ARCHIVES OF EDITORIALS

 

 

November 6, 2003

Two who cared

Two of Greater Boston’s prominent African-American citizens died last week. It is unlikely that many from the community, even those who preach about the need for role models, noted their passing.

One was Elwood S. McKenney, Sr., who moved to Mattapoisett after he retired from his post as Chief Justice of the Roxbury District Court. It was a difficult and arduous path that eventually took him to the Roxbury District Court in 1960. Upon graduating from Boston Latin School, McKenney was awarded a scholarship to Harvard University. He graduated with honors in 1938.

There were no great jobs awaiting the new Harvard graduate. He went to work as a redcap, carrying bags for Pullman passengers at South Station. His involvement with the community began after his discharge from active duty with the Army. In 1946 he became the first black person to be appointed a commissioner of the Fair Employment Practices Commission.

After completing law school he joined the staff of Gov. Foster Furcolo in 1955 and became his chief secretary in 1959. The following year he was appointed justice of the Roxbury District Court. There he secured a new courthouse, recruited minority staff, and established one of the first pretrial diversion programs in the state.

Ruth M. Batson is the other great role model now lost to the community. After graduating from Girls Latin School, she attended Northeastern University and Boston University. She was always a civil rights activist. Mrs. Batson was one of the founders of Metco and she served as associate director and executive director from 1966-1970. She also served as president and executive director of the Museum of Afro American History in Boston from 1985-1988.

Always concerned about the expansion of educational opportunities for African-Americans, she established the Ruth M. Batson Educational Foundation in 1969 to provide grants to students for tuition and emergency needs.

The death of these two greats marks the end of an era. African-Americans should learn from them the gift of service to the community.

Confronting race

In the Hollywood style publicity of the California recall election, the importance of Proposition 54 was
overlooked. Ward Connerly, the inveterate antagonist of affirmative action, had proposed that no government agency in California should be allowed to note the race of anyone. Fortunately, a majority of white voters and 75 percent of blacks and Latinos rejected the proposal.

Connerly seems to be deluded about the state of race in America. He seems to believe that by pretending the race problem does not exist it will somehow magically go away. The inability to gather data on the status of race in California would deny planners the information needed to correct inequalities.

Clearly race does matter, especially in data about health and medical care. So Connerly has threatened to raise the issue again but with the exclusion of medical related racial information from the prohibition.

Connerly was wrong when he terminated affirmative action and the approval of Prop. 54 would have permitted racist decisions to go undetected. America can resolve its race problem only by confronting bigotry and exacting a severe penalty upon those who discriminate against others on the basis of race or religion.

 

 

 

 

Home Page