On this week's BNN News: Medford Residents join City Life / Vida Urbana in a march for housing rights and to fight eviction. Bridge Over Troubled Waters opens the new Branson Liberty House to serve homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth. A tour and history of Boston Harbor's Spectacle Island. An interview with Dr. Tanya Zangaglia of Crossing the Waters, an organization that leads pilgrimages to South Africa and Benin to confront the history and legacy of the transatlantic slave trade and heal generational trauma.
WBCA Podcasts
Boston Neighborhood Network News
(upbeat music) - Good evening, Boston. Welcome to BNN News. It's Friday, August 30th, 2024. I'm Natalie Candler. Thanks for tuning in. Medford residents joined City Life Vita Urbana, marching through their neighborhoods to stand against recent changes that threaten their homes, leading the efforts of our local tenants associations. - Good bye, do we plan to break? - How big is it that you have to break? - Medford tenants from Brooks Park Apartments and 65 Riverside Apartments, marched side by side with City Life Vita Urbana in response to dozens of residents facing eviction after the buildings were sold to new corporate owners. - It is not right that tenants need to struggle to collectively bargain, stay in their homes, stay in their communities as a reaction to displacement so that developers can treat their homes like they're just cells on a spreadsheet. And that is why as we combat the displacement of our neighbors from Brooks Park and elsewhere in Medford, we also say we need rent control. - Private equity companies Charles Gate and Hamilton are responsible for raising rents without fixing poor conditions, calling off negotiations and forcing residents of 50 apartments out of their homes under false pretenses. - I've seen at 65 Riverside the pictures of their basement. I was told their stairs are literally collapsing. This is not safe, these are not safe homes. We need inspectors in here and we need them to go to the doors of Charles Gate and Hamilton and stick notices to them and tell them they have to pay these fines, they have to fix these problems. These are not homes, these will be our graves if they do not fix these problems. - Since at least 2022, they have been on notice for failing to resolve maintenance issues relating to the entire structure, the facade, the basement, the garage, steel beams that are rusted through, which they have refused to replace. And at the same time, they have continued to bring new people into this fundamentally unsafe housing. They have continued to sign new leases at higher rents without solving the problems that the city of Medford cited them for. - And now tenants are fed up with the lies and are calling on city leaders to implement rent control and protect residents from corporate greed. - It makes me feel angry, you know, that people are being displaced, people that love this community, people that want to stay in and around Medford are being forced out basically, is what it is. - We all want to make money, we all want to live, but some just want to make all the money and just step on the less fortunate in their eyes. Just step on them and keep on going and tear down the communities that we've built. We need rent control now. We need rent control more than ever. - As they mark together, they sent a clear message to the powers that be. The people of Medford will not be displaced without a car. - We don't get it! - Shut it down! - Let's breathe! Go, get, get it! - In Brighton, a community organization is making a difference in the lives of nine young adults who have faced homelessness and giving them a new chance at life. - Bridge over troubled waters is preparing to move in nine new residents who will be living in this brand new and state-of-the-art apartment building, where each of them have their own room, responsibilities, and plenty of resources to succeed and prosper. - Part of our mission at Bridge is to make sure if you look at all our properties and our programs is to really have it look nice. Just like you walked into this, like I will move in here. Yes, that is the spirit. I want you to feel comfortable and I want our young people 'cause we have expectations and they're gonna go through a lot and they're gonna deal and face those traumas. We want it to look nice. So when they walk in, it's like, wow, they believe in me. They didn't put me in a little room. The house has AC. I'm not, they really believe in my expectations and they believe in who I can become. And that's really, really important to me. - Brunson Liberty House is named for Richard Brunson, a social worker who has uplifted the lives of struggling young people for over 40 years. And to commemorate his retirement, Bridge over troubled waters surprised him by naming their new building and his honor. - The times that really have made me feel good is when I've gone to British graduations and seeing kids who came in with no hope of all