Boston, MA
Can the NAACP convention inspire a change in Boston’s racist reputation?
Boston is a minority-majority city — most of the city’s population consists of people of color.
And yet the city, which is now hosting the NAACP’s 114th annual convention, continues to grapple with a national perception as a racist city, unfriendly to people of color.
“Boston does have a reputation of not being a very kind city to Black and Brown people,” said State Rep. Bud Williams, a Democrat from Springfield. He’s the chair of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and he said part of the group’s mission is to change that reputation.
Hosting the NAACP Convention is meaningful for the city, Williams said.
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Williams recalled the last time the NAACP convention came to Boston in 1982. In those days, the city saw resistance to school desegregation and has grappled with a reputation for being racist ever since.
After a federal judge ruled in 1974 that the Boston School Committee deliberately segregated the city’s schools, thereby creating separate and unequal school systems, a new busing program was initiated. Some 18,000 Black and white students were required to take buses outside of their neighborhoods.
The new busing system caused an uproar in the city and created racial tensions that reverberated for years to come.
- Read more: Mass. weather: Here’s when temperatures could reach their highest Friday
“We’ve come a long way since then but we have a long way to go,” Williams said.
Recently, athletes have been outspoken about their experiences in the city.
Celtics player Jaylen Brown told the New York Times: “I definitely think there’s a group or an amount within the Celtic nation that is extremely toxic and does not want to see athletes use their platform, or they just want you to play basketball and entertain and go home. And that’s a problem to me.”
Basketball superstar LeBron James described Celtics fans more bluntly on his series, The Shop, last year: “They’re racist as f——.”
Williams said sports teams do suffer as a result of Boston’s reputation.
“We miss out on a lot of free agent folks because they don’t want to come to Boston,” Williams said.
Boston, and Massachusetts at large, experienced a surge in white nationalist propaganda last year. In one of the most notable instances, members of the racist Patriot Front group marched in Boston around the 4th of July and allegedly assaulted a Black artist.
At the time, Black leaders called on Boston and state officials to address racism.
The Anti-Defamation League found in a study earlier this year that Massachusetts ranked second in the nation for white nationalist propaganda activity in 2022, only behind Texas.
For Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, a speaker at the convention and a Democrat who represents portions of Boston, said that Boston has made tremendous strides since the last time the NAACP Convention was held there — in 1982 — but that there was still much work to do.
“This year’s NAACP Convention is an historic opportunity for Boston to reintroduce itself to the nation, and it is also an opportunity to educate folks about our city’s difficult past, the progress we’ve made, and the work that remains,” Pressley said in a statement on Friday.
Pressley, who is scheduled to speak Monday at the Juanita Jackson Mitchell Youth Awards at 7 p.m., called attention to disparities and injustices now facing Black people, including the racial wealth gap, police brutality and a maternal morbidity crisis.
“The convention will play a critical role in shaping our agenda for Black folks nationwide, and is also an opportunity for us to celebrate the Black community’s collective power in Boston and beyond,” Pressley wrote. “I’m honored to be participating in it.”
She said to truly change people’s perceptions of Boston, the city would have to undergo transformational policies, including closing the racial wealth gap, investing in affordable housing and homeownership, establishing fare-free transit and addressing structural racism as a public health crisis.
Togetherness and unity are highlighted in the convention’s theme of “thriving together.”
“From our first Black female Vice President, Kamala Harris, to our nation’s youngest mayor, Jaylen Smith, and former Boston Youth and College member Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones, we’ve cultivated a program that truly embodies this year’s theme of thriving together,” said Aba Blankson, the chief of marketing and communications for the NAACP.
Boston, MA
Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors: Where to watch free NBA live stream
A pair of division foes in the Eastern Conference meet up on Wednesday, Jan. 15 when the Boston Celtics travel to take on the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on NBC Sports Boston. Fans looking to watch this NBA game can do so for free by using DirecTV Stream, which offers a free trial. You can also watch on FuboTV, which also offers a free trial and $30 off your first month, or SlingTV, which doesn’t offer a free trial but has promotional offers available.
The Celtics are looking for their first winning streak since they beat the Raptors, Timberwolves and Rockets consecutively to end December and start January. Boston enters this matchup at 28-11 while Toronto is 9-31 and winless in two previous matchups with the defending champions.
