Revered Boston Civil Rights Activist, 91, Fought Off Attacker Who Stabbed Her Multiple Times
There’s a lot of fight left in a 91-year-old civil rights activist who reportedly fought off an attacker.
WBUR reports that an assailant stabbed Jean McGuire, the first Black woman to serve on the Boston School Committee, multiple times while she walked her dog in a Boston park on Tuesday (Oct. 11) night.
The police said McGuire was unconscious when officers found her, and the suspect, who remains at large, might have been injured. She was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
“I am disgusted and angry to know that an elder in our community had to fear for her safety going about her daily routine, walking her dog,” Mayor Michelle Wu said, according to WBUR.
Jeriline Brady Mcginnis, who identified herself to reporters as McGuire’s sister, said Wednesday (Oct. 12) that a man suddenly knocked McGuire to the ground from behind as she walked her dog, Bailey, a Weimaraner, according to the Boston Globe.
“[Jean] attacked this guy. She was kicking him in the nuts while Bailey was working him over. And he tried to run, and the dog chased him. And [the attacker] disappeared out of sight,” Mcginnis stated.
Mcginnis, whom the police said is a friend but not a blood relative of McGuire, said the civil rights activist wants to leave the hospital but will likely remain there.
“She can’t wait, but she ain’t going nowhere. And she’s not going to that park again by herself. I’m not having it,’' Mcginnis said. “She means the world to me. I don’t have a problem backing her up at all. Against anybody or anything.”
In 1966, McGuire helped establish the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO). The organization sends students of color in substandard Boston city schools to predominantly white suburban schools. She served as the programs executive director from 1973 to 2016.
McGuire has been called an education trailblazer and a highly respected activist. There’s widespread outrage about the attack.
“We're all very saddened by this news, very shocked. She's a woman who has dedicated her life to educational equality," said Milly Arbaje-Thomas, the current president and CEO of METCO.
”I’m certainly outraged and I think we have to be at the point where we have an entire community that is equally as outraged and will not stand for this sort of random violence any further,” said Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden.
