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Yawu Miller

@yawumiller.bsky.social
810 followers 466 following 385 posts

Writer and editor

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Reposted by Yawu Miller
The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 13h
A federal voucher program Gov. Maura Healey is considering would divert as much as $26 billion from the tax rolls, with most of it going to private schools, critics of the program say. "We need to realize that opting into these funds is a deal with the devil." - Erik Berg, BTU
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Reposted by Yawu Miller
The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Last year Trump signed an omnibus bill that includes a federal voucher program. While a Massachusetts coalition is urging Gov. Maura Healey to opt into the program, critics warn the state would have no control on how the money is spent.
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The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
But automatic license plate readers are just one of 19 categories of surveillance outlined in BPD's annual surveillance report. I've documented some of the others in the piece below: flipsidenews.net/boston-polic...
flipsidenews.net
Boston police keeping Council in the dark on surveillance tech
For the third year in a row, the Boston Police have acquired and deployed social media surveillance technology without obtaining approval from the Boston City Council in apparent defiance of a 2021 or...
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It's great to see advocates pushing for more recess. Kids don't get enough free play, even though we know it helps them learn and self-regulate. Here's hoping the era of extended school days and endless testing is over.
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
New: Macklemore says Robert Kraft — who owns Gillette Stadium, where Macklemore & Ed Sheeran were to perform later this month — called Sheeran. Kraft rallied other owners together behind an ultimatum for Sheeran: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you won't be allowed in our venues.

I'm not sure how to start this. So I'm going to speak from the heart and share the truth. Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour.
But before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.

The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don't lose sight of that.

Ed is my friend. I've known him for 13 years. We've shared late nights, studio sessions and stages. He has this infectious magic about him that I've grown to love. I consider him a brother. And because of that, we've had some difficult conversations this past week. The type of talks rooted in love and respect for one another that still end in a place of fundamental disagreement. Nothing I'm writing here is out of spite or because I want to tear down his character. But as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can't change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.

Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him. We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other
stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.

Ed was in …What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years. So why is it an issue now? Because now I'm sharing a stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stadiums in America. At a certain level of exposure, "Free Palestine" becomes too much of a risk. If I kept doing the shows, saying Free Palestine, with Ed implicitly supporting it, the crowd getting loud and showing undeniable support for Palestinian liberation, what artist might speak out next? The stage becomes resistance. Maybe that's why this time it became so important to silence me.

And one of the most effective ways to enforce that silence has been to weaponize the accusation of antisemitism. Antisemitism is real. And that is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state. When criticizing Israel, opposing Zionism or saying "Free Palestine" gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn't protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.

I hope this isn't the end of my relationship with Ed.
Thirteen years of friendship doesn't disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation.

When my brother Omar was doing the subtitles for the video I posted from MetLife, I thanked him. He told me there's a phrase in Arabic:
لا شكر على واجب
"La shukra ala wajeb." There is no thanks for a duty.
That stayed with me. Because that's what this has become for me and millions of others around the world. A duty. Not something deserving of praise or gratitude. Not brave. Human.

Who is winning the internet, who is getting canceled, who gets to play the stadium and who doesn't, all of it becomes so small when held against what we are actually witnessing in Gaza and the West Bank. An entire people be…
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The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
🧵Last week I asked Mayor Michelle Wu whether her backing primary challengers in this year's Senate races backfired. Her response: “I’m eager to find ways to advance the agenda on behalf of Boston residents, with whoever is in any role, in any leadership position,” she said.
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Reposted by Yawu Miller
The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 07/09/2026
Taxpayers don’t want to pay for new NFL stadiums. But politicians keep approving billions in subsidies for billionaire team owners.
theconversation.com
Taxpayers don’t want to pay for new NFL stadiums – so why did politicians approve billions in subsidies to fund six new ones?
Research has repeatedly found that stadiums generate little economic benefit, while subsidy referendums often fail when put before voters. Yet team owners continue to receive billions in tax dollars.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Labor Day march in The Back Bay. Labor organizers say union membership is growing as more workers face declining wages and benefits, pressure from private equity & Trump admin. cuts.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Persis Yu is up by 500 votes. Mail in ballots aren’t in and results are unofficial, but looks like she’s actually won.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This helicopter flew over part of Roxbury, dropped a blue powder or liquid in the air, and is now heading back to Suburbia. What the hell was that?
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Reposted by Yawu Miller
CourtWatchMA @courtwatchma.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Some things change, some things stay the same. Even 50 years later. BPD's Former Superintendent Eddy Chrispin in 2026 🤝 BPD Commissioner Robert DiGrazia in 1976 #bospoli #DefundBosCops #mapoli
Former Boston Police Superintendent Eddy Chrispin spent years dealing with people in crisis, first as a social worker, then, for nearly three decades, as a police officer. When he was honored last month at the City Council, he spoke from the perspective of both roles and pointed out what he described as a societal bias toward incarceration.

