Investing in Black people one person at a time

The Boston Music Film Sports and Law Foundation (BMFLF) seeks to actively engage more Black

people living in Greater Boston in the electoral process, specifically getting more Blacks to vote

in even greater numbers in municipal elections. Why is this our priority? Because the Black

community has depended for too long on the largesse and hoped-for political courage of our

local politicians to make the societal changes needed to fundamentally shift the urban

landscape so more Black people can fulfill their personal dreams and aspirations. While some

incremental change has happened, reliance on politicians to show up for Black people has, by

and large, been an abysmal failure.

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Black people must invest in themselves as individuals, one person at a time. They need to be

accountable; to be motivated to change themselves and their community by actively

participating in the electoral process. We call this effort personal accountability. This is nothing

less than a new Civil Rights movement, an undertaking to empower Black people of all stripes

and persuasions to embrace their political power through strategic community organizing and a

vigorous engagement in voting for those candidates committed to strengthening and

revitalizing Black life in Greater Boston.

BMFLF is fully committed to this undertaking. We intend to mobilize Black people to use their

untapped power to effect lasting change in their day to day lives and to strengthen the cultural

ties that bind them. It is our time for a new plan of action. It is time to invest in innovative

strategies and to unite with allies that believe in the political agency and untapped creative

thinking within the Black community. The goal of BMFLF is to effect generational change among

Black people and to use every resource at its disposal to accomplish that including Black

churches, cultural institutions, sports programs and social justice organizations. Our initial

programming, called the Black Voters Initiative, (honoring the seminal and crusading work of

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel), will set a new standard

of Black participation in voting and cultural transformation to ensure that Black people can

achieve their most ambitious personal goals while at the same time strengthening the fabric of

Black cultural life.