Day 8: Segregation in Massachusetts by Gloucester Racial Justice Team https://padlet.com/gloucesterracialjusticeteam/dvbgxk8ruturn6rd en-us 2022-07-05 21:29:11 UTC 2025-12-29 19:03:17 UTC hello@padlet.com Day 8: Segregation in Massachusetts gloucesterracialjusticeteam https://padlet.com/gloucesterracialjusticeteam/dvbgxk8ruturn6rd/wish/2237514707
“Racial segregation had a long and enduring history in America, supported by courts, laws, and elected officials. The pervasive effects of that legacy are still felt today.” -- Equal Justice Initiative

Institutional racism is defined as “the systematic distribution of resources, power, and opportunity in our society to the benefit of people who are White and the exclusion of people of color.” Present-day racism was built on a long history of racially distributed resources and ideas that shape our view of ourselves and others. It is a hierarchical system that comes with a broad range of policies and institutions that keep it in place. Policies shaped by institutional racism that enforce segregation include redlining, predatory lending, the exclusion of Black veterans from the G.I. bill, and the forced segregation of neighborhoods by the Federal Housing Authority. As a result of institutional racism, racial stratification and inequities persist in employment, housing, education, healthcare, government, and other sectors. (Solid Ground)

In response to decades of racial segregation, in 1974, Boston Public Schools were required to integrate the city’s schools through busing. Court-mandated busing, which continued until 1988, provoked enormous outrage among many White Bostonians, and helped to catalyze racist violence and class tensions across the city throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Anti-busing protests and iconography became national news in these years, and cemented Boston’s reputation as a city plagued by racial and socioeconomic strife.

Though racial segregation was not codified by law in Boston, as it was in many Southern cities, it was an unofficial policy in the city, one reinforced by the Boston School Committee’s districting decisions and stark residential segregation. Schools in African-American neighborhoods were badly underfunded, underequipped, and understaffed, eliciting protests from enrolled students and their parents. Schools that served Black children received about two thirds of the amount of funding received by schools in White neighborhoods. (Boston Research Center *note – this site appears to be down at the moment; would be worth revisiting at a later date if you’d like to go deeper on this) 

Challenge:


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  • Notice your biases and judgments as they arise. These are gold for you to excavate your subconscious!
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]]> 2022-07-05 21:31:29 UTC https://padlet.com/gloucesterracialjusticeteam/dvbgxk8ruturn6rd/wish/2237514707 Important Information gloucesterracialjusticeteam https://padlet.com/gloucesterracialjusticeteam/dvbgxk8ruturn6rd/wish/2237514831 Is this your first time participating in a Challenge like this? Or maybe not sure how to dive into the conversation? That’s okay! Here are some engagement tips provided by the ECCF:

  • Enter the process to learn and bridge knowledge gaps.
  • Enter the process to practice mindful social habits.
  • Stay engaged even when your mind and body start sending you signals to shrink or walk away.
  • Acknowledge what you don’t know.
  • Validate others by listening closely and believing the truth and importance of what they are sharing.

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]]> 2022-07-05 21:31:58 UTC https://padlet.com/gloucesterracialjusticeteam/dvbgxk8ruturn6rd/wish/2237514831 You May Consider gloucesterracialjusticeteam https://padlet.com/gloucesterracialjusticeteam/dvbgxk8ruturn6rd/wish/2237515044
  • How does it feel to know that Massachusetts and the U.S. is still segregated?
  • What do you think you or ECCF can do to help Essex County be less segregated? Do you think it is important? Why or why not?
  • Think about the racial makeup of your neighborhood and/or city/town. Is it racially diverse? 

    • If not, what are some ways that you could authentically connect with people across racial lines? 

    • If so, what are some ways that you’ve interacted meaningfully with people across racial lines in your neighborhood and/or city/town?

    • ]]>     2022-07-05 21:32:49 UTC https://padlet.com/gloucesterracialjusticeteam/dvbgxk8ruturn6rd/wish/2237515044