- WATCH THE GAME FOR FREE HERE
Who: Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors
When: Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m. EST
Where: Scotiabank Arena in Toronto
Stream: FuboTV; Sling; DirecTV Stream (free trial)
Betting: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.
What is FuboTV?
FuboTV is an internet television service that offers more than 200 channels across sports and entertainment including Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. From the UEFA Champions League to the WNBA to international tournaments ranging across sports, there’s plenty of options available on FuboTV, which offers a free trial and $30 off the first month for new customers.
What is DirecTV Stream?
DirecTV Stream offers practically everything DirecTV provides, except for a remote and a streaming device to connect to your television. Sign up now and get three free months of premium channels including MAX, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME and Starz.
What is SlingTV?
SlingTV offers a variety of live programing ranging from news and sports and starting as low as $20 a month for your first month. Subscribers also get a month of DVR Plus free if they sign up now. Choose from a variety of sports packages without long-term contracts and with easy cancelation.
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Court papers say ex-NBA player Jontay Porter laid out betting scheme in a text; 6th person arrested
By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A sixth person was charged Monday in the federal sports betting case involving ex-NBA player Jontay Porter, and authorities disclosed a text message Porter allegedly sent explaining how to cash in on his plans to bench himself in a January 2024 game.
The former Toronto Raptors center already has pleaded guilty in the criminal case and was banned from the NBA for life. He admitted that he agreed to withdraw early from games, claiming illness or injury, so that those in the know could win big by betting on him to underperform expectations.
Although the new developments don’t affect the legal case against Porter, they put the scheme in what a court document says were his own words.
“Hit unders for the big numbers,” Porter wrote to an alleged conspirator on Jan. 26, 2024, according to a court complaint against yet another alleged schemer, Shane Hennen. He was arrested Sunday at the Las Vegas airport while boarding a flight to Panama.
“No blocks no steals. I’m going to play first 2-3 minute stint off the bench then when I get subbed out tell them my eye killing me again,” Porter wrote, according to the complaint. It identifies him only as “NBA Player 1” but makes clear through references — such as the details of his guilty plea last year — that it’s Porter.
He had scratched an eye during a game on Jan. 22, 2024, keeping conspirators in the loop by text even from the arena, according to the complaint. But he wasn’t on the injured list when the Raptors faced the LA Clippers four days later.
Porter ultimately played about 4 1/2 minutes in that game before saying he had aggravated the eye problem. Then he pulled out of a March 20 game against the Sacramento Kings after less than three minutes, saying he felt ill. His performance in both games fell well below what sportsbooks had anticipated.
Porter told a court in July that he got involved in the plot to try to clear his own gambling debts. He’s set to be sentenced in May. He could face anything from no jail time to 20 years behind bars; prosecutors have estimated his sentence at about 3 1/2 to four years in prison.
A message was sent to his lawyer Monday to seek comment on the developments.
Hennen was released without bail after his arraignment Monday in Las Vegas on charges including wire fraud conspiracy. The court complaint alleges that he placed bets through proxies after co-conspirators alerted him to Porter’s plans for the Jan. 26 game, and that he also got a heads-up about the March 20 game and likely told other gamblers about it.
A message seeking comment was sent to his attorney.
Besides Hennen and Porter, four other people also have been charged to date. Two have pleaded guilty, a third has pleaded not guilty, and the fourth hasn’t entered a plea.
The complaint against Hennen alleges there were still more conspirators involved. It’s unclear whether more people may yet be arrested.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Boston, MA
Constantine Manos, photographer for landmark ‘Where’s Boston?’ exhibit, dies at 90 – The Boston Globe
Among Mr. Manos’s books were “A Greek Portfolio” (1972; updated 1999), “Bostonians” (1975), “American Color” 1995) and ”American Color 2″ (2010). Mr. Manos’s work with color was notably expressive and influential.
“Color was a four-letter word in art photography,” the photographer Lou Jones, who worked with Mr. Manos on “Where’s Boston?,” said in a telephone interview. “But he was making wonderful, complex photographs with color, and that meant so much.”
Yet for all his formal skill, Mr. Manos always emphasized the human element in his work. “I am a people photographer and have always been interested in people,” he once said.
That interest extended beyond the photographs he took. He was a celebrated teacher. Among the students he taught in his photo workshops was Stella Johnson.
