The “Queen Princess” of Advocacy

A #javaCafé Community Member Highlight of Carrie Mays

I call her Queen Princess Carrie.

If I remember correctly, we began hearing her name. To be honest, I think we really started hearing about her work when young people from Boston began organizing actions to respond to the murder of George Floyd. Over the next year or so, we’d continue to hear from her as she was often a guest in the #javaCafe. Earlier today, I was excited to hear her name once again. Mayor Michelle Wu appointed Carrie to the City of Boston’s Civilian Review Board. She is the youth member of the entity that will help hold Boston Police Officers accountable when complaints are filed against them.

As a young person I deeply appreciate this opportunity beyond measure, you know I come from both worlds with having positive experiences with the police- I’ve done years worth of hosting community police dialogues, youth police basketball tournaments and also I’ve had negative experiences with the police of which were very traumatic, that could have costed me my life as a Black Woman.

So essentially I think this means to do something that’s never been done before in the name of righteousnesses, to serve as a National model of reciprocal accountability and most of all bring about change and solutions for our city because that’s what it’s really about.Carrie Mayes remarks at crb announcement

Carrie is a 21-year-old college student with a strong desire to equitably improve the quality of life for Black and Brown Bostonians, especially young adults. She is an organizing leader at Teen Empowerment and has led and co-led youth-driven initiatives that asked for community input, made recommendations, and mobilized community members, especially young people, to advocate for policies, resources, services, and programs that are informed by community, and rooted in equity. She has a proven track record when it comes to listening, learning, and leading, and with that in mind, we celebrate that she is in an official municipal position to continue the work. Carrie, the Princess Queen (as I call you), we celebrate you and we are excited to see you move into spaces and places, carrying us with you!

See Mayor Michelle Wu’s Announcement HERE: