Community Voices
As an independent, nonpartisan news outlet dedicated to diverse community voices, The New Bedford Light welcomes guest essays. Opinions expressed in our Community Voices essays are those of the individual writers.
In addition to our longer Community Voices essay series, we welcome short comments related to our news coverage and all aspects of life in New Bedford. Use our online comment form; send your thoughts via email to voices@newbedfordlight.org; or share them on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Discourse: Federal funds can fuel New Bedford’s recovery from COVID-19
The pandemic has caused unprecedented viral sickness and fatalities, while simultaneously laying bare economic and social justice weaknesses that have been hidden in plain sight.
Essay: Help is still available for those facing evictions
Under Massachusetts law, people facing eviction because of nonpayment of rent cannot be evicted while their application for rental assistance is pending.
Southcoast Health CEO pleads for more to get vaccinated
Please ask yourself why you or a loved one may be holding out on getting vaccinated and consult with a medical professional about your concerns. Is it truly worth the risk?
Short Takes: COVID-19, rising sewer rates, and Councilor Dunn’s OUI case
Readers share their thoughts and opinions about recent stories published by The New Bedford Light and posted on social media.
Essay: An open dialogue on police violence in New Bedford
The NAACP New Bedford Branch and Lawyers for Civil Rights are joining together for a ‘know your rights’ forum on interactions with police.
Essay: Texas abortion law an assault on democracy
This Supreme Court, rather than allowing the law to go through the course of legal challenges, chose to uphold the Texas law as it currently stands, shattering a precedent that has been the law of the land for the past 48 years.
Comments: Tackling civic apathy and vaccine resistance
New Bedford Light readers respond to recent stories.
Essay: What’s at stake for SouthCoast workers on this Labor Day
We need smart gentrification, where we build for the future, but without pricing out the people who build that future. We need much more affordable housing in all of SouthCoast, Cape Cod, and the Islands.
Essay: Who will benefit from infrastructure investments?
A louder debate is taking place over whether there are other aspects of the United States condition, essentially human needs, that should also be considered “infrastructure.”
Essay: A father who simply could not be silent
Eric Lindell knew nothing about what it meant to be Black in America, but he did know what it was like to be poor, to live in a broken home, to endure the silence of long unspoken trauma and to know something of what it meant to live in a world of other people’s ideas…
Comments: What do you think of mandatory vaccines and masks?
Members of the community weigh in on mandatory vaccines and face masks.
Will the new public safety center make New Bedford safer?
City officials officially opened the South Public Safety Center, the first new police and fire station to be built in New Bedford in more than 50 years.
Readers comment on COVID-19 cluster at downtown nightclub
New Bedford Light readers offer their thoughts after news of a COVID-19 cluster at The Vault (formerly Greasy Luck) on Purchase Street.
Essay: The journey to equity is hard. Start by looking within.
Diverse leaders provide guidance and bring new networks, skill sets and experiences that help organizations operationally and strategically.
Readers react to more waterfront staging space for offshore wind
Readers react to news that the Cannon power plant will be torn down to create city’s second offshore wind staging site.
New Bedford Light readers answer the $64.7 million question
If you had $64.7 million to spend for the City of New Bedford, what would you do? Readers share their ideas.
New Bedford’s Civil War memorial still has important story to tell
“Erected by the city of New Bedford as a tribute of gratitude to her sons who fell defending their country in the struggle with slavery and treason.”
Essay: 30 years as a funeral director didn’t prepare me for COVID
So please, as we face the next pandemic surge which will inevitably come, keep these people and all those you hold dear in mind.
Graduation speech: Our senior year in quarantine
Class of 2021 president Kennedy Johnson reflects on tumultuous year in New Bedford High School graduation speech.
Essay: Why I quit my job during COVID
“Some days were really good, maybe even great. We laughed and learned in our backyard classroom. … However, just one month in, things started to crack.”
Poem: For Every Lighthouse There is a Watchman
A Lisbon writer who grew up in New Bedford pens a poem, inspired by The Light, called “For Every Lighthouse There is a Watchman.”
Essay: Remembering Kevin, Megan and Hank
Kevin Harrington and Megan Tench died alone and unexpectedly. Hank Seaman spent months of his last year in isolation from his friends and loved ones.
Make your voice heard
If you have a short comment, a first-person essay, a poem or a topical opinion piece, an image, a short video — or some other form of creative expression — you’d like to share, please submit it here or email us at VOICES@newbedfordlight.org. We want to hear from you. Comments must be civil and will be edited for clarity and length.
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