Examining equity issues for Black Cantabrigians leads agenda for when councillors return to work
Students at the Fletcher Maynard Academy in The Port neighborhood in March. (Photo: Marc Levy)
As summer draws to a close and the City Council returns to regular meetings Sept. 12, one of the first priorities for in-depth committee work has already been set: Examining disproportionate setbacks to Black Cantabrigians compared with other races, then fixing them.
To get the process started, councillor E. Denise Simmons said she would schedule one or more meetings of her Civic Unity Committee, with the first targeted for September – even before incoming city manager Yi-An Huang may get a chance to approve city staff taking on the work.
Huang will be “up to his elbows,” Simmons said Aug. 1 during the council’s sole summer meeting. “While he’s doing that … you can really pick this up and move it forward and bring him along, as opposed to waiting for him to do it in isolation.”
The council unanimously approved Isaac Yablo’s proposal to create a commission this fiscal year for the benefit of black men and boys and Simmons’ separate motion to expand work to include the Black community at large.
Formally, the proposals were for a Commission on the Status of Black Men and Boys; and a Task Force to Examine the Status and Well-Being of the City’s African American/Black Population.
“This would not be the first commission on the status of black men and boys that exist,” said Yablo, policy and research director in Boston’s Office of Black Male Advancement. There are similar efforts in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon, he said.
Inequities “since the late 1630s”
The policy order, adopted in August and written by councillor Quinton Zondervan with the sponsorship of Simmons, Marc McGovern, Burhan Azeem and Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, draws attention to the consequences of inequities that have “effectively limited the advancement of Black Cantabrigians since the late 1630s.”
Twenty percent of Black Cantabrigians are homeowners, compared with 36 percent of all residents, Yablo’s proposal says. Six percent of owned housing units belong to Black residents, compared with 79 percent owned by white residents.
Other issues raised in the proposal: One-third of Black households with children are headed by a single adult; disparities in education result in lower standardized test scores for Black students and low numbers of Black Cambridge residents that go on to work in the innovation economy; more than 44 percent of Black Cambridge residents hold less than or up to a high school diploma and one-third of Black residents hold a bachelor’s degree or higher education level, compared with the 80 percent of all Cambridge adults holding a bachelor’s degree.
Women and families too
Simmons said that while she supported Yablo’s initial proposal about Black men and boys, attention must be paid to the Black community in general.
“I’m going to speak to you for a moment as a Black woman,” Simmons said. “It is so very important that while we are working on initiatives and programs that focus on the needs of Black men and boys, we cannot overlook women and girls, and families. I think it’s important that [we’re] not looking at one group over the other, because in order to address the problem, we have to take a holistic approach.”
Zondervan said both areas of equity work could progress without being combined.“It’s really important to understand that this proposal is coming directly from the impacted community of Black men who see the urgent need for a commission that is specifically focused,” Zondervan said. The order notes the number of Black men affected by gang violence, gun violence and incarceration. “I understand that there’s some overlap, but I think we can and need to address the African American community as a whole and the challenges and discrimination they face as well as Black men and boys, specifically in the challenges that they face.”
A counter from Simmons: “Nearly one-third of the Black households with children are headed by a single adult. More often than not, that is a woman.”
All councillors went on to vote for adoption of both motions, referring them to Simmons’ committee for discussion.
“There’s no shortage of work to be done on this issue,” Zondervan said after reminding the council of another commission proposal focused on race: In the previous term, the council approved Zondervan and Simmons’ proposal for a commission on racial justice and equity, forwarding it to the current term.
This post was updated Aug. 26, 2022, to add comments by city councillor E. Denise Simmons to schedule a hearing before the new city manager approved policy orders.
what??? lol…LOL…slow day at the hall? i’d rather they didn’t given their track record. why not just quit…show some self respect…
A counter from Simmons: “Nearly one-third of the Black households with children are headed by a single adult. More often than not, that is a woman.”
Thank you Councilwoman Simmons.
Other issues raised in the proposal: One-third of Black households with children are headed by a single adult
The crux of the problem. Let’s see what the “commissions” come up with.
“disparities in education result in lower standardized test scores for Black students”
Councilor Zondervan, why is this so, and how do you propose to try to correct it?
That is an excellent question and nobody’s yet been able to provide a good answer. This is why I vote no on the school budget every year, because the Council ultimately has no say over the school department (that falls to the School Committee per our City charter). All the Council can do is approve the school department budget, or not. Clearly the current version of our education system is racist (in its outcomes, regardless of individual intentions) and so far has been unable to move the needle on disparate educational outcomes. I have and will continue to advocate for universal Pre-K and after school programs, which fall outside of the school department, and hence are directly under the Council’s jurisdiction. I will also continue to advocate for stronger vocational programs and I’m proposing a green jobs ordinance as part of the green new deal for Cambridge (cambridgegnd.org) to create more economic opportunity for low-income and minority residents as we transition to renewable energy. Ultimately there is no simple answer to this question; we have to attack the problem from all angles. We also cannot educate our way out of inequality. If we want less inequality we will have to create a more just and equal society, over and above continuing to improve educational outcomes.