“He’d go through a hundred of my photographs,” she said in a telephone interview, “and maybe he’d like two. ‘No, no, no, no, yes, no.’ Costa really taught me how to see. I remember him looking at one picture and saying, “You were standing in the wrong spot.’ Something like that was invaluable to me as a young photographer.
“He was a very, very kind man, very generous. But he was very strict. ‘How could you do that?’ He was adored by his students and by his friends, absolutely. We were all lucky to have been in his orbit.”
Mr. Manos, who moved to Provincetown in 2008, lived in the South End for four decades. The South Carolina native’s association with the Boston area began when the Boston Symphony Orchestra hired him as a photographer at Tanglewood. He was 19. This led to Mr. Manos’s first book, “Portrait of a Symphony” (1961; updated 2000).
Constantine Manos was born in Columbia, S.C., on Oct. 12, 1934. His parents, Dimitri and Aphrodite (Vaporiotou) Manos, were Greek immigrants. They ran a café in the city’s Black section. That experience gave Mr. Manos a sympathy for marginalized people that would stay with him throughout his life. As a student at the University of South Carolina, he wrote editorials in the school paper opposing segregation. Later, he would do extensive work chronicling the LGBTQ+ community with his camera.
Mr. Manos became interested in photography at 13, joining the school camera club and building a darkroom in his parents’ basement. After graduating from college, Mr. Manos did two years of Army service in Germany, working as a photographer for Stars and Stripes. He joined Magnum in 1963. This had special meaning for him. Mr. Manos’s chief inspiration as a young photographer had been Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of Magnum’s founders. He was such an admirer he made a point of using the same equipment that Cartier-Bresson did.
That same year, Mr. Manos entered a seafood restaurant in Rome that was around the corner from the Pantheon. Prodanou, his future husband, was dining with friends. Noticing Mr. Manos, he gestured to him. “Would you join us for coffee?” The couple spent the next 61 years together, marrying in 2011.
Mr. Manos lived in Greece for three years, which led to “A Greek Portfolio.” He undertook a very different project in the Athens of America. Part of the city’s Bicentennial tribute, “Where’s Boston?” was a slice-of-many-lives view of contemporary Boston.
Located in a red-white-and-blue striped pavilion at the Prudential Center, it became a local sensation. The installation involved 42 computerized projectors and 3,097 color slides (most of them taken by Mr. Manos), shown on eight 10 feet by 10 feet screens. Outside the pavilion was a set of murals, consisting of 152 black-and-white photographs of Boston scenes, all shot by Mr. Manos.
“The most important thing I had to do was to keep my picture ideas simple,” he said in a 1975 Globe interview. “Viewers are treated to a veritable avalanche of color slides in exactly one hour’s time.”
In that same interview, he made an observation about his work generally. “I prefer to stay in close to my subjects. I let them see me and my camera and when they become bored they forget about me and then I get my best pictures.”
Among institutions that own Mr. Manos’s photographs are the Museum of Fine Arts; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Library of Congress; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
In addition to his husband, Mr. Manos leaves a sister, Irene Constantinides, of Atlanta, and a brother, Theofanis Manos, of Greenville, S.C.
A memorial service will be held later this year.
Mark Feeney can be reached at mark.feeney@globe.com.
Boston, MA
Below freezing temperatures again today
The winds are still going Wednesday, but the air temperatures remain at respectable levels. Highs will manage to weasel up to 30 in most spots. It’s too bad we’re not going to feel them at face value. Instead, we’re dressing for temps in the teens all day today.
Thursday and Friday are the picks of the week.
There will be a lot less wind, reasonable winter temperatures in the 30s and a decent amount of sun. We’ll be quiet into the weekend, as our next weather system approaches.
With mild air expected to come north on southerly winds, highs will bounce back to the low and mid-40s both days of the weekend.
Showers will be delayed until late day/evening on Saturday and into the night. There may be a few early on Sunday too, but the focus on that day will be to bring in the cold.
Highs will briefly sneak into the 40s, then fall late day.
We’ll also watch a batch of snow late Sunday night as it moves up the Eastern Seaboard.
Right now, there is a potential for some accumulation as it moves overhead Sunday night and early Monday morning.
It appears to be a weak, speedy system, so we’re not expecting it to pull any punches.
Enjoy the quieter spell of weather!
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