Uncategorized Archives - Page 4 of 30

Local Tibetans mark New Year with celebration and a protest march

March 30, 2022 Keren He 0

By Keren He Tibetans in the Boston area celebrated Losar, the Tibetan new year, with cultural food, dance, and conversation. Celebrations were later followed by a protest on March 10, as Tibetan community members rallied in Boston outside the Massachusetts State House against the brutal treatment of Tibetans under Chinese rule. March 3, 2022, marked the first day of the new year on the Tibetan lunisolar calendar, called “Losar,” which means “new year” in Tibetan. Tibetans living in the greater Boston area preserved this tradition by holding an annual ceremony for the most important holiday in their culture. Roughly 150 Tibetans gathered in a community center at Chelsea for morning prayers and later held an evening celebration in Watertown. Although no official census data exists, members of the Tibetan community say that there are approximately 800 – 1000 Tibetans living in the greater Boston area with the highest concentration in Malden and Medford. The Tibetan new year has been celebrated since the enthronement of the first emperor of Tibet, Nyatri Tsenpo, in 127 BC. This […]

Finding inspiration in Malden’s History: Inna Babitskaya

March 24, 2022 Joy Pearson 2

In May 2020, Malden Reads planned to host the Malden Mass. Memories Road Show (MMRS), a statewide, event-based, participatory digital archiving program that documents people, places, and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. Due to the pandemic, the in-person event could not be held. So Neighborhood View, in collaboration with Malden Reads, is contributing photographs and stories online as part of the Malden Mass. Memories Stuck-at-Home Show. The following story continues the series of participant profiles, which focus on photographs and what they mean to that resident of Malden. By Joy Pearson Although we all live in an historical context, our focuses differ. We are shaped by the places and cultures in which we have lived and in which we currently live. But only some of us have eyes that see history everywhere. Inna Babitskaya’s view of life is indelibly guided by historical and cultural lenses. She gravitates to and admires historic buildings. She seeks out biographical facts. When she writes, she writes from an historical point of view. This developed from Inna’s childhood […]

Malden residents join protests against reported human rights atrocities in China

February 17, 2022 Nikita Sampath 0

By Nikita Sampath Two days after the Olympic Games began in Beijing, Chris Choi, a Malden nursing student originally from Hong Kong, was standing in the bitter cold in Copley Square with a group of protesters calling for a boycott of the games to draw attention to reports of human rights violations in China. “Any kind of participation in the games is equivalent to being complicit in the atrocities China is committing,” said Choi who has been organizing for No Beijing 2022 in the last few years. Choi’s family left Hong Kong following the Anti-Extradition Law protests in 2019-2020. A few miles away in Medford, a group of protesters, including some from Malden, have been gathering every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., in front of the Colonial Volkswagen dealership on Mystic Avenue. The protests started in reaction to the allegations that Volkswagen has been using forced laborers of Uyghur descent, an ethnic minority in China, in the company’s factory located in Urumqi, Xinjian, built in 2013. Organized by Maya Mitalipova, the president of the Boston Uyghur Association, the weekly demonstration […]

Incident sparks racial equity measures and further discourse in Malden

February 15, 2022 Saliha Bayrak 0

By Saliha Bayrak A series of recent events in Malden have deepened the city’s ongoing social discourse about racial equity, particularly as it relates to the Asian-American community, and have led to new initiatives by the City Council. On Dec. 11, 2021, roughly 100 Malden residents gathered outside the Malden City Hall Plaza, in a city home to over 13,000 Asian residents, for what they called a standout. The demonstrators held up signs reading “Stop Asian Hate,” led chants and created noise with drums and cymbals. The standout was part of an ongoing effort to address issues of race and representation in Malden, this time sparked by a social media post. In November 2021, images of City Councilor Jadeane Sica wearing a Halloween costume, which were deemed racist by organizations such as the Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition (GMAACC), were re-surfaced after being first posted on Facebook in 2019. Sica and her husband were portraying an Asian sex worker and Patriots owner Bob Kraft, a reference to Kraft’s arrest for soliciting prostitution at the […]

North Shore Black Women’s Association carries on the spirit of Dr. King

February 3, 2022 Martha Bezzat 2

By Martha Bezzat For several hundred members of the Greater Malden community, the Saturday before the Martin Luther King holiday was a time to gather at Anthony’s of Malden for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon. These past two years, the event has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and many deeply felt the loss of that tradition. “The North Shore Black Women’s Association’s MLK Jr. Luncheon is all about rejoicing and rededication,” said Adam Weldai, Ward 5 School Committee member. “It has been sorely missed these past two years, especially as the challenges of structural racism and inequality that so many have known and lived for so long have been brought to the forefront for those who it was less familiar to.” He added, “The luncheons, through speakers, song, and moments of reflection give us a chance to be among a caring community, remind us how connected we truly are, and give us the joy and strength to move forward with the work that needs to be done.” For 27 years, […]

