Let's Talk About Race Bill Cavellini
from Lets Talk About Race Hosted by Diane Wong
Bill Cavellini has been a community organizer all his adult life, in New York City, Atlanta, Georgia, Cambridge and Somerville, MA. He drove a taxi cab for over thirty years in Cambridge and worked as a case manager for a Housing First Program, Journey to Success, in Boston, Revere and Chelsea for ten years before retiring in 2016. He grew up in a segregated housing project in the Bronx, NY. His father was born in Italy, came to this country when he was seven years old. His mother is a first generation Italian American. His father was a NYC police officer and his mother was a parochial school teacher. He has lived in the Boston area since 1970, when he came to attend MIT. Bill's experiences as a white cab driver, driving at night during the 1970-80’s in the Boston area. How the white dispatcher favored white drivers over drivers of color and how it challenged Bill to confront his white skin privilege. Bill talked about how his own stereotypes were challenged almost continuously throughout his driving career. And Bill talked about the organizing efforts that he has been involved in that tried to be inclusive and diverse….the successes, the failures; and the efforts to support the struggles of people of color.
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