Hassan Williams is running for the State Senate seat of the 2nd Suffolk District against incumbent candidate Sonia Chang-Diaz on the Democratic Primary on Tuesday, September 14.  This former at-risk youth from Roxbury shares with the Sampan why he wants to run for office.

Sampan: Please tell our readers about yourself.
Williams:  My name is Hassan A. Williams and I am an educator, attorney and community advocate.  As a child, I was a troubled youth.  Born and raised in Roxbury, I resorted to hustling and fighting to survive.  I attended Boston Latin School and graduated from Boston Technical High School (currently known as the John D. O’ Bryant School of Mathematics and Science).  Despite those troubled years, I knew that education would be the key to my success.

At the age of 20, my parents told me “It was time for me to make my own way.”  Forced to move out, I was determined to be successful.  For six years I tried my hand at different odd jobs and took classes at local community colleges.  Many nights I found myself homeless, bouncing around from hallway to stairwell and from house to house.  It was during this time that my Christian faith was established and tested.  It was these life experiences that would spur me to something greater as I kept my eye on education being my pathway to success.

At 26, I attended the prestigious Morehouse College, “the Harvard of the South,” paying my own way through school.  By the time I was 30 years old, I had graduated with a Finance Degree and a 3.4 GPA.  Multi-lingual, I studied Japanese at Reitaku University in Chiba, Japan and Mandarin Chinese at Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China.  Upon graduation, I worked as a street sweeper, as I waited to take a job teaching Japanese at Boston Latin Academy High School.  Teaching would be my way of giving back to the system that gave me so much.  I went on to obtain a Law Degree from Boston College Law School.  Never forgetting community, I offered pro bono legal services to help people who faced foreclosure and other legal woes.  Most recently, I worked with the Haitian community, providing legal support in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Sampan: What prompted you to run for the State Senate?

Williams:  I believe leadership is needed in the district. With unemployment as high as 27% in certain areas, foreclosures at an all time high, “expiring use” housing threatening to displace even more people, crime appears to be uncontrollably rising, and education in the Boston Public Schools is unequal across the system,  I believe leadership and change are needed. That is why I am running.

Sampan: What are the issues facing the 2nd Suffolk District and how are you hoping to address them?

Williams:  I believe the most pressing issues facing the 2nd Suffolk District are Jobs/Economic Development, Education, Public Safety, and Housing.  For Jobs/Economic Development, I believe if we create trade schools that train our students in the areas of Health Care, Green Economy, and Bio Sciences with a goal to license students in these growth areas, our students will be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities presented in these arenas. One way to do this quickly would be to convert underperforming schools that are targeted to be closed and changing them to trade schools.   Also, adult residents can be trained in these areas as well after school hours end, creating trade school community centers.

Next, I wish to write legislation that removes all external security grates from the outside of businesses across the state.  These security grates are found mostly in communities of color and depress the value of the properties and businesses in the areas.  Removing the external security grates will have the effect of raising the residential property values across the state, drive more visitor friendly commercial areas in the 2nd Suffolk district which drives traffic flow to these businesses, removes the negative psychological effect on the residents by removing blight and replacing it with attractiveness. It will also create more drive in business owners to maintain the upkeep of the outside of their businesses creating a cleaner more user friendly appeal.  Lastly, business owners that find a strict need to maintain security grates will be required to have them installed inside of the windows and doors of the businesses to maintain the external attractiveness of the business and commercial district.

Education:  I believe our public school system needs to be equally funded and educationally balanced in the 2nd Suffolk District. We need to increase support systems for autistic children, children with special needs and English Language Learners. The funding for the school system needs to be fully funded thus finding alternate funding for Charter Schools. While I support charter schools and choice, I believe that the creation of charter schools should not hinder funding and resource efforts of public schools.

Public Safety:  I believe that community policing and visibility are critical to problem solving on our streets.  I want to increase police walking patrols.  I wish to increase funding for youth programs throughout the district.  I also wish to bring male and female mentoring programs together to advocate for funding as a collective group and not as separate entities.  I believe a cooperative approach is better to get public funding than a competitive approach.

Housing:  I believe that more affordable housing is needed in most areas throughout the city.  Our city is fast becoming a have or have not city with our current policies.  More and more, long-term residents are being forced to move out of our city due to shortages of affordable housing.  I support home health care for seniors and wish to cap property taxes for seniors who owned their homes for more than fifteen years and are sixty-five years old or older.

Sampan: What are your thoughts on in-state tuition for undocumented immigrant students in MA?

Williams:  I believe that all students who fully attend (all four years) and graduate from public schools should be eligible to attend public institutions of higher learning at in state tuition rates.

Sampan: What can be done to help immigrants acquire jobs in MA?

Williams:  I believe that eligible immigrants should have access to jobs the same as any citizen has access.  Immigrants should be entitled to receive training on Green Economy, Bio Science, and Health Care related fields through the adult training programs at any newly created trade school.

Sampan:  How do you plan to reach out to the Asian-American voters in the District?

Williams:  The ability to communicate is exceptionally important.  Having attended school in Beijing to learn Mandarin Chinese, I plan to learn Cantonese also to better communicate with all residents whether they speak English or not.  By doing this, my ability to address issues that are presented by residents will be greatly improved.  I plan to attend local events and forums to address the needs of the citizens across the district including Chinatown.  At least once a year, I will have a Town Hall meeting in Chinatown where residents can meet me and directly convey their concerns.

Sampan:  Affordable housing has been a long-standing issue in Chinatown.  How do you plan to address it?

Williams:  As stated earlier, I believe that more affordable housing is needed to maintain long-term residents’ ability to continue living in this city.  My plan would be to target city and state owned vacant land in Chinatown to build affordable housing.  I will look to convert blighted and unused buildings in Chinatown into affordable housing.  Additionally, I will protect those whose tenancy is being jeopardized under the “expiring use” category by writing legislation to extend the lease on the properties.