Like a small town. Sometimes and it might feel that way to you when i tell you about my family connections to two of the black women who are running for mayor of boston right now. That's next. Boston is a major american city but for some of us that can feel like a small town. After boston's acting mayor kim janey appeared on this program in april. My cousin holland o'donnell told me that her father my cousin. Kirk o'donnell was co captain of his high school. Football team with kim giannis father cliff janey in nineteen sixty four at america's oldest public school boston. Latin school city councilor andrea. Campbell is running for mayor against kim johnny in a field of front running candidates that for the first time in boston history does not include a white man. My father knew andrea campbell's grandfather. He loved the man. And my father made history with andrea. campbell's father. alvin the campbell. April twenty fifth nineteen sixty. Three was a good time to be an irish bostonian in washington. Dc with john. Kennedy's still in the white house. And our local congressman. John mccormack as speaker of the house. But it a terrible time to be a black defendant. In any american court andrea campbell's father was in federal prison that day doing twenty-five years for bank robbery and my father was in washington that day to get him out of prison. It was my first day in washington. I was eleven years old. My father had gone from being a boston. Police officer to a lawyer and i sat in the front row of the united states supreme court that day watching him. Try to convince chief. Justice earl warren and the rest of the court that the fbi manipulated the eyewitness testimony in alvin campbell's trial. Who is the second time. My father argued this case to the court three years earlier the court sent the case back to the trial court for further review in his first argument to the supreme court. My father described the problem with the eye witness testimony. This way. dominic stoller win in that courtroom and identify three depend is it of and passion that summary of the fbi said i never saw a person the thing three black defendants got convicted of bank robbery without the jury knowing that the key eye witness in the case in his first interview with the fbi said there were only two bank robbers after his second argument to the supreme court on that spring day in nineteen sixty three. My father walked my brother. Michael and i crossed the street to the capital to visit our local congressmen. But since the speaker of the house was busy and couldn't see us one of his lieutenants in his leadership team carson tip o'neill who represented the congressional district. My mother grew up in took us to the congressional dining room for a cup of coffee. Everyone had already had launch. And we're the only people in the dining room. My father ordered coffee and when tip. O'neill asked me what i wanted. I said strawberry ice cream tip awarded the same thing. I remember the white tablecloth. I remember the bowl. I remember the spoon. And the three scoops of strawberry ice cream. That i each and i remember what it felt like a month later. When the supreme court's opinion was issued and relearn that my father had won the day he beat president kennedy solicitor. General archibald cox and alvin campbell. Got out of prison. And i felt like i was a witness to history. I wish my cousin kirk who taught me so much. We're still with us to witness the history being made in boston this year. With his football co captain's daughter now serving as the first woman acting mayor of boston the first black mayor of boston. Kirk o'donnell served as deputy mayor in that same city hall in the nineteen seventies. I wish my father were still with us. So he could see what alvin. Campbell's daughter has achieved andrea. Campbell was born in nineteen eighty two when her father would still have been serving that twenty five year sentence in prison. If the supreme court had not ruled in his favor andrea campbell graduated from the best public high school in america boston latin school than princeton university and then the ucla school of law. She became the first black woman elected. City council president. I father would be in awe of andrea campbell. And what she has achieved. I wish he could meet her. I'm gonna meet her for the first time after this break. My name is andrea campbell. And i deeply love this city running for mayor because every neighborhood deserves real change in real chance being raised in a foster family and to make it through boston latin to make to princeton and ucla law school chica. Work anywhere she wants. You can go live anywhere. She wants you choose boston. Let's make boston a great city for all of us joining us now. Is andrea campbell democratic candidate for mayor of boston. She is currently the boston city. Councillor representing district four which is right beside district three where i grew up. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. This is really very special for me To be meeting you this way it's This is really a great moment for me. And i wish my father could see this I i want to go straight to the. Let's get to the issues that you're facing in this campaign And beginning with what may be the most urgent issue of the day which is the the delta variant of covert nineteen. Boston is not a has a big public school system with all those elementary school kids. That were all worried about but it may be the biggest college town in america. You're going to be flooded with college. Kids coming in in the fall. What is boston half to do. In the in the face of the delta burien simple we have to continue to get folks vaccinated and particularly focusing on communities of color and those harder to reach community and vulnerable populations. I'm right now. We're doing a lot of that work in the community. It's of course very unfortunate and deeply disappointing to hear are acting mayors recent remarks comparing pushing for vaccination and proof vaccination to slavery and so. I've called that out and to say we cannot perpetuate Stereotypes misinformation. Goes push information. That just doesn't make sense. It's our responsibility not to have misinformation out there but to make sure that folks in our communities have correct information get vaccinated because we exchange lives messy. Only we're gonna continue to protect residents in the city of boston going forward. Let's listen to it. Acting mayor kim janey said about that. I wanna take a.