By Sierra Dickey Since the police murder of George Floyd in 2020, many have questioned the harms of American policing. Recently, policing in Western Massachusetts has produced grave harms: Springfield Police murdered Orlando Taylor in December, Pittsfield police murdered Miguel Estrella in March, and the Greenfield police department was found guilty of racist practices in … Continue reading Police Department Wins Grant For Co-Response While Community Models See No Funds →

By Cathy McNally It wasn't dramatic. I didn't go out into my nice front yard, yank my Black Lives Matter sign out of the ground, give a self-righteous speech to my neighbors about how signs weren't enough, and then lead the growing crowd carrying handcrafted artisanal pitchforks down to City Hall.   The truth is that … Continue reading Why I took down my Black Lives Matter sign →

Activists and City Councilors point to misrepresentations of the facts. By Joanna Mae Boody and Spencer Fox Peterson On May 19th, the City Council of Greenfield voted to cut the budget of the Greenfield Police Deparment (GPD) by $ $425,000, which is roughly the equivalent of what the city will have to pay after a … Continue reading Greenfield PD Facebook Posts Paint Sob Story Following Budget Cuts →

The music of the late incarcerated abolitionist will be performed in Florence this Saturday. By Mo Schweiger Lois Ahrens never anticipated that the sheets of music paper that she sent to her friend, incarcerated musician Tiyo Attallah Salah-El, would be transformed into an album. The two struck up a friendship after Salah-El requested a copy … Continue reading Tiyo’s Songs of Life →