Residents in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood are furious that Mayor Michelle Wu (D) and Gov. Maura Healey (D) have taken away a local recreation center and turned it into another migrant shelter.
Last week, Wu and state officials bussed some 200 illegal border crosser families from Boston’s Logan International Airport to the Melnea Cass recreation center in Roxbury, closing the center down to local residents.
Local officials reportedly warned Wu and Gov. Healey that local residents would “push back” against the confiscation of the rec center.
“The governor is not oblivious that she’s coming to a neighborhood that’s historically disenfranchised in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Boston,” City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson said, according to WBUR. “People are going to push back.”
Indeed, according to the station, community leaders were not happy with the governor’s plan at all.
Mayor Wu called the move to shut down the rec center a “painful decision.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu faces questions from reporters after being a passenger in a car accident the day prior. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Gov. Healey pledged to sink money into the rec center after the facility’s time as a migrant shelter has ended.
Despite the grease, local leaders are not pleased.
“It’s just a broad level of disrespect for our community that we encounter on a regular basis and this issue with the immigrants is just the latest chapter,” said Sadiki Kambon, director of the Black Community Information Center, who was one of the leaders who were involved in the discussions. “I’m sympathetic to the immigrants and their status, but we have a lot of other issues out here that need to be addressed.”
Whatever the leaders decided in their private, unpublicized, backroom meetings, many residents are not placated.
Video of one local resident shows just how upset some folks are.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey held a morning press conference announcing significant action related to the state’s emergency shelter system. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The man was seen outside the rec center where the media had set up their cameras.
“I’ve been here my whole f**king life. I can yell and I’m f**king angry. Why can’t I get in the f**king building? Where’s the mayor at?” he growled. “Y’all don’t give a f**k about the motherf**kers that was born and f**king raised here.”
NEW: Boston man unleashes after his recreation center was turned into a migrant camp thanks to his liberal mayor and governor.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 2, 2024
Instead of bringing the migrants into their own communities, the ‘loving’ liberals dumped them on a struggling black community.
“I've been here my… pic.twitter.com/vbhmXAhEL4
“Y’all gonna bring some other motherf**kers here. That doesn’t f**king add up,” he said. “I’m f**king homeless. I work a full-time job.”
Other residents are also unhappy. Shawn Nelson told WFXT-TV that the neighborhood is already short on resources.
“You give them health care, housing food, welfare, but people living in this neighborhood are scrapping by day to day,” Nelson said.
Police officers were also stationed outside the rec center to keep local residents from gaining access to the facility on Saturday.
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