Juneteenth: A Day for Action

This morning, Alazar Ayele was our guest on Manifest Mornings. He told stories of his childhood in Ethiopia, his early passion for science, and how he was encouraged by teachers and the community to pursue a career in STEM.

“It was a commitment to the entire community to say that as an African-American man, I’m opening and paving the way for science opportunities for everyone," says Alazar.

Diversity in STEM remains a significant challenge — a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do to ensure equity.

Tomorrow is Juneteenth, a celebration of the practical end to a shameful chapter of our country’s history. It’s worth noting that Juneteenth celebrates an end to slavery, which had on paper been eradicated, but in truth still lived on in many places. 

To honor this day, our staff will be stepping out of the office to attend programming, learn from others, and support in ways that demonstrate action. We encourage others who are able to take time to do the same.

Tomorrow we celebrate practical progress, not just beautiful and powerful words. Tomorrow we celebrate actions that move us towards a place of change and lift our peers into positions of power and grace, transforming our society into one of equity and gorgeous diversity. Below we are sharing the tool we developed to ensure that as we move forward, we too are taking actions that move the needle. 

All Manifest Boston partners, collaborators, and speakers must:

1. Be steadfastly aligned with Manifest Boston’s mission to guide and gather the doers, dreamers, and makers that define who we are a city and what our future will be and in doing so, be from or have a compelling connection to Greater Boston.
2. Uphold our values of community, curiosity, creativity, inclusion, collaboration, and vision and also align with the values of our founding institutions.
3. Have an impactful and cutting edge story to tell in the fields of art, science, or tech — or ideally, at the intersection of all three. Even better if that story is new or timely. Huge plus if that story aligns with our editorial calendar themes.
4. Represent the full and diverse spectrum of Boston’s innovation ecosystem with intentional focus on traditionally underrepresented voices — including BIPOC, LGBTQ, Latinx, women, those living in poverty, those with varying abilities, and many more. All communities will have their stories told equitably across Manifest Boston’s event, content, and social media platforms.