Film to launch new project on Boston busing riots

BOSTON (AP) — A documentary that’s to be unveiled this week is the start of a project that aims to show that the busing riots that roiled Boston in the 1970s and stained the city’s reputation were more than just a conflict between blacks and whites.

The Union of Minority Neighborhoods, a Boston advocacy group, is to unveil the documentary Tuesday at the Boston Public Library. It’s called “Can We Talk?” The film is part of the organization’s years-long Boston Busing/Desegregation Project.

The project’s coordinator, Donna Bivens, says the crisis was largely about equal access to education and not simply another episode of racial strife. She says organizers of the 10-year project plan to hold community meetings around Boston with victims of the riots and seek to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.