Structural Racism is the Real Pandemic

May 17, 2020
Monica Cannon-Grant & David J. Harris, CommonWealth Magazine

Published on Sunday in MassINC’s CommonWealth Magazine: Monica Cannon-Grant of Violence In Boston Inc. and our own Managing Director David J. Harris address causes and solutions to the disproportionate premature death faced by Black people and people of color from the COVID-19 virus and from gun violence in their op-ed, “Structural Racism is the Real Pandemic.”

Boston needs a new approach to community safety rooted in equity. We must shift funding from the apparatus of control and punishment to upstream solutions in under-resourced communities of color: truly affordable housing and healthcare; nutritious food; quality education; job training and living wage employment; investment in small businesses; elimination of hazardous environmental conditions; mental health, substance use treatment, and harm reduction.

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