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Time Magazine
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
The 12 Best Movies of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival
Of the roughly 35 films I saw across 10 days, here are the standouts of Cannes 2025. In terms of the competition films, at least, this has been one of the most enjoyable, well-built slates I've seen in the 15 years or so that I've been attending the festival. There's always something you're going to miss; one of the tragedies of being human is that we can't be in two places at once. But then, one of the delights of being human is sitting down, turning off your phone, and for once not multitasking, instead giving yourself fully to the vision before you on the screen. Some of the films and performances mentioned here will surely shape the conversation come Oscar time. And though it may be a while before some of the less-flashy films on this list become viewable, in some form, in the United States, seeking them out will widen your world, as it has mine. Nouvelle Vague Richard Linklater's agile, witty, elegant picture about the making of a movie that possibly only film lovers and bona fide old people care about— Jean-Luc Godard's cannon-shot of a debut, 1959's Breathless —may end up being appreciated by only about 2.6 percent of the general population. Who would make a picture like that? Only someone who cares. Nouvelle Vague, part of the Cannes competition slate, is the ultimate inside-baseball making-of movie. But even more than that, it's a picture that stands strong on the side of art, of history, of working to solve the puzzle of things that maybe at first you don't fully understand. It's both a shout of joy and a call to arms. It's all about the bold, muscular act of caring. [ Read the full review. ] The History of Sound Oliver Hermanus' romantic melodrama divided critics here at Cannes, not because it was daring or controversial but because, it seemed, the filmmaking was viewed as too restrained and conventional, maybe even snoozy. That's what I love about it: there's a quiet lushness to this story of a romance between two music scholars, played by Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor, one a Kentucky country boy, the other a New England sophisticate, who meet at the New England Conservatory on the eve of World War I and fall in love, discreetly, as would have been necessary at the time. Both share an interest in old folk music, and they take a trip together to the backwoods of Maine, meeting average citizens and collecting, by recording on wax cylinders, the songs these people have been carrying in memory for generations. The performances are remarkable, particularly Mescal's—just to watch him listening is galvanizing. The History of Sound has the polished texture of the 'Oscar movies' we used to get in the 1990s and early 2000s; it's perhaps more gentle than it is groundbreaking. But its landscape of longing and loneliness, mapped song by song, has a misty, welcoming beauty. Die, My Love Because so many Oscar front-runners have filtered through Cannes in the past few years, everyone who comes here is keeping an eye out for the next big sensation. Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay's beautiful, brutal Die My Love probably won't tease the public's curiosity in the way last year's The Substance did—it's a much smarter, thornier movie about women's experience. But Jennifer Lawrence's terrific performance is something people are going to want to see and talk about. As Grace, a woman unmoored by postpartum depression, she goes not just to the edge but beyond it. Lawrence has had children herself, and her body shows it. She's no movie-star stick-figure; she has a dreamy earthiness, like a Rembrandt nude. Her face is round and plaintive; she's vulnerable-looking, like a baby Ellen Barkin. This is the kind of performance people call 'fearless,' for lack of a better word—I'm sure there is a better word, but who knows what it is? What Lawrence does in Die, My Love is so delicately textured, even within its bold expressiveness, and its fiery anger, that it leaves you scrambling for adjectives. It's the kind of performance you go to the movies for, one that connects so sympathetically with the bare idea of human suffering that it scares you a little, though it also makes you feel more exhilarated than drained. [ Read the full review. ] Amrum Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin has made great films (the 2004 rock'n'roll redemption parable Head-On) and dismal ones (the grim serial-killer creepout The Golden Glove, from 2019). Amrum, which played out of competition at the festival, is a lovely departure for Akin, a film that explores how memories shape us—and how often we decide at an early age what type of person we're going to be. Set on the German island of Amrum in the North Sea in the final days of World War II, this is the story of Nanning (played by a wonderful young actor named Jasper Billerbeck), a boy on the cusp of adolescence, steeped in Hitler youth culture but gradually realizing he's been backing the wrong side. Still, he's so eager to please his fervent Nazi mother that he continues to go through the motions; his reckoning is sometimes bitterly funny to watch, though we can see how painful it is for him. The semiautobiographical script is by Hark Bohm, Akin's cowriter on his 2017 In the Fade; Diane Kruger, the star of that film, appears here as a sturdy island farmer, crucial to the islanders not just for the food she grows, but for her common sense in the midst of madness. Romería It's 2004, and 18-year-old Marina (Llúcia Garcia), who lost her parents to AIDS and drug addiction when she was six, treks from Barcelona to the coastal city of Vigo for two reasons: there's paperwork