ARTLine Covid Memorial Park aims to bring healing to Malden

January 23, 2022 sharonsantillo 1

By Sharon Santillo With reverence for the healing power of the arts, Malden Arts announced plans for a COVID-19 memorial as the newest addition to the ARTLine on the Northern Strand Community Trail, a public art gallery that stretches long the Malden section of the 10-mile path. The COVID-19 memorial, consisting of a sculpture, bench and a mural of poetry and art, will be located at the Franklin Street crossing of the trail in Malden, as part of Phase Two of the ARTLine. “This pocket park will not only serve as public art, but also be a special space to remember and honor those that we lost to the COVID pandemic, the families who are grieving, the workers who went above and beyond, and our neighbors who pitched in and came together,” said Malden Arts President Ari Taylor. State Senator Jason Lewis had state funds set aside for this project; Malden Councillor Debbie DeMaria provided additional funding for the sculpture and the bench; and State Rep. Paul Donato was instrumental in working with the MBTA. Artist Thomas Berger […]

One year later, remembering a life cut short: Jaden Brito White

January 4, 2022 Saliha Bayrak 4

At age 18, Jaden Brito White was shot to death outside of his home in Malden. His family and friends describe what it was like to have him in their lives and mourn his loss a year after his death. By Saliha Bayrak Jaden Brito White was known for his contagious laugh, kind heart, and love for his family and friends that he made abundantly clear before his life was cut short on Dec. 29, 2020. Jaden and his mother, Nicole Brito White, would constantly tell each other “I love you” throughout the day, any time one of them entered the room. “I miss walking in the door and hearing ‘Hi mom. I love you,’” Nicole said. Nicole speaks highly of her late son, not only because of a mother’s bias, but because of the countless people in the community who have approached her after his passing and shared stories of how Jaden influenced them. “I realized that he touched almost this entire city,” she said. “He was an honorable person, he was trustworthy. He […]

Why do Haitians eat squash soup on New Year’s Day?

December 30, 2021 Jack Drees 2

By Jack Drees The New Year is celebrated by a series of traditions in the United States and around the world. For some, it’s a lively party on New Year’s Eve. For others, it’s the Times Square Ball Drop. For Massachusetts, it’s fireworks over the Boston Harbor. Haitians celebrate the New Year by enjoying a special soup. It is one of the first dishes they eat in the calendar year, and a tradition that reminds them of the liberation they have achieved. Haitians gained independence on January 1, 1804 after a 13-year revolution against France. Their independence arrived after the only successful slave revolt in history. Haiti became the second independent nation in the Americas and the first in Latin America. Yearly, in honor of the country’s freedom, the nation’s people and those with Haitian roots enjoy Soup Joumou, or squash soup. During France’s colonization of Haiti, Soup Joumou was often eaten by colonial masters and plantation owners. In many cases, this dish was prepared for these higher-class individuals by the slaves. While the masters […]

Malden residents enjoy the city’s first Winter Festival

December 21, 2021 NeighborhoodView 1

By Martha Bezzat, Fern Remedi-Brown, Laura Cummingham, Susan Margot Ecker, Nikita Sampath On Saturday, Dec. 4, the sidewalks of Pleasant Street were lined with about 55 local artists and craftspeople, eager to share their wares with Malden residents as part of the first Winter Festival, sponsored by the City of Malden. Malden Reads held its 2022 season “kick-off” event during the festival in the J Malden Center lobby. The group hosted poetry readings from local poets, children’s activities, dance videos from local dance group Monkeyhouse, and a raffle. J Malden Center also hosted the Chamber of Commerce’s 130th Anniversary closing event, which provided history and hot chocolate for crowds seeking warmth and nourishment from the cold weather. The event had the dual goal of “bringing customers back to our downtown to support our businesses and [giving] our residents an outdoor activity to enjoy themselves safely,” said Kevin Duffy, the Strategy and Business Development Officer for the City of Malden. However, a runaway car parked on Pleasant Street momentarily shook up the festive atmosphere when it began to roll, went […]

A conversation with Michael Cloherty: his new book and the Malden murder that shocked the nation

December 14, 2021 sschorow 0

By Stephanie Schorow Like so many kids who grow up in Malden, Michael Cloherty spent long hours hanging out at the Malden Public Library. There, looking up from a book, he would see a portrait of Frank Converse and his family. Converse was the son of the library’s benefactor, Elisha Slade Converse (1820–1904), a rubber-soled shoe tycoon, bank president, and Malden’s first mayor. When he was older, Cloherty learned how Frank Converse, as a 17-year-old bank teller, was shot to death during a brazen bank robbery on Dec. 15, 1863, just a short distance from the library. On that day between 11:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m., someone walked into Malden’s First National Bank, when the teller was alone, shot the teenager, and made off with $5,000. The crime is considered America’s first armed bank robbery. Accused of the crime was Edward Green, a 26-year-old postmaster with a drinking habit and heavy debts. Later, as an aspiring novelist, Cloherty realized no book had been written about the crime and he should be the one to do so. An award-winning video editor who has worked in […]