When I went to CRLS, “diversity” was more than a buzzword. It was a source of pride that united the school. Flags from around the world hung from the cafeteria ceiling like championship banners. I had friends whose families just immigrated and friends whose local roots spanned generations.
These days, I feel that Cambridge slipping away, as it gets harder and harder to afford to hang on. And in the reelection campaign of state representative Marjorie Decker, I see a vision of a city I don’t recognize.
Decker’s campaign slogan is “Our Voice. Our Values.” Of course, any “us” implies a “them.”
Unlike Decker or me – but like most Cambridge residents – Evan MacKay was not born here. It was only after moving here for college, however, that they felt comfortable coming out as queer and nonbinary and were able to truly be themselves.
I thought that was the kind of story we celebrated. Cambridge is a sanctuary city not only for undocumented people, but increasingly in Trump’s America for anyone seeking the freedom to live openly. We should be proud of that.
Decker seems to disagree. She’s chosen to wage a campaign of “othering” her opponent: insinuating that they’re hiding personal facts they’ve shared freely, twisting their educational accomplishments into liabilities and insisting, without evidence, that they are generally suspect and not to be trusted. (In fact, it is Decker who has spread untruths about MacKay.)
I recognize what she’s doing because it’s aimed at the resentments of lifelong residents such as me. Nearly all of my childhood friends have had to move out. It’s easy to feel a certain way about the people moving in.
But I’ve come to see such resentments as misdirected. Gentrification is a systemic problem, perpetuated by those who shape the rules of society on behalf of the wealthy.
Decker is an accomplice to that. While she deserves credit for helping our community with earmarks and incremental improvements to legislation, she’s voted consistently in lockstep with State House leadership as it’s blockaded meaningful reform.
By casting her opponent, and community members who support them, as suspicious outsiders, Decker is trying to distract us from her failures. The truth is that over Decker’s tenure, it’s gotten far harder to get by in Cambridge. Rather than try to defend that record, she has opted instead to divide our community and play on prejudice.
It’s been heartbreaking to watch my city lose so much: families displaced, storefronts shuttered, legacies broken. But I believe we can still save what we love about Cambridge. It will take solidarity across difference, and willingness to call out and fight the status quo that brought us here.
At the first debate in this race, Decker said “how we campaign is how we govern.” I agree. That is why I urge my neighbors to join me in supporting Evan MacKay and roundly reject the small and divisive politics of their opponent.
Jesse Baer
Poplar Road, Cambridge
