Opinion

At a time when it feels like the president, Congress, and the judicial branches of government have collectively declared war on Black and brown America, one cannot help but be reminded of Frederick Douglass’ iconic speech, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” delivered on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York.

The heat doesn’t knock anymore — it barges in. It fills your lungs like smoke, presses against your chest like regret. It sits on porches in poor neighborhoods where the AC never worked or was too expensive to run.

Most Americans who buy food at the grocery store with benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, already work.

All eyes in the administrative offices of Roxbury Community College are focused on the Potomac River as Congress works out a budget bill at the behest of President Trump.

Let’s be clear: If the culture had a backbone, it would be dipped in cocoa butter and braided tight with laid edges. Black women are the blueprint, the foundation, the spark — and somehow, we still get side-eyed when we say it out loud.

Each year approximately seven million college students benefit from Pell Grants, a 50-year-old needs-based program that can be used to cover costs for tuition, fees, living expenses and room and board.

For the last half dozen years, advocates in Massachusetts have been pushing for the creation of more worker-owned businesses, often called co-ops, as a way to share profits with the people who create products and deliver services.

Gina Dukes knew she wanted to be a teacher the moment she heard a formerly homeless schoolmate talk about the impact teachers had in his life. A once-shy student who grew into a confident, charismatic poet, Dukes wanted to advocate for Black kids.

When I was growing up, my mom would never miss the Roxbury Homecoming celebration. Even as she got older, we would stake out a spot the night before and return the next day and set up our cooler, food and chairs for the community picnic that’s been taking place in Franklin Park for decades.

As they walk through our doors every day, I see Boston’s urban youth for what they truly are: the city’s greatest assets.

In every generation, there are people who want to bury the truth. We are living through one of those times right now.

When Elon Musk called President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” a “disgusting abomination,” he was right for the wrong reasons.