A Massachusetts Reader Wonders What Nineteenth Century Town Fathers Of Lawrence, Mass. Would Think Of William Lantigua
09/16/2011
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Re: Matthew Richer's article Report From Occupied America: Lawrence, Massachusetts—A Banana Republic in New England

From: "Massachusetts Observer" [Email him]

 I have seen footage of Lantigua, above, speaking publicly in some Lawrence hearing room with pictures of 19th century civic leaders in the background.  I often wonder what those long dead leaders would say if they could look through their pictures to see Lantigua in action. 

Also, a friend of my mother once provided anecdotal evidence from working in the welfare office in Lawrence in the 1960s and 1970s that people would come from Puerto Rico with pamphlets in Spanish explaining how to get to Lawrence and how to apply for welfare benefits. 

I wonder who printed those pamphlets, and who made the money off leasing old tenements to these welfare recipients, surely paid for by the taxpayers of Massachusetts.  The story of Lawrence is one of many sad stories of the devolution of America since the 1960s.

 

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