June 15, 2020 4 Ways We Can Support Our Community
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Our hearts are broken for the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breeona Taylor, the most recent in a long list of Black Americans who have lost their lives to the consequences of our country’s institutional racism and injustice. Historic Boston Inc. (HBI) stands with their families, the rallies for change, and anyone who has felt the weight of discrimination.
We believe history has valuable lessons to teach us, but we also know that history is complicated. Boston is the “Cradle of Liberty” and our city led the fight for abolition of slavery, but we have yet to mark the places that express Boston’s own history of slavery or our experiences with neighborhood redlining, discriminatory hiring practices, and the noble but painful desegregation of our schools. Even in architecture, city planning and historic preservation, we can’t overlook decades of “improvements” and planning exercises that displaced communities of color and inflicted long term economic disparity on their neighborhoods.
HBI has a lot to do to realize true and sustained equity throughout its own 60-year-old organization, in the fields of real estate and historic preservation, and in our projects. However, we are most proud of the projects where we have had the honor of working with local enterprises and residents to create housing units and spaces to grow lives today.
Historic Boston is making financial contributions to four of community-based partners, and we hope you will join us. Scroll down to learn more about the Urban Farming Institute in Mattapan, Comfort Kitchen in Upham’s Corner, the Wellness Collaborative in Roxbury, and Black Market in Roxbury.
We hope you will join us in supporting the extraordinary work of our partners.
Please go to their websites (links below) to learn more, get involved, and make as generous a donation as you can. Please also remember to voice your support for Black Lives Matter Boston, and to call your elected officials to support the public policy proposals of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus (MBLLC).
Black Lives Matter Boston asks — What side of history will you be on? – a question that naturally carries very deep meaning for Historic Boston. We commit ourselves to actions that make our work, and the work of historic preservation, more just and equitable for communities of color.
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors and Staff of Historic Boston Inc.
