TAUNTON As the election season for Taunton City Council gets going, Taunton Diversity Network gave Taunton s youth a chance to have their concerns addressed by current city councilors.
During a question and answer session over Zoom Councilors Barry Sanders, Phil Duarte and David Pottier fielded questions ranging from explaining why the City Council recently raised the number of retail marijuana licenses it can give out, to their thoughts on the controversial proposed Aries Clean Technologies gasification plant.
The first two questions, posed by Taunton teen Charlotte Post, at the event Wednesday night were about vaping a public health issue that was prominent before the pandemic and what the city is doing to combat it, as well as why the City Council voted to raise the number of retail marijuana licenses.
Cincinnati Magazine
April 7, 2021
In some aspects, Cincinnati is a very different place than it was two decades ago. But when it comes to race relations, it’s almost exactly the same. Black people living and working here can attest to the structural racial divide that continues to undergird their experiences.
Illustration by Kingsley Mebechi
Beneath the city’s shiny new buildings, popular restaurants, and everyday wheeling, dealing, and power brokering lie the ashes of April 2001. That’s when Over-the-Rhine exploded in an uprising after the death of Timothy Thomas, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of then-Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach, and it was a reckoning that some say was a long time coming.
The pandemic has strained the cultural bonds that connect us to our people and traditions. As Darya Shahgheibi, program administrator of Uniting Pride, says, “Culture cannot be experienced in solitude.” While the coronavirus has severely restricted our ability to safely gather together, especially during the cold, gray days of winter, our common need for connection with people who share our values, tastes, and lived experiences has compelled many of us to rethink how we share culture and community, especially during times of solitude. Three Champaign-Urbana residents who identify with multiple cultures and communities shared how they’re safely connecting with the people and practices that bring them light and joy during the coldest and darkest months of the year.