“We never say there’s not enough money to spend to incarcerate somebody,” he told the gathering of elected officials and community members. “But at the same time, we always lack the means and ability to invest in young people at the early stage of their lives.

“If we’re going to fix this thing that we call crime, that everybody battles with, dysfunction, whatever it is that you want to call it, we have to invest in young people. We have to invest in families, not on the back end when they, unfortunately, hurt somebody, generally, who is somebody from their communities.”Not all police administrators are afraid to speak up on the realities of
crime. Robert DiGrazia (former) Boston Police Commissioner, said at
the Police Foundation’s Executive Forum on upgrading the police:

“There is one other thing few police chiefs are doing-leveling
with the public about crime. Most of us are not telling the
public that there is relatively little the police can do about
crime. We are not letting the public in on our era’s dirty little
secret: that those who commit the crime which worries citizens
most-violent, street crime-are, for the most part, the products
of poverty, unemployment, broken homes, rotten education,
drug addiction and alcoholism, and other social and economic
ills about which the police can do little, if anything.
“Rather than speaking up, most of us stand silent and let
politicians get away with law and order rhetoric that reinforces
the mistaken notion that the police-in ever greater numbers
and with ever more gadgetry-can alone control crimes (the
politicians, of course, end up perpetuating a system by which
the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and crime continues).”
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The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Shootings and murders often spark calls for increased hiring of police. Yet, while the city's rates of violent crime has halved in the last 20 years, police personnel has remained nearly constant. Activists are calling for greater investments in crime prevention, not policing.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Hike along Long Trail in VT with views into the Adirondacks. 1 Great Range with Marcy 2. Camels Hump & Mansfield 3. Whiteface 4. Storm we narrowly missed
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Activists from across the state deliver signatures gathered for the rent control ballot question to legislative leadership, demand action on rent control
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Reposted by Yawu Miller
DotNews @dotnews.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
On the re-election stump himself, US Sen. Ed Markey offers a backyard boost for State Rep. Chris Worrell at Roxbury event via @yawumiller.bsky.social www.dotnews.com/2026/07/21/o...
dotnews.com
On the stump himself, Markey offers a backyard boost for Rep. Worrell - Dorchester Reporter
US Sen. Ed Markey joined a Roxbury event for state Rep. Christopher Worrell’s campaign on Saturday.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
🧵Back in June, progressives and candidates backed by Democratic Socialists of America unseated longstanding Democrat incumbents. Massachusetts will largely miss this wave of progressive victories this year.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
"Too many books"?!? As if there were some such thing. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/s...
nytimes.com
Too Many Books?
Mendel Uminer faced a crisis when his landlord objected to the 10,000 volumes in his New York studio apartment.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Ever since voters in 2024 rejected the use of the MCAS exam as a graduation requirement, state education officials have been puzzling over graduation requirements for Mass. students. The Ed. Commissioner is proposing end-of-year assessments that “meaningfully count toward students’ academic record.”
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
givebutter.com/binj2026summ... When I was editor at the Bay State Banner, like other local newspapers, we relied heavily on @binjdotnews.bsky.social for in-depth coverage on issues most news media was missing. Please consider a donation!
givebutter.com
BINJ SUMMER APPEAL!
Donate to the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism throughout June 2026!
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Reposted by Yawu Miller
The Guardian @theguardian.com · 13/06/2026
It’s a Trumpian World Cup for racism and cynicism – why don’t those who condemned Qatar 2022 say so? | Jeremy Corbyn
theguardian.com
It’s a Trumpian World Cup for racism and cynicism – why don’t those who condemned Qatar 2022 say so? | Jeremy Corbyn
We must highlight the awful stance of the White House towards so many competing nations, but also the hypocrisy of leaders who acquiesce, says MP Jeremy Corbyn
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DotNews @dotnews.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
A meeting held on Thursday evening to discuss parking and transportation issues around Franklin Park's White Stadium was contentious with residents sometimes yelling at city officials about their lease agreement with Boston Legacy FC. via @yawumiller.bsky.social www.dotnews.com/2026/06/12/r...
dotnews.com
Residents push back on White Stadium parking, transportation plans at heated meeting - Dorchester Reporter
A meeting held in Dorchester on Thursday evening to discuss parking and transportation issues around White Stadium was contentious at times with residents yelling at city officials on hand to discuss ...
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Meeting on city’s White Stadium parking and traffic plan had turned into a shouting match and community members express ire over parking restrictions, etc
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Youth activists take over Council chamber. Council pres. Breadon orders chamber cleared. Flynn, Murphy, Mejia, Santana Fitzgerald Culpepper remain.
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Reposted by Yawu Miller
The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Faced with the choice between rejecting Mayor Michelle Wu's operating budget, accepting it or amending it, Boston's City Council yesterday postponed a vote on the budget until next week's Council meeting. This comes as the Council faces pressure from both the mayor and from community groups.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Before AI takes over the world, it will have to learn the difference between English and Haitian Kreyol.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
When the "Man bites dog" headline isn't enough to grab your attention:
