WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.660 If you look at a map of a city, really study 00:00:03.660 --> 00:00:06.320 it. You know, you see the hard lines first. Right. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:08.580 The physical stuff. Exactly. The highways, the 00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:11.339 transit systems, the property divisions. And 00:00:11.339 --> 00:00:13.359 we tend to think that's what makes a city function. 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:16.359 It's the hardware. But if you actually live in 00:00:16.359 --> 00:00:18.219 a neighborhood, especially one that's been through 00:00:18.219 --> 00:00:21.140 the ringer, you know, the hardware isn't what 00:00:21.140 --> 00:00:23.260 keeps the place from falling apart. No, it's 00:00:23.260 --> 00:00:25.460 not. It's the operating system. It's the invisible 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:28.519 network of... who knows who, who picks up the 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:31.660 phone when there's a crisis and who actually 00:00:31.660 --> 00:00:33.859 unlocks the doors in the morning. And usually 00:00:33.859 --> 00:00:35.920 that operating system isn't run by City Hall. 00:00:36.020 --> 00:00:39.899 It's run by very specific, very persistent people 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:42.960 who just decide that the status quo isn't good 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:46.039 enough. So today we are doing a deep dive into 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:48.500 one of the master architects of that social software 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:50.520 in Boston. We're talking about Frida Garcia. 00:00:50.990 --> 00:00:53.149 A name that, frankly, depending on where you 00:00:53.149 --> 00:00:55.090 park your car on the South End, you might see 00:00:55.090 --> 00:00:56.850 every day without realizing the weight behind 00:00:56.850 --> 00:00:59.229 it. Yeah, exactly. I was going through the source 00:00:59.229 --> 00:01:01.090 material for this, the biographical records, 00:01:01.289 --> 00:01:03.590 the civic histories of Roxbury and the South 00:01:03.590 --> 00:01:06.590 End, plus a ton of articles detailing her work. 00:01:07.579 --> 00:01:10.239 What struck me wasn't just the list of jobs she 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:13.500 held. It was the sheer strategic pivots she made. 00:01:13.640 --> 00:01:15.140 Oh, absolutely. I mean, she's working mental 00:01:15.140 --> 00:01:17.219 health. Then she's pivoting to digital literacy 00:01:17.219 --> 00:01:18.920 in the early 80s. Then she's building public 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:21.599 monuments. It looks scattered on paper, doesn't 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:23.560 it? But the mission for this deep dive is to 00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:25.760 show you that it wasn't scattered at all. It 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.959 was a highly cohesive strategy. Right. Garcia 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:31.700 really helps us answer a very specific question. 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:35.319 How does an outsider, an immigrant woman in a 00:01:35.319 --> 00:01:38.200 city defined by its insular neighborhoods, manage 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:40.420 to rewrite the rules of community organizing? 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:43.140 And to understand that, we really have to look 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:46.260 at the landscape she stepped into. Frida Garcia 00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:49.019 wasn't a Boston native. She was born in the Dominican 00:01:49.019 --> 00:01:51.659 Republic, moved to New York at age eight, and 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:55.379 didn't actually land in Boston until 1965. Which 00:01:55.379 --> 00:01:57.879 is key. Yeah, she was in her early 30s by then. 00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:02.079 And 1965, Boston is a very specific, very charged 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:04.760 environment. You have the civil rights movement 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:08.219 cresting nationally, but locally, Boston is incredibly 00:02:08.219 --> 00:02:11.020 segregated. Neighborhood lines are just drawn 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:13.800 in stone. If you were an outsider, you stayed 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:15.699 an outsider unless you had a very good reason 00:02:15.699 --> 00:02:17.340 to be there. Well, she found her reason pretty 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:20.979 quickly. She started working at the Roxbury Multiservice 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:23.280 Center. Now, for anyone listening who isn't familiar 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:26.240 with Boston's power dynamics in the 60s, this 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:28.250 wasn't just like... a community center. This 00:02:28.250 --> 00:02:30.789 was the hub. It was the engine room. And crucially, 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:33.669 this is where she began working under Hubie Jones. 