Welcome to my campaign page; My name is Jaha (Jay) M. Hughes. I am a 36 year old black male who is running City Wide for Boston City Council to represent our entire city. I am running because I am tired of hearing that people like me don't care, and won't get involved. I am also running because I believe many average people like myself, the ones who work hard everyday, do not get involved because they feel that they have no voice in what happens in our community.

I pledge to fight for every community's access to city jobs, and fairness in the distribution of city resources. I am tired of being given promises of lower crime and better health care, and yet we see those promises go unfulfilled. It is time for a shake up of our "so called" leadership. I need your support to make that happen.

For years we as people have understood that we face serious issues within every community. We know there is racism. We know there are serious access issues. We know crime is very high. We know schools are not up to the highest standards, and our children are not performing as well as they should. We know because for years our leaders have told us so, they tell us every election cycle.

They tell us at every fundraising event they hold that we are being held back, that they are the ones who will work to move forward an agenda that includes us; So we must vote for them and give our money to them and trust them to do the right thing.

They promise us this great fight and tell us we must stand with them. The way they fight, however, is by giving us great speeches and plenty of promises. They tell us: "What I didn’t get done in my first term, I will if elected again."

As a community we have bought this for years. We stay in our ideological world, wait for the results and hope for the best.

We become complacent with nothing or very little happening. We wait anxiously for our elected leaders to speak out when children are being killed; When the newspapers say loudly that our children are performing poorly on the MCAS.

We can no longer accept that. Now is the time in history where we must remember those leaders in the past that stood and died for something they believed in. Leaders who delivered the greatest speeches, but followed it with action. They did not fear reprisals from those who did not want to face the serious issues within our community.

We must no longer allow the speeches and promises to appease us; We must demand results. Put something tangible in my hand or mind that will empower me to better my life and the lives of those I love.

We must demand this; Leaders who do not respond, must be voted out for the next generation of leaders. Leaders who will not only continue the fight of those before us, but can look with fresh eyes, and new policies to empower our community today. I want to be at the fore-front of these new community leaders.

We need leadership that will strive to make our community a stronger part of our city. I believe many "Leaders" have learned that by keeping this city and residents almost as a separate entity of our city they have a solid base. A base of people who feel disenfranchised.

I will fight to make sure that is no longer the case. There are thousands of dollars made on the Boston Common daily, yet how many of those businesses are owned by people living in our city. If we want more people of color in City Hall, than we as a community need to recruit qualified people and have them apply for openings. We then need to track their progress. No more talking about it, let’s act.

I have to ask, when do we realize that we must no longer simply hear the problems, but must work to solve them? We have to start on the community, with a house to house program.

As a candidate, I will address and provide specific ways to address the issues facing our city.

As I run for this office, I have said things that may be considered controversial. The issues I bring up may upset you, I bring the issues to the forefront however, because our community needs to address these issues. Not only by discussing the issues, but by providing workable tangible solutions. We must realize discussing the issues only moves us so far.

I will present the ideas and we will discuss them, I ask only that you listen to the working solutions I present. Most importantly, I ask; What have you learned or received from your elected leaders today? Did they give you knowledge, and the ability to empower yourself?

I ask you to support my campaign by writing me in next Novembers election. By writing me in for the upcoming election, you will be sending a message that it is time to move forward on the issues not just discuss them.

If you have any questions or just wish to express your support please contact us by email at j4Coun@yahoo.com. Thank You.