Letter To The Editor: Raul Fernandez For State Representative

BROOKLINE, MA — The following letter to the editor was submitted by Brookline resident Joan Lancourt.

From my perspective, a society is judged by how well it treats its most disadvantaged citizens; and politicians are judged by how deeply committed they are to making sure that adequate resources are available to fund the programs and services needed to increase the economic, political, racial and social equity of those citizens.

As a former chair of Brookline's Commission for Diversity, Inclusion & Community Relations, I have worked with Raul Fernandez on a number of issues and program committees, and I have never doubted his commitment to and passion for racial and economic equity and justice. This commitment runs through everything he has done, is doing, and aspires to do: be it in housing, education, climate sustainability, or economic development.

In housing, Raul is committed to more multi-family, multi-use housing in walkable neighborhoods; to reinstituting rent control, and decreasing housing discrimination as ways to increase housing stability; and to ensuring that funding for state-funded public housing reaches parity with federally-funded public housing. He will also bring environmental justice issues into the heart of the climate sustainability dialogue around fossil fuel free housing. Raul is a strong advocate for green transportation and will push for making selected bus routes free as a viable way to increase ridership, decrease automobile pollution, and increase economic equity. He also favors creating a public bank, a potential source of funding for BIPOC small businesses. As an educator himself, Raul will focus on creating structures and processes that enable schools to hire and retain more teachers of color, develop more culturally sensitive curricula, and expand the METCO program, as well as the resources needed to support it.

Raul does his homework, he is articulate, with an uncanny ability to make complex issues clear, and, of equal import, he has a real sense of urgency about two major issues that will make or break our future - eliminating racism and addressing climate change. I am proud to support his candidacy on Sept. 6.

Joan Lancourt, Ph.D.