she needs to secure a scholarship for her studies (she hopes to become a filmmaker), but even more important, she hopes to unravel the secrets of the parents she barely knew. Shot in Galicia, a landscape of rocky coasts and salty-blue air, this loosely biographical third feature from Catalan filmmaker Carla Simón, part of the Cannes competition slate, has a wistful, earthy glow. This is graceful, quietly intelligent filmmaking—including a touch of unsentimental magic realism involving a wise and beautiful Norwegian Forest Cat. Two Prosecutors Maybe it's just the global mood of the day, but Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa's crisply made shaggy dog story, with its bleak sense of humor, somehow felt like the movie of the moment. It's 1937 Stalinist Russia: A desperate letter from an unjustly imprisoned man reaches a newly appointed local prosecutor (Aleksandr Kuznetsov). He vows to correct this injustice, jumping dutifully through every bureaucratic hoop until he can meet with the government bigwig who can help. Two Prosecutors, adapted from a 1969 novel by Georgy Demidov, is a bleak shout of futility that's also strangely, bitterly funny. If you didn't laugh, you'd cry. The Mastermind Kelly Reichardt's almost-a-comedy about a hapless art thief in 1970s Massachusetts—played, wonderfully, by Josh O'Connor—is a perceptive portrait of a guy who, after apparently coasting through life, coasts right into a figurative brick wall. Who wouldn't buy anything O'Connor, with his darling secret smile, tells them? Alana Haim plays his had-it-up-to-here wife; a scene in which he explains his motivation to her—everything he's done has been 'mostly' for her and the kids—is both gently funny and heartrending, not because he's lying to her, but because he believes every inadequate word. Young Mothers The Dardenne Brothers are such Cannes regulars that whenever their films show up in the competition slate, you expect a well-crafted, intimate drama that may be satisfying enough to watch in the moment, even if it doesn't really linger in memory. But Young Mothers, which follows four teenage mothers in a state-run home as they learn to care for their infants—or, more wrenchingly, learn to let go—is a quiet stunner. Like many of the Dardennes' films, it has a quasi-documentary feel; the girl's faces—and they are girls, despite being of child-bearing age—are open and vulnerable. One is fighting drug addiction—she swears to her wriggling infant that she's going to quit, though the reality is much harder than the vow. Another is trying to escape a cycle of poverty and abuse; she knows she can only do so much for herself, but she wants something far better for her daughter. This is a hopeful movie, not a depressing one. Even so, it tugs at you, long after the last frame. Urchin and The Chronology of Water The festival's Un Certain Regard section featured two films by young actors trying their hand at directing full-length features for the first time. Kristen Stewart's Chronology of Water —starring Imogen Poots and based on Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir about sexual trauma and substance abuse—is hardly a perfect film. But there's nothing timid about it. Stewart makes some bold choices here, refusing to sand down the jagged edges of this story even as she structures it in a way that doesn't send us spiraling into despair. And English actor Harris Dickinson, terrific in films like Babygirl and Triangle of Sadness, turns out to be a smart, promising director as well. In his debut film Urchin, which also premiered in Un Certain Regard, Frank Dillane plays a Londoner who's fallen through the cracks, drug-addicted and living on the streets; he resolves to clean up his life, with the usual pitfalls and some new ones. Dickinson has a light touch and a lively imagination, as well as a sense of humor; he takes material you think might be conventional and opens new windows of thinking. You could argue that it's 'easier' for famous young actors to make their first film. But if they're using their prestige and resources to make smart, inventive debuts? We all win. These are emerging filmmakers who refuse to be boring. Orwell: 2+2=5 Raoul Peck is one of our most valuable documentary filmmakers. Instead of just presenting us with information, he shows us ways of seeing, inspiring us to look for patterns and connections we might not have seen otherwise. That's the principle at work in Orwell: 2+2=5, which premiered here out of competition. You can know George Orwell's work backward and forward and still find something new here. Or you can be an Orwell neophyte and understand why, 75 years after his death, his ideas and preoccupations feel more modern than ever. Orwell worried in advance about the lives we're living today. Orwell: 2+2=5 makes the case for why we should be worrying, too. [ Read the full review. ] Sentimental Value Danish-Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier broke through in the United States in 2021 with The Worst Person in the World, starring the extraordinary Renate Reinsve as an uncompromising but not altogether 'together' young woman navigating romance, and life, and making lots of mistakes along the way. Trier and Reinsve return with the marvelous Sentimental Value, part of the Cannes competition: Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas play sisters, raised in a sprawling yet cozy house that has been in the family for years, who are suddenly forced to reckon with the selfishness and self-absorption of their long estranged filmmaker father (Stellan Skarsgård). Sentimental Value strikes a slightly more somber note than Trier's previous film, but it's no less radiant. 'Tenderness is the new punk,' Trier said at the press conference for his film. Those may be our new words to live by.