00:02:34.030 --> 00:02:36.449 And Jones is basically the dean of Boston activism. 00:02:36.750 --> 00:02:38.590 He really is. If you wanted to move the needle 00:02:38.590 --> 00:02:41.610 on social policy in Roxbury, you went through 00:02:41.610 --> 00:02:44.189 Hubie. Working for him was essentially a masterclass 00:02:44.189 --> 00:02:46.349 in how to navigate the city's power structures. 00:02:46.629 --> 00:02:48.770 And he clearly saw something in her. He did. 00:02:48.849 --> 00:02:51.449 He didn't just use Garcia as a staffer. He mentored 00:02:51.449 --> 00:02:54.610 her. He saw that she had the capacity to not 00:02:54.610 --> 00:02:56.530 just provide services, but to actually lead. 00:02:56.590 --> 00:02:59.930 organizations. And that mentorship pays off incredibly 00:02:59.930 --> 00:03:04.930 fast because by 1969, Jones encourages her to 00:03:04.930 --> 00:03:07.810 co -found La Alianza Hispana. Right. And she 00:03:07.810 --> 00:03:10.500 becomes the very first director. This is where 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:11.960 I want to pause for a second, because on the 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:14.340 surface, founding an organization sounds like 00:03:14.340 --> 00:03:18.139 standard resume filler. But in 1969, Boston, 00:03:18.379 --> 00:03:21.560 this was a radical move. It was survival. You 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:23.479 really have to remember the demographics of the 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:26.400 time. Boston was so often viewed through a strictly 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:28.860 black and white lens. But there was a growing 00:03:28.860 --> 00:03:31.319 population of Spanish speaking residents who 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:34.199 were effectively invisible to the city bureaucracy. 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:36.560 Just totally locked out. Exactly. If you couldn't 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:38.599 speak English, you couldn't access housing court. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:40.879 You couldn't. navigate the hospital system, you 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:44.629 couldn't fight a landlord. wasn't just a club 00:03:44.629 --> 00:03:47.110 or a meeting place. It was a translation layer 00:03:47.110 --> 00:03:50.449 for civic rights. Precisely. Garcia recognized 00:03:50.449 --> 00:03:53.110 that without an institution specifically designed 00:03:53.110 --> 00:03:56.169 for the Spanish -speaking community, those residents 00:03:56.169 --> 00:03:58.409 weren't citizens in practice. They were just 00:03:58.409 --> 00:04:01.430 inhabitants. She wasn't just offering help. She 00:04:01.430 --> 00:04:03.449 was building the infrastructure for that community 00:04:03.449 --> 00:04:06.909 to advocate for itself. She validated their presence 00:04:06.909 --> 00:04:09.610 in the city. And that concept of infrastructure... 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:12.180 That's really the thread here. Yeah. Because 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:14.699 her next move is a hard pivot, but it follows 00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:18.060 the exact same logic. We jump to the late 1970s. 00:04:18.060 --> 00:04:20.399 She becomes the director of consultation and 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.199 education at the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.279 Health Center. Which is a major shift from general 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:29.639 social services to clinical innovation. And innovation 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:31.639 is the right word here because the records show 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:34.699 she founded the center's first anti -rape program. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:37.759 Which you have to think, in 1978, was not a comfortable 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:40.240 conversation to be having. Not at all. Rape crisis 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:42.399 centers were just starting to emerge nationally, 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:44.800 but embedding one within a mental health institution 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.819 formalized it. It acknowledged sexual violence 00:04:47.819 --> 00:04:50.639 as a public health crisis, not just a private 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.399 tragedy. That's a huge distinction. It is. But 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:55.480 the real test of her leadership in this era came 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:57.620 with the busing crisis. All right, we need to 00:04:57.620 --> 00:05:00.160 spend a moment here. Because the busing crisis 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:02.240 is a term that gets thrown around a lot in history 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:06.139 books. But the reality on the ground was terrifying. 