of getting their high school diploma. And finally, they're walking across the stage getting their high set. I think seeing kids who came in very depressed and not in feeling hopeless and seeing them become less depressed and being successful in the opportunities that Bridge has to offer them and taking advantage of those opportunities. - Despite living with visual impairment, Richard possesses an extraordinary gift. The ability to see beyond outward appearances and truly connect with the minds and souls of others. - I think one of the things that I hope that I've made a impression on with kids is that no matter what you're struggling with, you can overcome it and be successful. And that, you know, not to let challenges hold you back and to realize that opportunities are there for everyone and it's up to you to take advantage of those opportunities. And I think that my working with these young people over the years, I hope that I have been able to be an example of someone who has overcome challenges and have to move forward in my life. - Issues like addiction, family matters, and the housing market have put these young adults from the ages of 18 to 25 in difficult situations. But now they will pay $250 each month to live, clean, cook, and receive counseling until they're ready to move onto a bigger and better future. - Young people really attract to Richard a lot and felt comfortable with him because as you know, Richard is blind, so he can't see them. So he can't judge them on the way they look or what they're green hair or purple hair or their tattoos or their piercing. He was just judging them on the character how they were saying and young people love that. So he couldn't say, "Well, you don't like me "because my purple hair is like, I didn't even know "you had purple hair." - And for the thousands of young people in Boston who are struggling, men and women like Richard Brunson make it possible for bridge to uplift their spirits and give them a shoulder to lean on. - Think about the islands of Massachusetts. What do you think of? Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, maybe even Plum Island? Well, Keith Dennis from BNN took a day trip to another island that has gone from the city dump to a nature sanctuary and discovered a hidden gem that is only a short boat ride away from the seaport. Take a look. (upbeat music) - When people think summertime in Boston, they tend to think of lobster rolls, Fenway Park, and evening strolls through the public garden. But there's an often under-looked beauty in the Boston Harbor and its islands. One of the islands accessible by ferry at the Long Wharf is Spectacle Island. With a total travel time of just about 30 minutes, it's just a stone's throw away from the mainland. Growing up in Quincy, headaches island in Georgia's island were always summertime mainstays. But Spectacle Island was different. Everyone always referred to it as a dump. And I never knew why. (upbeat music) Opening to the public in 2006, Spectacle Island features hiking trails and paths that are both pedestrian and cyclist-friendly. There's a dedicated swimming area. And there's the Visitor Center, which is a great place to grab a hot dog if you start to feel hungry. If you come on a Sunday in the summer, you make head students from Berkeley College of Music playing jazz. (upbeat music) The Visitor Center is also a great place to learn about the history and transformation of this little island. Spectacle Island first sat in the Boston Harbor as two small hills or drumlands protruding out of the sea connected by a thin strip of land. It's believed to be named after its resemblance to a pair of glasses. It, like many of the harbor islands of the time, served as both a place of industry and its occlusion from the budding metropolis. Both a home to Boston Mariners and to Boston's first dedicated trash incinerator, which was commissioned around the turn of the last century to deal with the growing amount of trash that came with the city's expanding population. When the incinerator closed in the 1930s, instead of finding another place for proper disposal, trash was haphazardly dumped onto the island and left wherever it landed. Oftentimes, it spilled out into the water. As both the trash pile and the island grew, so did the environmental issues. It might seem like ancient history now, but for a time, the harbor was known as the dirtiest harbor in America. For decades, the seemingly endless amounts of trash and sewage permeated the water. It was so bad that an identity grew from it. It was a mortalized song with the Stan Del's 1965 garage rock classic, Dirty Water, a song that the Boston Red Sox now play to celebrate home victories. ♪ Well, I love that dirty water ♪ ♪ Oh, Boston, you're my home ♪ It was also one of the marquee issues that sank the Dukakis campaign for the presidency in 1988, with the Bush Quail campaign highlighting it and attack ads. - Boston Harbor, the dirtiest harbor in America, will cost