Congressman Kennedy to Hold a Spanish Language Town Hall in Eastie

U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senate Candidate Joe Kennedy III announced this week that he will host a series of Town Hall-style meeting across the Commonwealth–including one in East Boston.

The Spanish Language Town Hall in Eastie will be held on Saturday, Feb. 1 at a location to be announced.

Kennedy said through the Town Hall meetings he wants to continue his commitment to showing up in every corner of the Commonwealth. Eastie’s Town Hall will be one of 14 Town Halls Kennedy scheduled as part of his campaign that has been crisscrossing the state. These town halls will be open to all and allow voters the opportunity to meet Kennedy and ask him questions regarding his candidacy, positions and priorities. All Town Halls are family-friendly, with activities for kids on-site.

Kennedy said the decision to hold a Spanish Language Town Hall in Eastie stems from his campaign’s commitment to inclusion. The other Spanish Langage Town Hall will be held in Lawrence.

“At a moment when far too many feel cut out of our politics and ignored by their government, this campaign is about being present, bringing people in, and elevating every voice across the Commonwealth,” said Kennedy. “These community Town Halls will give me the opportunity to hear directly from Massachusetts voters, listen to their stories, answer their questions, and let their agenda shape this campaign. I’m committed to bringing a new kind of leadership to the Commonwealth — and that starts with showing up for the people at home.”

Last September Kennedy chose Eastie as the location to launch his campaign against incumbent U.S. Senator Ed Markey.

In front of a standing room only crowd at the East Boston Social Centers Kennedy said his choice of location was not by accident or a vain attempt to appeal to low-income families or the disenfranchised. The Kennedy Family’s start in America is very much the same story as the hundreds of immigrants that now call Eastie home.

Patrick Kennedy fled New Ross, Ireland and abject poverty for a better life in the U.S. and married Bridget Murphy at Holy Redeemer Church in the mid 1800s, just a few blocks from the Social Centers.  

“It is so extremely meaningful to me to be able to do this, and announce this, here, where in 1848, a few steps from where this building is today, my father’s family first arrived in this country,” Kennedy said during his campaign launch. “Patrick Kennedy came, fleeing oppression, starvation, and he arrived here with literally nothing.  He married a woman named Bridget Murphy.  She ended up getting a store just down the road here over on Border Street. They built a family. Patrick passed away young from cholera. And from sheer force of will, and the help of a community, she kept that family together.”

Patrick’s son, P.J. Kennedy went on to become a successful saloon owner, ward boss and politician in Eastie. His son, Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of President John F. Kennedy and Joseph P. Kennedy III’s grandfather, the late Robert Kennedy, started what would become a family dynasty in U.S. politics that spanned several generations.

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