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Celebrating 60 years of impact, The Bay State Banner continues its State of Black America Forum Series tomorrow with GBH Amplifies.

Join us for “Black-Owned Businesses: Building Wealth & Strengthening Economies” — a conversation on capital, ownership, entrepreneurship, and the future of Black business.

📍 Hynes Convention Center
📅 Today, May 14
⏰ 2:30–5PM

Featuring John Barros, Nicole Obi, Collette Phillips, Marvin Gilmore + more.
Panel discussion • Audience Q&A • Networking Reception

Earlier that day, join us at the Boston Public Library for the live studio taping of GBH Amplifies: Ron Mitchell, The Bay State Banner.
Important conversations. Meaningful connections. Real solutions.

Celebrating 60 years of impact, The Bay State Banner continues its State of Black America Forum Series tomorrow with GBH Amplifies.

Join us for “Black-Owned Businesses: Building Wealth & Strengthening Economies” — a conversation on capital, ownership, entrepreneurship, and the future of Black business.

📍 Hynes Convention Center
📅 Tomorrow, May 14
⏰ 2:30–5PM

Featuring John Barros, Nicole Obi, Collette Phillips, Marvin Gilmore + more.
Panel discussion • Audience Q&A • Networking Reception

Earlier that day, join us at the Boston Public Library for the live studio taping of GBH Amplifies: Ron Mitchell, The Bay State Banner.
Important conversations. Meaningful connections. Real solutions.

For 60 years, The Bay State Banner has been at the center of the conversations shaping Black Boston — and this Thursday, we continue that legacy.
Join us for “Black-Owned Businesses: Building Wealth & Strengthening Economies,” part of our State of Black America Forum Series in partnership with GBH Amplifies.
From access to capital and entrepreneurship to ownership and economic growth, this conversation will bring together leaders, innovators, and changemakers focused on the future of Black business.

📍 Hynes Convention Center
📅 Thursday, May 14
⏰ 2:30–5PM

Featuring:
John Barros, Nicole Obi, Collette Phillips, Marvin Gilmore + more.

Panel discussion • Audience Q&A • Networking Reception
Earlier in the day, join us at the Boston Public Library for the live studio taping of GBH Amplifies: Ron Mitchell, The Bay State Banner.
Important conversations. Meaningful connections. Real solutions.

Celebrating 60 years of impact.
Join us for a powerful conversation as The Bay State Banner continues its 60th Anniversary “State of Black America Forums” — in partnership with GBH Amplifies.
Black-Owned Businesses: Building Wealth & Strengthening Economies
A timely discussion on capital, ownership, and the future of Black entrepreneurship.
📍 Hynes Convention Center
📅 Thursday, May 14
⏰ 2:30–5PM
Panel. Q&A. Networking reception.
Plus: join the live studio taping earlier that day at the Boston Public Library.
Featuring leaders shaping the conversation: John Barros, Nicole Obi, Collette Phillips, Marvin Gilmore + more.
This is about access. Ownership. Economic power.
Be in the room.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the inauguration of Dr. Jonathan K. Jefferson as the 18th President of Roxbury Community College — a leader stepping into a role that shapes the future of education, opportunity, and access in our community.
From students to city leaders, this moment brings together the voices and vision driving RCC forward.

Where: Media Arts Center, RCC
When: April 24, 2026 | 2:00 PM

Follow along our website for live streaming, highlights, moments, and full coverage.

🔗 Full story soon at BayStateBanner.com

In the midst of war and economic hardship, inspired leadership means governing with wisdom. It means drawing on the knowledge and experience of trusted advisers. It means forging alliances to strengthen the nation in the battles to come. It also means using the bully pulpit to soothe the public and set forth in clear terms what’s at stake and the pathway forward. Think President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his “Fireside Chats” to explain his New Deal policies during the Great Depression and his efforts to defeat the Axis powers during World War II. FDR set a high standard that succeeding presidents, from Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower to Barack Obama and Joe Biden, sought to emulate.

President Donald Trump, never a friend of Black America, has chosen a different approach, one fraught with peril for the American people and the world. Launching a war on Iran in league with Israel, Trump left European allies on the sidelines. Having dismissed senior national security staff, he has relied on relatives, cronies and unqualified cabinet secretaries like Pete Hegseth for guidance. And when it came to communicating his grand strategy to the American people, Trump has pinballed between rationales in his public statements and didn’t even bother addressing the nation for more than a month after the Feb. 28 start of the bombing campaign. And when he did, that address drifted into his usual grievances and failed to offer a clear path ahead.

✍️Ronald Mitchell
🎨 Cagen Luse

Read the full story at baystatebanner.com, link in our bio, or grab a copy from street boxes in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, South End, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Cambridge, Hyde Park, Brockton, and Randolph!

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For more Banner content, check out our Week in Review at baystatebanner.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel, BayStateBanner2025, to never miss an episode!

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, members of the Boston City Council and members of the family of Stephenson King are calling for the release of police body camera footage that captured the moments when Boston police officer Nicholas O’Malley opened fire on King as he tried to flee from officers after he allegedly stole a car, killing him.

But Boston police officials say the decision to release the footage rests with the office of Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, who has refused to do so.

✍️ Yawu Miller

Read the full story at baystatebanner.com, link in our bio, or grab a copy from street boxes in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, South End, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Cambridge, Hyde Park, Brockton, and Randolph!

Follow The Bay State Banner for the latest updates:
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Facebook: BayStateBanner
TikTok: baystatebanner

For more Banner content, check out our Week in Review at baystatebanner.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel, BayStateBanner2025, to never miss an episode!

Michelle Wu has appointed Rodney Marshall as the 45th Commissioner of the Boston Fire Department.
A Dorchester native and 35-year veteran, Marshall has risen through the ranks. From Engine 56 to Chief of Operations. Earning multiple commendations for bravery and leadership along the way. He also led the creation of the department’s Cadet Program, helping open pathways for the next generation of firefighters.
A major moment for Boston as a lifelong public servant steps into one of the city’s most critical leadership roles.
🔥 Full story @ BayStateBanner.com

In a season full of programs celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, the voices of the Boston Children’s Choir ring particularly strong. This weekend, the choir will perform a free community concert with the Boston City Singers and the Handel and Haydn Society Youth Choruses Chamber Choir celebrating Black literary luminaries in American history.

Each choir will present a different musical setting of Langston Hughes’ poem “I Dream A World,” composed by Rollo Dilworth, Mike Block, Andre Thomas, Dan Welcher and others.

✍️Celina Colby

Read the full story at baystatebanner.com, link in our bio, or grab a copy from street boxes in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, South End, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Cambridge, Hyde Park, Brockton, and Randolph!

Follow The Bay State Banner for the latest updates:
Instagram: baystatebanner
Facebook: BayStateBanner
TikTok: baystatebanner

For more Banner content, check out our Week in Review at baystatebanner.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel, BayStateBanner2025, to never miss an episode!

'sChoir