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The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Just 5.1% of the $89 million the city has spent so far on its White Stadium project has gone to minority-owned businesses. 1% has gone to Boston-based businesses.
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The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
flipsidenews.ghost.io/ghost/#/post...
flipsidenews.ghost.io
Ghost
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
🧵Had a bizarre text convo with a PR firm Saturday. Midway through the conversation, I realized I was texting with an AI bot that called itself "Presella." 🤖 It identified itself as a "PR consultant with Pathos Communications and tried to sell me on its services.
Image of the home page from the Pathos website
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
ABC, you just reposted "86 47" 🙀. Let's see if they come after you!
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Reps Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Ayanna Pressley visit Horizons for Homeless Children in Roxbury
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
flipsidenews.net/coalition-ai...
flipsidenews.net
Coalition aims to bring private school vouchers to Mass.
A coalition of education reform groups is seeking to bring a federal tax credit voucher program to Massachusetts.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
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DotNews @dotnews.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Despite some modest gains, Blacks and Latinos in Massachusetts are trailing whites in homeownership, business ownership, and wealth accumulation, state officials said during a State House hearing held last week, via @yawumiller.bsky.social www.dotnews.com/2026/04/08/s...
dotnews.com
State House hearing focuses on gaps in racial wealth, home, business ownership - Dorchester Reporter
Despite some modest gains, Blacks and Latinos in Massachusetts are trailing whites in homeownership, business ownership, and wealth accumulation, state officials said during a State House hearing held last week.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
www.dotnews.com/2026/04/07/r...
dotnews.com
Rent-control advocates tell lawmakers: ‘We voted for you; now, it’s your turn’ - Dorchester Reporter
Housing activists from across Massachusetts gathered in front of the State House on Tuesday, calling on lawmakers to pass rent control legislation.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Wrong hill
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The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
State law prohibits demonstrations in front entrances to court houses or engaging in any form of activity aimed at intimidating judges and court officers or influencing court proceedings. March 19, dozens of armed, uniformed officers may have done just that. flipsidenews.net/were-they-of...
flipsidenews.net
Were they off-duty or on the public's dime? Cops who turned out for arraignment violated BPD policy or state law
Scores of uniformed Boston Police officers turned out inside and outside Roxbury District Court March 19 in a show of support for patrolman Nicholas O’Malley, who is charged with manslaughter.
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Bill Forry @billforry.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Don't miss @yawumiller.bsky.social 's latest story in @dotnews.bsky.social #Boston
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The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
🧵Last week, the gloves came off. Friday, @leungboston.bsky.social dropped a piece about Wu settling scores with her perceived enemies: "March madness, Boston style is well underway: Who’s next to find themselves on Michelle Wu’s political grudge list?"
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The Flipside @flipsidenews.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
A Boston Cop has been indicted for manslaughter for the first time in more than 30 years. How did we get here? The '02 police shooting of Eveline Barros-Cepeda was a pivotal moment.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
flipsidenews.net/activists-ca...
flipsidenews.net
Activists call for boycott of firms supporting Israel's war machine
The picket line in front of Capital One was part of an ongoing weekly action organized by BDS Boston, a local chapter of a global movement aimed at boycotting, pressuring institutions to divest from a...
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Aleianjack @aleianjack.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
WATCH: How Trump is Turning DC into Pyongyang zeteo.com/p/donald-tru...
zeteo.com
WATCH: How Trump is Turning DC into Pyongyang
While dropping bombs overseas, threatening allies and foes alike, Trump is mimicking dictators and turning the US capital into his shrine, his own version of North Korea.
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Bill Forry @billforry.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
“When pandemic-related enrollment drops threatened school budgets, the state stepped up to full in the gap. The Legislature has the opportunity and the obligation, frankly, to do the same now.” - Framingham parent Meenakshi Agarwal via @yawumiller.bsky.social
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Sen. Lydia Edwards and other members of the Mass Black and Latino Leg. Caucus testifies in support of the PROTECT Act, which bars local police from civil immigration enforcement and institutes other immigrant protections.
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Boston applied for a $12 million Trump admin. Urban Areas Security Initiative grant. In addition to requiring 10% of the funding go to collaboration with ICE, it also requires that 3% of the funding go toward "election security." Who do you think gets to define what that means?
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Anti-war demonstrators on Winter Street in downtown Boston
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The Fort Pointer @fortpointer.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
@yawumiller.bsky.social: Coalition calls for shift in city's budgeting priorities… flipsidenews.net/coalition-ca...
flipsidenews.net
Coalition calls for shift in city's budgeting priorities
Housing, immigrant support and food access are among the top areas where Boston residents would like to see increased city investment, according to a survey conducted last year by the Better Budget Al...
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Yawu Miller @yawumiller.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Elephant ear blossom! This plant has had good sun all year round
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