Boston Globe
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Free spring events: Lilac Sunday, yoga, and a queer classical music showcase
Get Love Letters: The Newsletter A weekly dispatch with all the best relationship content and commentary – plus exclusive content for fans of Love Letters, Dinner With Cupid, weddings, therapy talk, and more. Enter Email Sign Up PICASSO FOR A DAY If you view detailed sketches in utter awe, wondering how people produce landscapes and portraits with pencil strokes, you're not alone. The Seaport organizes sketching classes for both budding artists and experienced drawers. This Tuesday, the class will be taught by Boston-based artist Lee SOEMS. May 6, 5-7 p.m. 131 Seaport Blvd. Advertisement SING YOUR PRIDE When Molly Knight, a New England Conservatory soprano, was awarded a 2024 Entrepreneurial Musicianship grant, she set out to create 'Gay as a Songbird,' selected programming that elevates queer voices within classical music. This Thursday, Knight's curatorial efforts will culminate with a gala, featuring a celebratory showcase of music by notable queer musicians and composers — from Roan to Poulenc. May 7, 7 p.m. NEC, Burnes Hall, 290 Huntington Ave. Advertisement Locals can enjoy the spring air this Friday with a free meditation class at the Boston Public Garden. Kadampa Meditation Center, Boston BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT Spring is a time of rebirth, rejuvenation, and replenishment, or so they say. For those looking to do some mental self-care, free meditation classes will be conducted at the Boston Public Garden. The class will be led by Gen Kelsang Khedrub, the resident teacher at the Boston Kadampa Meditation Center, who will teach participants how to introduce mindfulness into their hectic lives. May 9, 6:30 p.m. Boston Public Garden, Lagoon Edge GG TO ALL In honor of the inauguration of its newest brew, The Last Boss, Sam Adams Boston is transforming its taproom into an arcade with a helping hand from May 9, 7-10 p.m. 60 State St. Movement instructor Juliana Berfield will be leading participants through a free yoga class at the BPL's Allston location. Juliana Berfield MOVING MINDFULLY If you're intimidated by the twisting, contorting positions of yoga, taking a class may ease your nerves about taking up the practice. BPL's Honan-Allston branch will host a free class taught by Juliana Berfield, a movement instructor at the May 10, 9:30-10:30 a.m. 300 North Harvard St, Allston. Advertisement BLOOMING BU DS April rain brings May flowers — or something like that. The old saying proves true at the Arnold Arboretum's Lilac Sunday, a one-day event during which the botanical collection highlights its several hundred plants in full bloom. Group and self-guided tours will be available, and attendees can expect dance performances as well as activities such as meditation and chalk art. May 11, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain. Send info on free events and special offers at least 10 days in advance to bargains@ Marianna Orozco can be reached at
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Josh O'Connor & Paul Mescal in 'The History of Sound' first-look photos
Ever since the movie The History of Sound was announced, it's been one of the most buzzed-about movies in Hollywood. Sign up for the to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment — delivered three times a week straight (well…) to your inbox! Not only does it star rising actors Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers) and Josh O'Connor (Challengers), but it also features the two of them in a historical gay romance. Directed by Oliver Hermanus, the film is about two men who set out to record the sounds and songs of their countrymen during World War I. Thanks to a new Vanity Fair first look, we know a lot more details. According to Vanity Fair, the movie "examines the seismic impact of a fleeting romantic encounter between Lionel (Mescal) and David (O'Connor), two students at the New England Conservatory during World War I." When Lionel hears David singing a folk song from his youth at a piano bar, he's instantly enamored. The two try to remain in each other's lives, but world events are getting in the way. "David is vocal, David has ideas, David is wealthy. And Lionel is kind of just being