00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:09.060 The sources outlined that the city was under 00:05:09.060 --> 00:05:11.800 a court order to desegregate schools. You had 00:05:11.800 --> 00:05:14.779 riots. You had police escorts for school buses. 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:18.459 It was incredibly volatile. Yeah. Detail rocks 00:05:18.459 --> 00:05:20.399 being thrown through windows while elementary 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:22.920 school kids were inside the buses. It was essentially 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:25.819 a war zone in certain neighborhoods. And the 00:05:25.819 --> 00:05:28.639 psychological toll on those children was immense. 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:32.139 You're talking about acute trauma, kids terrified 00:05:32.139 --> 00:05:35.180 to go to school, absorbing the racial hatred 00:05:35.180 --> 00:05:38.199 of adults every single morning. And this is where 00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:40.300 Garcia's definition of the mental health gets 00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:42.860 really interesting. Because she didn't just sit 00:05:42.860 --> 00:05:44.600 back and wait for the kids to come to the clinic. 00:05:44.740 --> 00:05:47.000 No, she went to the front lines. She deployed 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.300 psychologists directly into the schools to help 00:05:49.300 --> 00:05:51.399 students dealing with the fallout. Deployed? 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:54.120 Yeah, that word matters. It was almost a tactical 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:56.500 response. She understood that you can't treat 00:05:56.500 --> 00:05:58.800 trauma in a sterile office when the trauma is 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:00.240 happening right there in the classroom and on 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.720 the sidewalk. It's proactive versus reactive. 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:05.639 I mean, most institutions wait for the patient 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:08.560 to break down and walk in the door. Garcia seemed 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:11.100 to realize that by then... It's too late. You 00:06:11.100 --> 00:06:12.579 have to be in the school building while the glass 00:06:12.579 --> 00:06:15.360 is breaking. Exactly. It highlights her ability 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:17.600 to read the moment perfectly. She saw that the 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:20.519 political battle over busing was creating a massive 00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:23.019 mental health casualty list, and she moved her 00:06:23.019 --> 00:06:25.379 resources to stop the bleeding. It's a really 00:06:25.379 --> 00:06:27.939 rare combination of clinical understanding and 00:06:27.939 --> 00:06:30.100 street -level agility. And that agility shows 00:06:30.100 --> 00:06:32.879 up again in 1981. She leaves the mental health 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:35.120 center and takes over as executive director of 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:38.699 the United South End Settlements, or USES. And 00:06:38.699 --> 00:06:41.319 she holds this job for 20 years. This is the 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:44.019 role that really defines her legacy. USCIS is 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:45.920 a historic organization. It's been around since 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:48.959 the late 1800s. But when Garcia takes over in 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:51.319 81, the neighborhood is changing rapidly and 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:53.399 the needs are shifting. Right. The basic needs 00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:55.399 were still there, obviously. The sources list 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:57.980 her work in affordable housing support, literacy, 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:01.199 advocacy, job training. But I was looking at 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:04.480 the program list from her tenure and one thing 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:06.699 jumps out that seems completely out of place 00:07:06.699 --> 00:07:09.420 for a settlement house in 1981. Oh, the computer 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:12.160 center. Yes. She starts the first open access 