasure of existing Black populations in a city that has been majority-minority for more than a decade.
“I was really hopeful that this convention would present us with an opportunity to reintroduce ourselves here in Boston as a city that, one, has Black people; two, has Black people who are thriving; and, three, is a city that understands our history and is working really hard to ensure that we’re not repeating history.”
JENNIFER SMITH
FROM COMMONWEALTH
Revenue dip: Revenue for fiscal year 2023, which ended June 30, came in 1.5 percent, or $605 million, below projections, but it’s not expected to mean a significant hit to budgeted spending, since most of the shortfall came from lower revenue from capital gains, a big chunk of which would have been earmarked for the state’s rainy reserves fund. Read more.
OPINION
Do more on guns: Former House speaker Robert DeLeo and Northeastern University’s Jack McDevitt weigh in on current gun control legislation, voicing support for a House bill that would mandate serial numbers on so-called “ghost guns” and add other new provisions aimed at maintaining the state’s position as a national leader in reducing gun violence. Read more.
Artificial turf dangers: Brita Lundberg, Sydney Engel, and Philip Landrigan say artificial turf playing fields made from recycled tires are posing serious health risks and urge communities to stop installing them and switch existing ones to natural grass. Read more.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
The state’s executive branch workforce has ballooned under Gov. Maura Healey, who says, “We need staff in order to be able to deliver.” (Boston Globe)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS Boston city councilors knew well before summer hit that the residents in many neighborhoods would have to endure summer heat without municipal swimming pools that would be shut down for renovations. (WBUR)
An Amherst group focused on reparations will produce a final report next month, expected to recommend targeted funding for educational and recreational programs for youth and affordable housing. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
Congressman Jim McGovern has introduced a bill that aims to strengthen the American plant-based food industry, including in western Massachusetts. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
ELECTIONS
A candidate for Saugus’ Board of Selectmen and Charter Commission is cleared to run for both offices this fall — reversing a previous decision. (The Daily Item)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Labor negotiations will drag on at General Dynamics in Pittsfield, after the workers union voted to reject a new contract proposal. (Berkshire Eagle)
Summer flooding was an enormous setback for Massachusetts tobacco farmers. (MassLive)
Provincetown plans for 40 units of housing on police station land. (Cape Cod Times)
EDUCATION
The Worcester Telegram digs into the city’s new public school teachers’ contract, comparing it with other regional public educator agreements.
School violence is increasing, psychologists say, creating a difficult environment for students and staff alike. (Eagle-Tribune)
The Worcester Historical Commission is keeping the brakes on Clark University’s proposed demolition of three historically designated buildings to build student housing. (Worcester Telegram)
TRANSPORTATION
Efforts in Massachusetts to get residents to reduce driving to combat climate change are lagging those of other states. (Boston Globe)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The Danvers Select Board will review a proposed climate action and sustainability plan this week, as the town grapples with drier winters and extreme weather incidents. (Salem News)
The water supplier for Salem and Beverly has joined a lawsuit filed earlier this year challenging new state rules that would ban outdoor watering during droughts. (Salem News)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A new report on the New Bedford Police Department lays out recommendations to improve the department, some of which – body cameras and boosting pay – are already in progress. (New Bedford Standard-Times)
MEDIA
A Middlesex Superior Court judge ruled that Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr. has shown a “likelihood” that he will be awarded damages in a defamation suit against the publisher and editor of a local paper, the Leader Herald, and said DeMaria is entitled to real estate attachments of up $850,000 on property owned by the defendants. (Boston Herald)
Dan Kennedy has a round-up of the weekend reporting on the police raid of a small Kansas newspaper’s offices. (Media Nation)