overwhelmed by this person, but in a very slow-drip way—taking a long time to quantify the impact of this moment in his life and this relationship," Hermanus told Vanity Fair. "That's just relatable to me, I guess. We all have people who define us, but we don't realize they defined us until it's too late." The two meet up again years after college and embark on a trip around the Northeast to collect folk ballads. While the film is romantic, it also has its share of tragedy. "I'm a gay man. I would love to go to the movies and watch a movie about a same-sex relationship that maybe makes me cry, but feels fulfilling. So much of queer cinema—and I've made queer cinema like this—is about the struggles,' Hermanus said. "For me, this has always been about wanting it to be accessible to everyone. We're not going to make a movie about the problematizing of their relationship or their sexuality." "The film definitely has romantic gestures in it—intensely so in some places—but it is fundamentally about Lionel's life," Mescal added. "It's actually important to let audiences know not to come just expecting [romance]. It's a beautiful section of the film, and it has a lasting impact, but it's a subjective understanding of Lionel's experience of that love." The History of Sound is a passion project for Hermanus, Mescal, and O'Connor, who have all been interested in the script for years. The film will premiere later this month at the Cannes Film Festival before being released by Mubi in theaters in the U.S. later this year.
Los Angeles Times
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Trump's attack on diversity takes center stage as Boston remembers 1965 Freedom Rally
BOSTON — As a Black teenager growing up in Boston, Wayne Lucas vividly remembers joining some 20,000 people to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak out against the city's segregated school system and the entrenched poverty in poor communities. Lucas was back on the Boston Common this weekend to celebrate the anniversary of what became known as the 1965 Freedom Rally. Sixty years on, he joined others Saturday in calling for continued activism against many of the same injustices and inequities that King fought against, and in blaming President Trump and his administration for current divisions and fears about race and immigration across the country. 'The message was ... that we still have work to do,' said Lucas, 75. 'It was a lot of inspiration by every speaker out there.' The gathering drew several hundred people on a rainy and windy day, conditions similar to those during the 1965 event. It was preceded by a march by a smaller group, mostly along the route taken to the Boston Common 60 years earlier. As many as 125 organizations took part, organizers say. King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, gave a keynote speech, saying he never thought racism would be on the rise again as he sees it today. 'We must quadruple our efforts to create a more just and humane society,' he told the crowd. 'We used to exhibit humanity and civility, but we have chosen temporarily to allow civility to be moved aside. And that is not sustainable, my friends.' He added, 'Today, we've got to find a way to move forward. When everything appears to be being dismantled, it seems to be attempting to break things up. Now, you do have to retreat sometimes. But Dad showed us how to stay on the battlefield, and Mom, throughout their lives. They showed us how to build community.' The gathering was near the site of a 20-foot-high memorial to racial equity, which shows younger King's parents embracing. U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the work of 1960s civil rights leaders remains unfinished, with too many people still experiencing racism, poverty and injustice. 'We are living through perilous times,' she said. 