Two months after the Boston Globe Spotlight team produced a series on the city’s ongoing struggle with racism, we are seeing some high-profile reminders of the realities of inequality, injustice and outright prejudice across the region. First, WEEI sports radio host Christian Fauria mocked Tom Brady’s agent, Don Yee, by using an overblown, stereotypical Asian accent. Yee, by the way, was born in Sacramento, California. The station has since apologized and put Fauria on a five-day suspension. They also announced they would suspend programming on Friday and, instead, hold a mandatory sensitivity training session for all employees after several advertisers cut ties with the station. Then there was a tweet from the Boston Police Department account, paying tribute to Celtics legend Red Auerbach for Black History Month. The BPD has since apologized, but for many, the damage has been done. Jim Braude was joined by Boston Globe columnist Renee Graham and Rahsaan Hall, director of the racial justice program at ACLU Massachusetts.
‘Black Panther,’ which officially premieres tomorrow night, is far from your average superhero movie. The film features the Marvel Comic Universe’s first-ever black superhero portrayed on the big screen. Featuring a majority-black cast, the film is set in an African nation, assumed by everyone else to be a third-world country, but which is actually the most technologically advanced in the world and just got a new ruler, whose alter ego is the Black Panther. The movie is being celebrated by critics and audiences alike, not just for its groundbreaking racial elements, but for its portrayal of women as well. Jim Braude was joined by WGBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen and Brandon Matthews, co-founder of KillerBoomBox.com, which describes itself as a multiplatform media company dedicated to documenting black music, lifestyle, and culture — with integrity.
Jim Braude weighs in on the Trump administration’s proposal to swap out the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program … for boxes.
