You can’t bring hell to Boston.

It’s been here waiting for tyrants and aspiring despots since 1770. Boston was the town that lit the spark of revolution, and while much has changed since then, the pursuit of liberty and justice and a refusal of any external infringement to our freedoms have remained eternal in our city.

As our mayor testifies before congress on the anniversary of the Boston Massacre, we thought it time to remind those who may have forgotten: Boston is a city that doesn’t back down. From the Boston Tea Party, to abolition, to women’s suffrage, and gay marriage, Boston has never backed down from a fight for freedom.

Remember the nineteenth century when Bostonians took to Faneuil Hall, the cradle of liberty, to protest, plan, and resist the Fugitive Slave Act. Boston’s abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, wrote “nothing so well becomes Faneuil Hall as the most determined resistance to a bloody and overshadowing despotism.” And they reminded us that “Massachusetts is solemnly bound to give protection to all who flee to her for safety.”

Our residents have long stood against injustice and taken action to right it. Sam Adams once wrote, “if ever a time should come when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” That time is now. Those most experienced patriots are Bostonians. To all who call Boston home: you belong here. To all who question our “eternal enmity to tyranny,” read a history book.

-Silence Dogood

March 5, 2025