Human Rights Commission Statement on Recent Hate Incidents

The Boston Human Rights Commission is concerned with the increased activity of overt racist activities in the City of Boston.

Americans continue to live in difficult times as our nation grapples with racial reckoning. The majority of the country believes that we must continue to push towards racial justice, equity, and equality. However, a small but vocal minority group continues to overtly preach and push towards white supremacy: whether it was the shocking January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol or the three racist white men who were recently found guilty of hate crimes for hunting down and murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a black man in Georgia.

In Boston, on January 22, 2022, a group of Neo-Nazis targeted two doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital, calling them 'anti-white' for creating programs for racial equity in medicine. On February 12, 2022, a group of people wearing hoodies and masks, concealing their faces, held up a white banner with the words: “WHITE PATIENCE HAS LIMITS'' on a bridge on the busy Storrow Drive. Then there are the open threats of violence and hate speech against Boston Mayor Michelle Wu due to her vaccine mandate in Boston.

We want residents of Boston to know that there is zero tolerance for these racist incidents and we are committed to eliminating racism in every form. There is zero tolerance for discriminatory practices of any kind, particularly these kinds of incidents of hate speech and threats of violence.

We encourage residents to reach out to our office if they experience or see any overt expressions of racially motivated incidents or hate in Boston. We currently have an Anonymous Incident Report available on our website, translated in 12 different languages.

— Boston Human Rights Commission

Evandro C. Carvalho, Executive Director
Margaret McKenna, Chair
Reyes Coll-Tellechea, Commissioner
Leonard Lee, Commissioner
Robert MacEachern, Commissioner
Anne Rousseau, Commissioner