Brookline Interactive Group introduced a new show on February 15 on its cable channel 3, “BrooklineHub In-depth” The show is produced and funded by the nonprofit online publication BrooklineHub.com and features impactful interviews on important people, organizations, and subject matters that affect the Brookline Community.

The first episode of “BrooklineHub In-Depth”, is a discussion on race in Brookline (part one) which is hosted by the Brookline Rotary. It featured a panel discussion moderated by BrooklineHub.com publisher, producer, and director R. Harvey Bravman. Episode two will be available beginning on February 22 and features part two of the discussion.

The panel addressed the subject of segregation in Brookline, as it existed after the civil rights laws were passed in the 1960s as reflected in the film “Facing Civil Rights”; as well as issues of race and inequity that exists today in Brookline.

BrooklineHub In-Depth panelists for episode one include:

  • Malcolm Cawthorne, BHS Teacher, Brookline METCO Coordinator
  • Paul Epstein, BHS Social Worker, Founder Brookline Teen Center
  • Bobbie Knable, Dean of Students at Tufts 1980-2000, past and present member of several Brookline Committees, featured in “Brookline, Facing Civil Rights”
  • Rob Daves, Town Meeting Member, BCF Trustee, MLK Day Celebration Committee

There was also a guest appearance by Chobee Hoy of Chobee Hoy Group Compass during the second part of the discussion. Chobee discussed the inequities people of color faced in Brookline when she first started selling and renting real estate over three decades ago that still exist today.

When Bobbie Knable purchased her home in Brookline in 1968, she was not able to see the house until she signed the owner papers for it at the bank. Bobbie’s husband, who was white, had to shop for their home without his wife so that the realtors would not discover that his wife was African-American.

During the discussion, Malcolm Cawthorne mentioned that his parents had to sue several realtors in order to successfully move to Brookline. Cawthorne talked about his experience as a young black man in Brookline and the experiences of his African-American and Latino students today. Cawthorne wrote an editorial “So Whom Shall I Fear”, following the threats levied against Brookline Select Board member Raul Fernandez, after his comments during a Select Board Meeting after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Brookline, Facing Civil Rights” is based on interviews with six Brookline residents who describe their experiences during the civil rights movement and what it was like for African-Americans to move to a segregated Brookline, Massachusetts during the 1960s. Also interviewed, Gov. Michael Dukakis paints an unvarnished picture of Brookline’s racial/religious climate during this turbulent period. “The film first screened as part of Brookline’s 2019 MLK Day Celebration at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. On January 9, 2020, the film sold out at the Coolidge, with all proceeds going to the Brookline Fund Pantry.

Testimony from the film takes aim at, among other things, Brookline’s discriminatory housing practices, which Dukakis investigated at the time. “Brookline, like the country, was racist,” Dukakis said in the film, “People of color had virtually nothing in this town. They didn’t live here; they weren’t welcomed … I mean this town was just shut off to people of color.”

Note: “Facing Civil Rights” is available in exchange for donations to the Brookline Community Foundation Safety Net.

The Brookline Safety Net, funded by the Brookline Community Foundation and run by the Brookline Center for Community Mental Health, provides assistance to Brookline community members in crisis, covering the costs of rent, utilities, food, and other basic needs. The need for this safety net could not be more critical than during the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Also available, International Holocaust Remembrance Day discussion panels, Anti-Semitism Today and Why is Holocaust Remembrance Relevant Now?. “Soul Witness” is available for streaming on soulwitness.org.