'Across the country, we are witnessing ... a dangerous resurgence of white supremacy, of state-sanctioned violence, of economic exploitation, of authoritarian rhetoric.' The original protest march in 1965 brought the civil rights movement to the Northeast, a place Martin Luther King Jr. knew well from his time earning a doctorate in theology from Boston University and serving as assistant minister at the city's Twelfth Baptist Church. It was also the place he met his wife, Coretta Scott King, who earned a degree in music education from the New England Conservatory. In his speech that day, King told the crowd that he returned to Boston not to condemn the city but to encourage its leaders to do better at a time when Black leaders were fighting to desegregate the schools and housing and working to improve economic opportunities for Black residents. He also implored Boston to become a leader that New York, Chicago and other cities could follow in conducting 'the creative experiments in the abolition of ghettos.' 'It would be demagogic and dishonest for me to say that Boston is a Birmingham, or to equate Massachusetts with Mississippi,' he told the crowd. 'But it would be morally irresponsible were I to remain blind to the threat to liberty, the denial of opportunity, and the crippling poverty that we face in some sections of this community.' The Boston rally happened after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and months before the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in August. King and other civil rights leaders had just come off the Selma-to-Montgomery march in Alabama, which culminated in Bloody Sunday on March 7, weeks before the Boston rally. King had also recently led the 1963 Birmingham campaign prompting the end of legalized racial segregation in the Alabama city, and eventually throughout the nation. Saturday's rally came as the Trump administration is waging war on some bedrock civil rights themes — diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government, schools and businesses around the country, including in Massachusetts. Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has banned diversity initiatives across the federal government. The administration has launched investigations of colleges — public and private — that it accuses of discriminating against white and Asian students with race-focused admissions programs intended to address historical inequities in access for Black students. The Defense Department at one point temporarily removed training videos recognizing the Tuskegee Airmen and an online biography of Jackie Robinson. In February, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., a champion of racial diversity in the military, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown, in the wake of George Floyd's murder by police in 2020, had spoken publicly about his experiences as a Black man, and was only the second Black general to serve as chairman. The administration has fired diversity officers across government, curtailed some agencies' celebrations of Black History Month and terminated grants and contracts for projects ranging from planting trees in disadvantaged communities to studying achievement gaps in American schools. Martin Luther King III told the Associated Press that the attacks on diversity make little sense, noting, 'We cannot move forward without understanding what happened in the past.' 'It doesn't mean that it's about blaming people. It's not about collective guilt. It's about collective responsibility,' he continued. 'How do we become better? Well, we appreciate everything that helped us to get to where we are. Diversity hasn't hurt the country.' He said opponents of diversity have floated an uninformed narrative that unqualified people of color are taking jobs from qualified white people, when the reality is Black Americans have long been denied the opportunities they deserve. 'I don't know if white people understand this, but Black people are tolerant,' he said. 'From knee-high to a grasshopper, you have to be five times better than your white colleague. And that's how we prepare ourselves. So it's never a matter of unqualified. It's a matter of being excluded.' Imari Paris Jeffries, the president and CEO of Embrace Boston, which along with the city put on the rally, said the event was a chance to remind people that elements of the 'promissory note' the elder King referred to in his 'I Have A Dream' speech remain 'out of reach' for many people. 'We're having a conversation about democracy. This is the promissory note — public education, public housing, public health, access to public art,' Paris Jeffries said. 'All of these things are a part of democracy. Those are the things that are actually being threatened right now.' Casey writes for the Associated Press.
