Shining Light on Immigration

By Shannon Teabo “No one leaves home unless homeIs the mouth of a sharkYou only run for the borderWhen you see the whole city running as well” The words of poet Warsan Shire burn through the body and soul; igniting compassion and empathy for those who are forced to flee from the people and places they love. This was the simple ask of the devoted members of Grassroots Central Mass, a division of Indivisible; to feel for the people who have no choice but to run from the horrors or else be swallowed by them. The presentation on the myths…

Work to change the flag and seal of Massachusetts

By David Detmold The flag and seal of Massachusetts show a settler’s hand holding a Colonial broadsword over the head of an Indigenous man, with a Latin motto beneath, commonly translated: “She seeks a quiet peace with liberty under the sword.” A recent special commission established by the state legislature concluded in November of 2023, that the image on our state flag and seal is easily interpreted as “a celebration of the history of settler violence perpetuated against Indigenous people.” No one wants to have a sword hanging over their head. In 1985, former state representative Byron Rushing, a Boston civil…