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:14.220 computer center in the city of Boston. This is 00:07:14.220 --> 00:07:16.839 one of those details that is so easy to gloss 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:18.939 over today because we all have supercomputers 00:07:18.939 --> 00:07:23.040 in our pockets. But in 1981. A computer was a 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:26.160 luxury item. A total luxury. It was for scientists, 00:07:26.500 --> 00:07:29.160 corporate accountants or wealthy hobbyists. It 00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:32.019 was not seen as a tool for the poor. Just imagine 00:07:32.019 --> 00:07:33.759 those board meetings. Yeah. You have limited 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:36.759 funds. People need heating oil. They need daycare. 00:07:36.899 --> 00:07:40.000 And Garcia is pitching. Apple tease. It must 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.360 have been an incredibly hard sell. But this is 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:44.620 where that architect label really fits her. She 00:07:44.620 --> 00:07:47.000 anticipated the digital divide a full decade 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:49.160 before it became a common talking point. Yeah. 00:07:49.259 --> 00:07:51.800 She understood that literacy was redefining itself. 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:53.920 If you couldn't operate a computer, you were 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:55.819 going to be locked out of the new economy just 00:07:55.819 --> 00:07:57.540 as effectively as if you couldn't read English. 00:07:57.819 --> 00:08:00.540 It goes right back to that idea of access she 00:08:00.540 --> 00:08:04.339 fought for at La Alianza. In 69, access meant 00:08:04.339 --> 00:08:07.779 language. In 81, access meant data processing. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:10.199 She wasn't just feeding people. She was trying 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:13.019 to future -proof them. By creating an open access 00:08:13.019 --> 00:08:15.319 center, she was democratizing the most powerful 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.800 tool of the late 20th century. She was essentially 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:20.379 saying, the future belongs to the South End, 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:23.060 too. But she wasn't afraid to fight for the present 00:08:23.060 --> 00:08:25.500 either. Because the civic history records show 00:08:25.500 --> 00:08:28.839 that in that same year, 1981, she co -chaired 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:31.439 a march by the South End Ad Hoc Committee against 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.460 crime. They were protesting cuts in police protection. 00:08:34.990 --> 00:08:37.289 Which creates such a fascinating picture of her. 00:08:37.470 --> 00:08:39.590 Doesn't it? On one hand, she's the tech visionary 00:08:39.590 --> 00:08:42.210 buying computers. On the other, she's on the 00:08:42.210 --> 00:08:44.889 street with a megaphone demanding safety. It 00:08:44.889 --> 00:08:47.070 shows she wasn't an armchair administrator. She 00:08:47.070 --> 00:08:48.769 understood that if the neighborhood wasn't safe, 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:51.409 none of the other programs mattered. She was 00:08:51.409 --> 00:08:53.429 willing to fight City Hall directly when they 00:08:53.429 --> 00:08:55.590 tried to divest from her community. So we have 00:08:55.590 --> 00:08:58.750 the advocate, the clinician, the tech strategist. 00:08:59.090 --> 00:09:02.029 But in the mid -90s, the work shifts again. She 00:09:02.029 --> 00:09:04.149 starts looking at the physical environment itself. 00:09:04.779 --> 00:09:07.500 Not just the services, but the actual symbols 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:10.179 of the city. This is her transition to public 00:09:10.179 --> 00:09:13.720 art as a form of justice. In 1996, Garcia realizes 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:16.519 something shocking. There were absolutely no 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:19.039 statues dedicated to women on public property 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:21.740 in Boston. Which is wild in a city that is totally 00:09:21.740 --> 00:09:24.100 obsessed with its own history. I mean, you can't 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:26.600 walk 10 feet without tripping over a bronze statue 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:29.600 of a man in a tricorn hat. Exactly. The landscape 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:31.820 was telling a very specific, very male story. 00:09:32.490 --> 00:09:34.429 And Garcia decided that the story was incomplete. 00:09:34.929 --> 00:09:38.269 So she starts a committee to advocate for a Harriet 00:09:38.269 --> 00:09:41.029 Tubman statue. Now, everyone knows Harriet Tubman. 