Councilor Zondervan,
Thank you for your reply.
I applaud your advocacy for universal Pre-K, after school programs, and stronger vocational programs. Each is very much needed.
It is unfortunate that our City Charter, and our outmoded E form of government, doesn’t
allow more opportunity for you and the other councilors to have more control over the schools.
And I agree, that as you said, “ If we want less inequality we will have to create a more just and equal society.”
With all due respect Councilor, I have to disagree with your statement that “Clearly the current version of our education system is racist…” In fact, I’m appalled that you view outcomes as the defining aspect of racism in the Cambridge school system.You didn’t bother to tell the readers why you believe our education system is racist.What exactly is the racism that you refer to?
In my mind, the defining aspect as to whether or not our education is racist, is whether or not there is equal opportunity for all students to learn. You know as well as I, that there will be very different outcomes (let’s simplify it and call it test results) among students. That’s why we have grades. Some students will do better than others in spite of the fact that they are being taught the same information by the same teachers. This has nothing to do with skin color.
Are you suggesting that some teachers don’t teach students the same way because of the
color of their skin i.e I’m not going to teach her as well as a white student? If so, get rid of the teachers. Are you suggesting that school administrators “have it in” for students because of their skin color? If so, that is prejudice of the worst kind and calls for dismissal based on racism. The color of a student’s skin has nothing
to do with his or her ability to learn and do well.
However, let’s look at the other side. Let’s assume that what I suggested in the previous paragraph is not the case. Why is it that, as you pointed out, Black students have disparate educational outcomes? Well, from the standpoint of learning, students learn at different rates and absorb differently what is taught to them. That’s a fact. In Manhattan, I went to a public grammar school that was a third white. Our teachers taught all of us, from the same books. Some students did better than others. I did better than some, and worse than many others. And it had nothing to do with skin color. The color of a student’s skin has nothing to do with the ability to learn.To suggest otherwise, in my mind, is racist.
Now why did Councilwoman Simmons refer to: Other issues raised in the proposal: One-third of Black households with children are headed by a single adult. Could this have something to do with the overall question? Is Councilwoman Simmons the only person on the Council who is brave enough to suggest what appears to be a forbidden topic for discussion?
I think the flaw in your thinking is that results have to be equal. No! Once again, it is the fact that all students must have equal opportunity to achieve. Opportunity is the key word.
Outcomes can never be equal. No one could hit a golf ball as well as Tiger Woods could when he was in his prime. And, almost no one could equal Ken Chenault as CEO of American Express.
There are different outcomes in all walks of life. We have to make sure that in education there is equal opportunity to learn. If that is a porblem
in the Cambridge school system, as a Council member, you have an obligation to see that it is fixed.
Peace Be Unto You,
Those municipal policy makers are always paying great lip service to social problems and issues, but failing to correctly utilize public resources and revenues, to resolve the pressing concerns. For instance take a look at the state of homelessness in Cambridge. For decades they have been dilly dallying around with ending and eradicating, homelessness. According to recent statistics it is getting worst.
What about the local Black men,women, and children that have been homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, now for years? Each newly elected administration has been doing next to nothing to create homeless housing. Some of the blame can be found with the folks who vote them into office, time after time, and again and again. It will take God himself to come and make things right in Cambridge for Black peoples and everyone else.The municipal policy makers will never get the job done. They hide to much truth from the citizens and residents at large.
Yours In Peace
Hasson Rashid
Concern Citizen
Cambridge, MA
The city cannot handle this issue alone, as proven in the past. The gun and gang violence is what they need to be HONEST about and hire a third party expertise to come in a bring the city together. The Council has no relationship with the police, or the schools – there’s over $5 Million in money sitting for violence prevention , why can’t a progressive, innovative city lead on one of our most important issues? The safety and education of our KIDS and FAMILIES. Tired of the lip service. Tired of them keeping the violence a secret. The violence is in the schools as well. They fail over and over. They are highly overpaid to do nothing as usual.
@jjames76
Unfortunately, the City Council doesn’t care. As you said “Tired of the lip service.”
Why don’t they care about properly educating students and keeping them safe? Surely, three generations of “under educated” kids is enough.
But, no one really seems to give a damn, not the
Council, or the school committee. How many different school superintendents has the city had in the last 30 years? Too many, and each one promises to turn the schools around. And it never happens.
Now, in addition, as you pointed out, we have crime that directly affects kids. We don’t even permit city CCTV cameras to help see what is happening and when a crime occurs, see what has happened. Nope, not in our city. Why isn’t the city doing everything possible to help our police force, a force that, very unfortunately,
appears to be marginalized by the Council.
All those calls to defund the police. Imbecilic.
And the Council sits there on Monday’s and essentially twiddles its thumbs on crucial issues.
Additionally, because of our idiotic form of government, the City Manager can essentially, at any time, tell the Councillors “I’m not really interested right now in doing what you want done.”
And we, as citizens suffer.