January 2021

The Blue and Gold
January 2021
Sandra Li
Managing Editor
The Malden Youth Civics Council
hosted a Racial Justice Forum
over a Zoom meeting where individuals
in the Malden community
had the opportunity to discuss a
variety of concerns involving racial
issues to local representatives, including
Mayor Gary Christenson, in
order to further highlight problems
that have been present within the
city.
Hossam Braer, who is the Vice
Chair, explained that the council initially
planned for this event because
with the recent killings of Black
Americans across the country, they
wanted to utilize this discussion to
“educate individuals about historically
racist tactics” that are used in
the United States to “suppress
African-American representation.”
On top of that, with local leaders being
present in the forum, the council
wanted them to be more transparent
on problems that are occurring in
the city so that residents can learn
“what steps local leaders are taking
in order to resolve these issues” so
members of the community do not
feel as if “their problems are [being]
swept under the rug.”
Braer believes that “you can
not and will not solve an issue you
do not believe exists,” and that to
be transparent, you need to “truly
acknowledge the issue at hand.” By
having this forum opened up to the
community, it would enable individuals
to be more informed about
how these issues have been “prominent
for so long now” with systemic
racism prevailing to this day.
Brandon Wong, who is the
First Chair, mentioned how even
despite Malden being such a diverse
city, there are still issues that need to
be addressed, especially “issues that
are not apparent to us” as we live in
it and “this is our norm.”
Adding on to that thought,
Minh Thu Do, the art coordinator,
believes that simply just “standing
and idling around” will not solve
anything as “speaking out is important.”
During the forum, many initiatives
were presented to the local representatives
including staff diversity
and representation. With Malden
being considered to hold one of the
most diverse sets of students, it was
highlighted that in the Malden Public
School system, there is actually
a lack of people of color acting as
teacher figures for students.
Attendees were able to hear
what steps Malden is taking to tackle
these problems including how
the city is planning to set up classes
Local News
maldenblueandgold.com
Malden Youth Civics Council
Hosts Racial Justice Forum
5
with the Malden Public School system
that are dedicated towards engaging
more students in becoming
teachers. Mayor Christenson mentioned
that by having these classes,
students of various groups are likely
to at least attend these classes and it
would inspire students of color to
pursue the career of teachers.
Braer expressed that the council
did like the approach that the Mayor
and the City of Malden was taking
as it was a “step closer in the right
direction,” however, they did feel
that along with this program, there
also needed to be a “change within
the school curriculum” to establish a
platform for “students and teachers
alike to talk about racial issues.”
In addition, the UniteMalden
2020 initiative was also brought
up which consists of five steps that
will be taken in order to handle the
problem of racial inequity. The steps
include declaring racism as a public
health crisis, establishing a police
department community review
board, funding a director that will
prioritize diversity and inclusion, a
‘diversity in hiring’ initiative, and
recognizing Juneteenth as an official
holiday in the city.
Wong felt that it was “good to
know” about what was presented
because “[he] now knows that there
are initiatives in place” that are being
formulated in order to address
the issues that were made during the
Black Lives Matter protests which
reveals “that their efforts were not in
vain.” But in spite of that, he further
said how “there are always ways to
get better” and ways to “improve
the current conditions in our community”
even if these developments
are “small incremental changes.”
Mayor Christenson stated that
there is a significance in engaging
young people in conversations
about race and racism because in order
to “effectuate positive change in
our community,” it is critical for the
younger generation to be included
in the process as their “voices [need
to] be heard and their experiences
shared.”
Do agreed that by allowing
young people in these discussions
to express both their concerns and
experiences, it facilitates for them
to “be exposed to these issues” so
that they can “work together to fix
them.”
All in all, the Racial Justice
Forum hosted by the Malden Youth
Civics Council enabled for members
of the Malden community to discuss
with local representatives a variety
of issues present in the city and address
certain initiatives that could
be taken in hopes of moving toward
a more equitable community.