00:09:41.330 --> 00:09:43.610 But I think for a lot of people outside the region, 00:09:43.730 --> 00:09:46.149 the connection to Boston might seem a bit tenuous. 00:09:46.149 --> 00:09:49.190 You might wonder why Tubman and why specifically 00:09:49.190 --> 00:09:52.149 the South End. It's actually a very deep connection. 00:09:52.409 --> 00:09:55.350 Boston was a hotbed of abolitionism, and Tubman 00:09:55.350 --> 00:09:57.230 had a strong network of supporters here. She 00:09:57.230 --> 00:09:59.649 spent time in the South End. So Garcia wasn't 00:09:59.649 --> 00:10:02.169 just picking a famous name out of a hat. She 00:10:02.169 --> 00:10:04.269 was highlighting a local history that had been 00:10:04.269 --> 00:10:07.409 physically erased from the landscape. She wanted 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:10.409 to anchor that global legacy to a specific street 00:10:10.409 --> 00:10:12.889 corner in her neighborhood. The process wasn't 00:10:12.889 --> 00:10:15.409 overnight, though. The sources say it took two 00:10:15.409 --> 00:10:18.220 years to secure the funding. The memorial was 00:10:18.220 --> 00:10:21.659 finally dedicated in 1998 in Harriet Tubman Park. 00:10:22.100 --> 00:10:24.360 But what I love about this, and what the articles 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:26.720 really highlight, is that Garcia didn't just 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:28.789 cut the ribbon and leave. That's the ongoing 00:10:28.789 --> 00:10:31.129 stewardship aspect. We so often focus on the 00:10:31.129 --> 00:10:33.950 launch of a project. But Garcia served as chair 00:10:33.950 --> 00:10:36.149 of the Friends of Harriet Tubman Park for years 00:10:36.149 --> 00:10:40.110 afterward. In 2017, nearly 20 years after the 00:10:40.110 --> 00:10:42.330 statue went up, she was raising funds for new 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:44.750 plants and a solar -powered irrigation system. 00:10:44.830 --> 00:10:47.549 A solar -powered irrigation system. Even in her 00:10:47.549 --> 00:10:49.690 later years, she's still sneaking technology 00:10:49.690 --> 00:10:52.240 into the project. She never stopped modernizing. 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:55.000 But that detail really matters. It means she 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.299 cared about the plant staying alive. She cared 00:10:57.299 --> 00:10:59.360 about the sustainability of the space. It wasn't 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.879 just about the bronze statue. It was about creating 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:05.059 a living, breathing green space that the community 00:11:05.059 --> 00:11:08.039 could actually enjoy. And that space has resonated 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:12.440 way beyond Boston. In 2021, the Canadian consulate 00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:14.759 actually came to the park to lay a wreath. Right. 00:11:14.820 --> 00:11:17.259 They were honoring Tubman's work, bringing enslaved 00:11:17.259 --> 00:11:20.299 people to Canada, specifically St. Catharines, 00:11:20.340 --> 00:11:23.059 Ontario. Wow. So because Garcia fought for the 00:11:23.059 --> 00:11:26.059 statue locally, Boston became a designated site 00:11:26.059 --> 00:11:28.539 for that international dialogue. She put the 00:11:28.539 --> 00:11:31.059 South End on the map of global human rights history. 00:11:31.259 --> 00:11:34.080 It's amazing how much one person can alter the 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:36.620 geography of a city. And eventually, the city 00:11:36.620 --> 00:11:39.139 had to acknowledge that. The list of honors she 00:11:39.139 --> 00:11:41.259 received is extensive, but I want to focus on 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:42.779 the ones that actually changed the landscape. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:44.799 The flowers are nice. You know, the honorary 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:46.720 degrees from Wheelock College and Salem State 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.159 University and the Harriet Tubman Community Achievement 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:53.279 Award she got in 2012. Those reinforce her status. 00:11:53.559 --> 00:11:55.960 But the physical landmarks are the real testament. 00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:58.360 Yeah, the city literally became a monument to 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:01.600 her. In 2013, they named a park after her, the 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:04.370 Frida Garcia Children's Park. Which is incredibly 00:12:04.370 --> 00:12:06.970 rare. Usually you have to be dead for 50 years 00:12:06.970 --> 00:12:09.529 or be a major politician to get a park named 00:12:09.529 --> 00:12:12.789 after you. For a community organizer to see their 00:12:12.789 --> 00:12:15.610 name on a park while they are still active, that 00:12:15.610 --> 00:12:18.009 shows a level of respect that completely transcends 00:12:18.009 --> 00:12:20.590 politics. There's also the mural at Rosie's Place 00:12:20.590 --> 00:12:23.889 from 2014 and a portrait at the South End House. 