Hamilton Spectator
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Boston celebrates 1965 Freedom Rally led by MLK as advocates urge continued fight against injustice
BOSTON (AP) — As a Black teenager growing up in Boston, Wayne Lucas vividly remembers joining about 20,000 people to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak out against the city's segregated school system and the entrenched poverty in poor communities. Sixty years on, Lucas was back on the Boston Common on Saturday to celebrate the anniversary of what became known as the 1965 Freedom Rally. He joined others in calling for continued activism against many of the same injustices and inequities that King fought against, and in criticizing President Donald Trump and his administration for current divisions and fears about race and immigration across the country. 'The message was ... that we still have work to do,' said Lucas, 75. 'It was a lot of inspiration by every speaker out there.' The gathering drew several hundred people on a rainy and windy day, conditions similar to those during the 1965 event. It was preceded by a march by a smaller group of people, mostly along the route taken to the Boston Common 60 years earlier. Up to 125 different organizations took part. Rally-goers urge activism King's son, Martin Luther King III, gave a keynote speech, saying he never thought racism would still be around and on the rise like it is today. 'We must quadruple our efforts to create a more just and humane society,' he told the crowd. 'We used to exhibit humanity and civility, but we have chosen temporarily to allow civility to be moved aside. And that is not sustainable, my friends.' He added, 'Today, we've got to find a way to move forward, when everything appears to be being dismantled, it seems to be attempting to break things up. Now, you do have to retreat sometimes. But dad showed us how to stay on the battlefield, and mom, throughout their lives. They showed us how to build community.' The gathering was near the site of a 20-foot-high (6-meter-high) memorial to racial equity, which shows Martin Luther King Jr. embracing his wife, Coretta Scott King. U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the work of 1960s civil rights leaders remains unfinished, with too many people still experiencing racism, poverty and injustice. 'We are living through perilous times,' she said. 'Across the country, we are witnessing ... a dangerous resurgence of white supremacy, of state-sanctioned violence, of economic exploitation, of authoritarian rhetoric.' 1965 protest brings civil rights movement to the Northeast The original protest rally in 1965 brought the civil rights movement to the Northeast, a place Martin Luther King Jr. knew well from his time earning a doctorate in theology from Boston University and serving as assistant minister at the city's Twelfth Baptist Church. It was also the place where he met his wife, who earned a degree in music education from the New England Conservatory. In his speech, King told the crowd that he returned to Boston not to condemn the city but to encourage its leaders to do better at a time when Black leaders were fighting to desegregate the schools and housing and working to improve economic opportunities for Black residents. King also implored Boston to become a leader that other cities like New York and Chicago could follow in conducting 'the creative experiments in the abolition of ghettos.' 'It would be demagogic and dishonest for me to say that Boston is a Birmingham, or to equate Massachusetts with Mississippi,' he said. 'But it would be morally irresponsible were I to remain blind to the threat to liberty, the denial of opportunity, and the crippling poverty that we face in some sections of this community.' The Boston rally happened after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and months ahead of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed in August. King and other civil rights movement leaders had just come off the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama, also referred to as Bloody Sunday, weeks before the Boston rally. The civil rights icon also was successful in the 1963 Birmingham campaign prompting the end of legalized racial segregation in the Alabama city, and eventually throughout the nation. DEI comes under threat by Trump administration Saturday's rally came as the Trump administration is waging war on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government, schools and businesses around the country, including in Massachusetts. Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has banned diversity initiatives across the federal government. The administration has launched investigations of colleges — public and private — that it accuses of discriminating against white and Asian students with race-conscious admissions programs intended to address historic inequities in access for Black students. The Defense Department at one point temporarily removed training videos recognizing the Tuskegee Airmen and an online biography of Jackie Robinson. In February, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. , a champion of racial diversity in the military, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown, in the wake of Floyd's killing, had spoken publicly about his experiences as a Black man, and was only the second Black general to serve as chairman. The administration has fired diversity officers across government, curtailed some agencies' celebrations of Black History Month and terminated grants and contracts for projects ranging from planting trees in disadvantaged communities to studying achievement gaps in American schools . King's son: Attacks on diversity make 'little sense' Martin Luther King III told The Associated Press that the attacks on diversity make little sense, noting, 'We cannot move forward without understanding what happened in the past.' 'It doesn't mean that it's about blaming people. It's not about collective guilt. It's about collective responsibility,' he continued. 'How do we become better? Well, we appreciate everything that helped us to get to where we are. Diversity hasn't hurt the country.' King said opponents of diversity have floated an uninformed narrative that unqualified people of color are taking jobs from white people, when the reality is they have long been denied the opportunities they deserve. 'I don't know if white people understand this, but Black people are tolerant,' he said. 'From knee-high to a grasshopper, you have to be five times better than your white colleague. And that's how we prepare ourselves. So it's never a matter of unqualified. It's a matter of being excluded.' Imari Paris Jeffries, the president and CEO of Embrace Boston, which along with the city put on the rally, said the event was a chance to remind people that elements of the 'promissory note' King referred to in his 'I Have A Dream' speech remain 'out of reach' for many people. 'We're having a conversation about democracy. This is the promissory note — public education, public housing, public health, access to public art,' Paris Jeffries said. 'All of these things are a part of democracy. Those are the things that are actually being threatened right now.' ____ Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
