Owens Sees Busy Term in New Senate Seat

Black Massachusetts State Senator-elect Bill Owens yesterday criticized both of the state's major political parties for historically taking Boston's black community for granted.

"I certainly hope that the new administration under the auspices of Governor-elect Dukakis will be more sensitive to the black community than the Democrats historically have been," Owens, the state senate's first and only black member, said.

Owens is currently a State Representative representing the Roxbury area of Boston. He fielded questions from black and white members of the Boston-area news media during the afternoon taping of the WGBH-TV show, "Say Brother."

Owens commented on the dubious distinction of his new position, saying he didn't feel that his being the lone minority member of the senate will have any diminishing effect on his power.

Rather, he said, he sees his new position "as being an important factor in educating the black community with what's going on in the senate."

Although he declined to elaborate, Owens said he had some definite, legislation to propose during his upcoming term in public office. He said his primary piece of legislation would be an economic package for the second Suffolk Senatorial District, which he represents.

The district is newly-created and will become an effective senatorial district this year. It covers an area including Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan.

Providing Jobs

"We well know that we have the largest rate of unemployment right there in that district, about 20 per cent or better," he explained. "We've got to develop mechanisms in that district to provide jobs."

He said other legislation would be in the area of banking, making it "illegal to discriminate against certain people in certain areas" and in the field, seeking to improve its current condition.

On the subject of prison reform, Owens cited the lack of rehabilitation programs as the major problem in the Massachusetts prison system. He said the "people who are guards in prisons could be better used as counselors." He also suggested that education systems be built around prisons to attract more government funding.

On the subject of education, he called the all-white Boston School Committee a typical example of institutional racism. A predominantly white, Irish body, "members of the Boston School Board are prone to a parochial way of thinking," and the people they hire reflect this, he said. "Therefore one comes to the conclusion that the exclusion of other people in the school system, constitutes an institutionally racist body."