00:12:24.190 --> 00:12:26.450 She's become part of the visual iconography. 00:12:26.889 --> 00:12:28.590 of the neighborhood she served. And we have to 00:12:28.590 --> 00:12:30.190 mention the most recent one because it really 00:12:30.190 --> 00:12:33.669 cements her place in history. The 1965 Freedom 00:12:33.669 --> 00:12:37.110 Plaza. Right. This is the plaza beneath the embrace. 00:12:37.409 --> 00:12:40.509 That massive sculpture on Boston Common dedicated 00:12:40.509 --> 00:12:43.210 to Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. 00:12:43.389 --> 00:12:46.590 It was unveiled recently in January 2023. The 00:12:46.590 --> 00:12:49.610 plaza honors 69 civil rights and social justice 00:12:49.610 --> 00:12:52.149 leaders who defined Boston. And Frida Garcia 00:12:52.149 --> 00:12:54.570 is one of them. That is incredible. Just think 00:12:54.570 --> 00:12:57.230 about that trajectory. She arrives as an immigrant, 00:12:57.450 --> 00:12:59.730 works in the trenches of Roxbury and the South 00:12:59.730 --> 00:13:02.389 End for decades, and ends up memorialized on 00:13:02.389 --> 00:13:04.929 the Boston Common, the oldest public park in 00:13:04.929 --> 00:13:08.009 America, right alongside the absolute icons of 00:13:08.009 --> 00:13:10.610 the civil rights movement. It completely validates 00:13:10.610 --> 00:13:13.710 the idea that her work, what some might call 00:13:13.710 --> 00:13:16.350 the soft work of social services, was actually 00:13:16.350 --> 00:13:18.789 the bedrock of the city's civil rights struggle. 00:13:19.129 --> 00:13:22.070 That's the key synthesis here. We often separate 00:13:22.070 --> 00:13:24.090 these things in our heads. We think of civil 00:13:24.090 --> 00:13:27.070 rights as marches and speeches. We think of social 00:13:27.070 --> 00:13:29.889 work as paperwork in clinics. Frida Garcia's 00:13:29.889 --> 00:13:31.830 career demonstrates that they are the exact same 00:13:31.830 --> 00:13:35.090 thing. Setting up a computer lab is a civil rights 00:13:35.090 --> 00:13:38.019 act. Providing mental health support during a 00:13:38.019 --> 00:13:41.279 desegregation crisis is a civil rights act. Ensuring 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:43.360 a black woman is represented in public bronze 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:46.779 is a civil rights act. Community organizing isn't 00:13:46.779 --> 00:13:49.360 a single lane. She was a holistic builder. She 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:52.220 didn't just patch holes. She built entirely new 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:54.740 floors. And she did it by bridging worlds. She 00:13:54.740 --> 00:13:56.860 stood between the Spanish -speaking and English 00:13:56.860 --> 00:13:59.179 -speaking communities. She stood between the 00:13:59.179 --> 00:14:01.139 mental health clinicians and the school system. 00:14:01.340 --> 00:14:03.879 She stood between the tech world and the settlement 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:06.139 house. She was always the connector. So as we 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:08.440 wrap this deep dive up, I want to go back to 00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:11.980 that moment in 1996. Frida Garcia looks around 00:14:11.980 --> 00:14:15.019 a city she's loved and served for 30 years, and 00:14:15.019 --> 00:14:17.659 she notices a silence. She notices that women 00:14:17.659 --> 00:14:20.059 are missing from the landscape, and she decides 00:14:20.059 --> 00:14:22.240 to fill that silence with bronze and granite. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:25.159 It's a powerful reminder that our public spaces 00:14:25.159 --> 00:14:28.340 aren't accidental. They are curated. And if they 00:14:28.340 --> 00:14:30.440 are exclusionary, it's just because we haven't 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:32.440 done the work to change them yet. And that's 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:34.059 the provocative thought I want to leave you with 00:14:34.059 --> 00:14:37.029 today. Garcia proves that the software of a city, 00:14:37.129 --> 00:14:40.470 the culture, the care, the memory is just as 00:14:40.470 --> 00:14:43.049 hard to build as a skyscraper. And frankly, it's 00:14:43.049 --> 00:14:45.070 more important. So look at your own community. 00:14:45.210 --> 00:14:47.889 What is the gap? Who is being erased from your 00:14:47.889 --> 00:14:50.330 public spaces? And do you have the stamina to 00:14:50.330 --> 00:14:52.470 not just complain about it, but to actually build 00:14:52.470 --> 00:14:54.610 the institution that fixes it? Because as Frida 00:14:54.610 --> 00:14:56.909 showed us, if you build it and if you tend to 00:14:56.909 --> 00:14:59.529 it, it lasts. Thanks for joining us for this 00:14:59.529 --> 00:15:02.029 deep dive. Stay curious and we'll catch you next 00:15:02.029 --> 00:15:02.250 time.