Prior to Michelle Wu Boston had never had a black director of tourism and entertainment nor had it had a Black Chief Planner. Under Michelle Wu she has selected
John Borders IV, a Boston Native and Morehouse Grad as Director Tourism, Entertainment, and Sports.
Boston will be hosting the 2023 NAACP Convention and is bidding to host the 2026 NBA All Star Weekend.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu are “in favor of trying to do everything they can to prepare the city to not only … place the bid, but also win the bid.”
She selected
James Arthur Jemison- a black Amherst, MA native and former Boston resident- to be Chief Planner and head of the Boston Planning and Development agency, having poached him from the City of Detroit and Washington DC.
Prior to Michelle Wu Boston had never had a mayoral cabinet where more than 1/3rd of the member were people of color. Today 38% of Cabinets members are black, another third are Latino or Asian.
Article on Boston Mayoral Cabinet in 2014: Diversity lacking in Mayor Marty Walsh cabinet picks
Despite campaign trail promises to build an administration that is reflective of the diversity of the city at every level, the highest level of his administration remains overwhelmingly white. S
o far, only Chief of Staff Daniel Arrigg Koh and Health and Human Services Director Felix G. Arroyo add color to the 17-seat cabinet.
We’re disappointed at this point,” said Juan Leyton, interim director of the Latino Political group ¿Oiste? “We had the expectation that there would be more people of color in higher positions. We’re a majority people of color city. City Hall should reflect that at every level.”
Walsh’s top level appointments have left some who supported him in the last year’s race for mayor concerned.
“This doesn’t look like the new Boston,” said Alex Oliver-Davila, executive director of Sociedad Latina and a member of the Latino Network, a group of nonprofit leaders. “I’m disappointed and obviously concerned that there are only two people of color in his cabinet.”
Article on Boston Mayoral Cabinet in 2023:
Majority of Wu’s cabinet chiefs are people of color
Mayor Michelle Wu began her State of the City speech by name-checking members of her administration, two-thirds of whom, she noted, are people of color.
While Boston was declared a so-called majority-minority city following the 2000 U.S. Census, Wu’s administration marks the first time people of color make up more than a third of cabinet positions in a mayoral administration.
Mayor Wu also announced her committee for the
Reparations Task Force. The city will pay 10 black people to come up with recommendations for Boston's reparations, to be implemented in 2024.
City ordinance "requires that at least five commission members be descendants of American freedmen, or Africans enslaved in the United States."
In 2014 Boston had just 8 black-owned full liquor licenses, maybe 2 for beer and wine?
By the summer of 2023, that number will be 23/24. We are already over 20.
Comfort Kitchen*
Grace **
Jazz Urbane **
Estella*
Bred Gourmet*
MIDA
Darryl’s
Slades
Cesarias
Cafe Sauvage*
HUE*
Bon Apetit
Blue Nile
Suya Joint*
Dave the Chefs*
Savvor*
Park 54*
District 7*
Soleil*
Wally’s
Zaz
Top Mix*
Apex Noire*
* opened after 2014
** opening this year
That’s 23, I think I’m missing one
Strand theatre is owned by the city. It it’s a balck clientele- they just got one.
We already have empirical data that black incomes in Boston are rising quickly- above national averages- and the city has more residents who identify as black than ever before. From my own observations, the black population in Boston in 2023 compared to Boston in 2010 is younger, wealthier, more childless, and more ethnically diverse.
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