residents $6 billion to clean. And Michael Dukakis promises to do for America is done for Massachusetts. - It wasn't until the 1990s that trash dumping had officially halted, and the project to turn Spectral Island into a true, modified part of the beauty of the harbor could begin. Using dirt excavated from the big dig, the island underwent a major reconstruction. The pits of trash were covered, and the island was landscaped with pathways, plants, and trees to foster a healthy ecosystem. What's so striking when you visit Spectral Island is how pristine it feels. Walking or biking the trails, you might never know the island used to be a piece in the puzzle of an environmental disaster. I think the reason so many Bostonians counted out is because they remember the stories of its past and the filth that used to be associated with it. Spectral Island has gone from industrial wasteland to a place where nature can thrive, and the people of Boston can enjoy a little getaway inside the city. (gentle music) The legacy of the transatlantic slave trade still resonates in 2024, casting a shadow over the black community as a reminder of America's darkest history. However, crossing the waters is transforming this weight into an opportunity for healing by leading pilgrimages from Boston to South Africa and Benin, where the story of the slave trade began. Dr. Tanya Zengaglia, who heads health and wellness initiatives at CTW and practices family medicine in New York City, has channeled her dedication to addressing African trauma through the healing heat sauce kickstarter campaign. This initiative funds journeys for individuals seeking to reconnect with their roots and heal generational trauma. She joined us over Zoom to discuss the impact of these pilgrimages and their potential for profound healing. Enjoy the interview. Can you tell us about what crossing the waters is and what is the mission of the organization? - Absolutely, and thanks for having me. It is a cultural exchange program that does work with people of the diaspora between Amherst, Massachusetts, and other places in this great state and various countries on the continent of Africa, particularly South Africa and Benin. - Amazing. And what is the mission of what you guys are trying to do? - Very simple, to connect. To connect because we believe that to heal the wounds of slavery, that we have to create connections between those who remained and those who were stolen. Those who remained and those who were stolen and creating those connections, re-establishing those bonds, helping us to understand deeply our history, our culture, all the ways that we are the same, is very important. You know, it's like what I think of all the time is what happens to a child of the diaspora when they're doing a very rudimentary exercise that most first grade teachers want them to do, which is to draw their family tree, right? And how often people are unable to do that because there are things that have happened as one who has been stolen to understand what the connection is three, four, five generations ago. And so through crossing the waters, we begin to reform those roots, those connections, increasing hope, visibility and in the process doing deep healing. Deep healing work. - Amazing. - It is amazing. - Yeah, absolutely. - What a unique program. - Yes. - So can you tell us about the healing heat sauce Kickstarter campaign? - Absolutely. The person who created crossing the waters, Ingrid asks you, is a phenomenal person who I'm sure you will at some point meet and hopefully have the viewers speak with and listen to. She's a Bostonian. She's from there. She grew up there and she had, prior to the creation of crossing the waters over a decade ago, a vision and a sit down with a Buddhist sister, Sister Claire, who's also from Boston. And they came up with this idea for the interfaith pilgrim image of the Middle Passage where they spent 13 months retracing the slave route from Massachusetts all the way to where they finally landed in South Africa. And during this 13 month pilgrimage, there was so much that happened to those over a hundred pilgrims who were on that journey. And that story will be for another time. But from that root, that pilgrimage grew crossing the waters. And as a actor, as a director, as someone who's a really focused community person, Ingrid said that she wanted to create a cultural exchange program between artists in Massachusetts and artists in South Africa where she was living for 10 years. And so over that 10 plus years, she created this artistic program where people were going back and forth creating this connection. And recently, one of the women that Ingrid met, who has an annual festival in Benin called the Vadun festival, invited Ingrid to bring her artists and educators to Benin, to this Vadun festival. Because she had had a vision, a dream, a spiritual deepening of what it is that the festival was supposed to be about. Although there's joy in this Vadun festival, which