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Opal Lee, 94, reacts to one of the many signs held by those participating in her annual Juneteenth walk on June 19 in Fort Worth, Texas.
RENÉE GRAHAM

If patience is a virtue, Black people must be saints

In America, Black people are always expected to wait — for recognition, for opportunity, and for justice.

Dallas Ducar
Demonstrators gather on the steps to the Texas State Capitol May 20 to speak against transgender-related bills being considered in the Texas Legislature in Austin, Texas.
Transgender rights must be recognized as civil rights
Now is the chance to expand civil rights for LGBTQ+ — and specifically trans — Americans.

MARCELA GARCÍA
Marvin Gilmore, right, co-founder of Western Front, assists a customer on opening day in the Chelsea store.
For a more equitable marijuana industry, the state should bankroll loans
It shouldn’t surprise anybody why equity remains elusive: People of color simply face too many barriers to raise the enormous capital needed to enter the cannabis space.

Joan Vennochi
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins speaks with the media in May outside Dorchester Municipal Court.
Why is Rachael Rollins picking a fight with Marty Walsh?
If you’re sitting in the Oval Office, does her commentary come across as courageous or injudicious?

JESSICA LANDER
We are America
Students nationwide contemplated the pandemic year, with all its stresses, in the We Are America Project.

More Opinion Columns

Sarah Azevedo
Sarah Azevedo

When the streetlights turn on

Why did the fun always have to end when those stupid streetlights turned on?

Lauryn Harris
Lauryn Harris

Peace of mind

COVID-19 caused my depression and fueled my anxiety. After three months in rehab, I was talking and laughing with friends and family. I was doing things I enjoyed. I was living.

Celia Flomo
Celia Flomo

Returning to America

When I came to America at age 12, I didn’t know that being a Black woman means I live in a country where my skin color makes me a criminal.

Larry Fish and Atsuko Fish
Natanael Monroy takes part in a November 2019 protest march by Cosecha Massachusetts. Participants walked from East Boston to Winthrop to build support for the Work and Family Mobility Act.

Legislature should approve driver’s licenses for undocumented residents

When members of the immigrant community are asked about their most pressing need, the answer is always the same: a driver’s license.

JEFF JACOBY
Young men registering for military conscription, New York City, June 5, 1917.

Women don’t register for the draft, and men shouldn’t either

The Selective Service System has outlived its usefulness.

MARCELA GARCÍA
Corey Hawkins (left) and Leslie Grace in "In the Heights."

Why the colorism problem of ‘In the Heights’ matters

It’s hard not to see the erasure of dark-skinned Afro-Latinos from the movie as whitewashing. The exclusion also highlights the blatant colorism among Latinos.

Adam Mansbach

Deprived of the rituals of death, we are left to invent ways to contain our grief

When I lost my brother David, I did not know how to grieve. Not because I lacked experience, but because suicide obliterates the rituals we have built around death.

Renée Loth
Paperbark maple (acer griseum) at the Arnold Arboretum.

Out on a limb — endangered plants and their protectors

Ten percent of the plants in the Arnold Arboretum are now endangered in the wild. The staff is working with other botanical institutions around the world to provide a safe harbor against loss.