By Nour Habib, Granite State News Collaborative Engagement Reporter
Good afternoon, everyone!
Here at the Collaborative, we're starting off the year with a project that has been in the works for months. "Invisible Walls" is an investigative series examining how exclusionary zoning practices impact New Hampshire’s communities and reinforce inequities. The first three stories were published this week, and you can read them here.
The project is a collaboration of partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, including Business NH Magazine, NH Business Review, NHPR and Manchester Ink Link. Through data and zoning maps, reporters and editors were able to show how exclusionary zoning laws in Manchester have reinforced areas of persistent poverty, impacting many aspects of community life, including crime, public health, affordable housing, and access to economic opportunity in the city.
Additional stories in the series will be released in the coming months. Below, you can watch editors and reporters speak about the series on an episode of New Hampshire PBS' The State We're In program.
Pictured above: The Amoskeag Company's worker housing in 1895. Much of Manchester’s zoning policy descended from the company's corporate policy of ethnic segregation. Credit: Manchester Historical Association.
We hope you'll read Invisible Walls and share your thoughts with us. Send any feedback to nour.habib@collaborativenh.org.
More from the Collaborative
The pandemic fueled school voucher and voucher-like programs across the country, including in New Hampshire. (Illustration by Allie Baker for the Granite State News Collaborative)
Last month, we also published several more stories in our Education and Equity series, including an in-depth piece on educational disparities throughout the state and a look at the new voucher-like program and research on the effectiveness of similar programs.
And we hope you'll make some time to read reporter Kathie Ragsdale's feature, America Writ Small, about residents of a small New Hampshire town caught in political and cultural divisions working their way back to harmony.
We also have a story on Troy's police chief, who is unsure why his name ended up on the newly released "Laurie List" of law enforcement officials with possible credibility concerns.
And finally, the Collaborative obtained records showing New Hampshire State Police fired the trooper at the center of a controversial 2017 traffic stop after determining he illegally searched the driver’s phone and made multiple false statements during an internal investigation. Read the story here.
Three Questions with JerriAnne Boggis
JerriAnne Boggis is the executive director of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire.
“The Black Heritage Trail works to tell the stories of New Hampshire’s Black history, raise awareness for these stories, in order to build more inclusive communities,” Boggis said.
The organization runs five programs, including Tea Talks, which this year will run every Sunday from Feb. 6 to March 13. Tea Talks are a group of community dialogues on current issues that affect Black communities. This year the focus of the program will be on the divisive concepts law, which Boggis said is having a chilling effect on teaching Black history in schools.
For more information about the group’s programs, visit blackheritagetrailnh.org.
Below, Boggis talks to us about her work and programs, as well as her thoughts on Black History Month. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
1. What is your favorite aspect of your role leading the Black Heritage Trail?
I really enjoy what I do. I think discovering the stories and seeing the depth and breadth of Black history in our state is always a surprise to me. And if I'm surprised, then what about everybody else? So it's the newness of this ancient story that just keeps us going. And doing this work with our dedicated group of volunteers, who are just amazing.
2. One of your programs is the Black New England Conference. Is there a particularly striking piece of information or research that was presented at one of these conferences that you’d like to highlight?
You know, every year I am really surprised at the work and the research that people do. They always bring some new information. I can remember, when we did that conference on the science of race, we were looking at racism in science. And there was one scholar who did some research on the census and census taking. And that, for me, that was mind blowing. She was looking at census taking in Maine, and how deliberate they were about really erasing Black people and their accomplishments, even from the census. So that was mind blowing to me.”
3. What are your thoughts on Black History Month?
I believe that Black history should be considered American history. But if I look at where we are now, especially with the divisive concept laws, it is so crucial for us to have a designated time and place to bring this history to light.
One of the reasons why our Tea Talks go into March is because it’s not just February that we do this work. It should be all the time. So it's just our little way of saying Black history is here beyond February. Personally, I wish we didn't have it, but because we have absolutely no other way that the country would celebrate these stories, so right now it's essential.
Thanks for reading! See you next month. -- Nour
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ABOUT THE GRANITE STATE NEWS COLLABORATIVE
The Granite State News Collaborative is a collective of about 20 local media, education and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on the issues that most impact our state. Together we can provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than we could individually.