historically could take up this entire interview view, so I won't go into it right now. But in the spiritual awakening that she had some months ago, she was learning ancestrally that what she was supposed to do in the year 2025, which is when the next festival is, is to bring the stolen ones back to Benin, to teach those in the community, in the villages, in the cities, what happened to them? Because so often, Martine de Sousa, who is Benin and Benin-based, would ask the question of the children, what do you know about the stolen ones? And the children and their parents could not answer. And so this vision came to her, and she began to understand that what she wanted to do this January was to bring some of the stolens there, so that people could begin to tell the story. So this papa sauce is really just an expression of the heat, the passion, and the healing soul of crossing the water. It's a metaphor for what the institution is. It's an institution filled with spicy men and spicy women, and people who are really passionate and colorful and autistic, and want to do good work for the world. And so the healing source, which we have begun to make, and begun to distribute, and begun to ask people for love offerings for, is a family recipe from the Caribbean that combines scotch bonnet with all these other wonderful spices, and makes a very, very, very hot papa sauce that people enjoy on everything from eggs to peas and rice and curry chicken. So that's what it is. And it's a way to help people to understand more about crossing the waters, and a fundraiser to help the artist get to Benin for the Vadoon Festival in January 2025 and beyond. - Wow, amazing. And I had no idea that there was such a history of the organization going back again and again. Wow. - Yes, yes. There are many chapters to this. - Yeah, it seems like we need to have, do you say her name is Irene, right? - Ingrid. - Ingrid. - Ask you. - Yes, and I think you will love to meet her. - Amazing. - Yeah, I mean, she's filled with stories, she's filled with excitement, she's effervescent, she's a woman who has had many journeys, and as an artist, she'd have so much to share with you about what those journeys look like and felt like. - Right. - So this healing source is really just the manifestation of something that she created so long ago. And it has a lot of deep roots there in your state. - Wow. And I guess my sort of last question is, what do you hope that those who go on this pilgrimage learn from the experience and teach others as well like you were saying? - There's no doubt what we want everyone to learn. We want them to learn just how important their lives are, just how connected they are to others and how a deepening of their spiritual connection to their land of birth is important for their healing. And it's also important for the healing of Africa itself, all the many countries that have been deprived by the children leaving. So there's so much to do because as a physician, and this is very, very important to why I do this work with CTW. When I see high blood pressure and I see diabetes and I see obesity and I manage the cancers, you know, it's just a flicker. I don't want to deal with that disease. I want to deal with what is at the root of it, Natalie? What's at the root of that? And what's at the root is disconnection? And what is the healing? Is the connection? The power of community and connection is everything. And that's what CTW brings. And the healing otsilos is a metaphor for that. - Amazing. Where can people learn more about CTW? - Well, one of the things is that there's a beautiful website that begins to tell the story, but there's no better way to learn about crossing the waters than to come to some of the events that are going to be sponsored in the Boston area upcoming in the fall. But the website where you'll be able to find out about those events is crossing the waters.c.e. C-O dot Z-A. C-R-O-S-S-I-N-G-T-H-E-W-A-T-E-R-S dot C-O dot Z-A. And the phone number is 413-328-0961. - Amazing. - So those are two ways. But there's so many other ways. But that's what we have time for now. - Yeah, not right now, but next time I would love to. Yeah, we'll make sure to promote those. But thank you so much, Tanya, for joining us. What an amazing program and I'm so excited to hear more about when everybody returns. - Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you very much. - Of course. BNN wants to remind all of our viewers to register to vote for this year's elections. To register to vote or to check if you're registered, go to vote.gov. That's V-O-T-E dot G-O-V. State primary elections are next Tuesday, September 3rd. You can watch BNN's live coverage from eight to nine 30 on Expedited Channel 9, a sound channel 15, files channel 2161, and online at bnnmedia.org. Thank you for tuning in Boston. That's our broadcast for tonight. For BNN News, I'm Natalie Candler. I'll see you next Friday. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)