Civil rights and education activist Dr. Jean McGuire, 91, was stabbed multiple times at a park in Boston on Tuesday night while walking her dog.
According to a statement the Boston Police Department released, officers responded to a call about an unconscious person around 8:30 p.m at 25 Playstead Park in Jamaica Plain. When officers arrived at the scene, they spotted the 91-year-old unconscious with multiple stab wounds. They transported her to the hospital, where medical staff treated her for non-life-threatening injuries.
Her sister, Jeriline Brady McGinnis, and former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson confirmed her identity and told Boston 25 News that McGuire remained in the hospital under stable condition.
“What did he want? Dog walkers don’t carry money,” McGinnis said. “We carry poop bags and ID. That’s all he’s going to get. Unless he has the urge to beat up somebody who’s defenseless.”
Jackson took to Twitter to express his frustration over the situation.
“I am so pissed off to hear this #Boston! In the same week that we lost a 14 yo to senseless gun violence,” he wrote. “Jean McGuire, 91 yo for ED of METCO, was stabbed at Franklin Park! She fought for our civil rights for years in the face of danger to have a coward stab her at 91.”
I am so pissed off to hear this #Boston! In the same week that we lost a 14 yo to senseless gun violence,
Jean McGuire, 91 yo for ED of METCO was stabbed at Franklin Park!She fought for our civil rights for years in the face of danger to have a coward stab her at 91#Bospoli https://t.co/ZJLx0DsA9C
— Tito Jackson (@titojackson) October 12, 2022
The 14-year-old death he referred to happened on Monday on Washington Street in Roxbury.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden visited McGuire on Wednesday at Beth Israel Hospital. His father, Robert Hayden, used to work with her back when he was president of the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO).
“Ms. McGuire is as spunky and vibrant as ever and is going to be just fine,” Hayden said. “I always find hope and refuge in the strength of leaders like her who came before me. And I’m glad to know she is doing well.”
McGuire became one of the founders of METCO, a program that used buses to transport Black students to predominantly white schools to ensure they received their higher education, in 1966. She was dubbed the executive director of METCO in 1973 and maintained the title until 2016.
She is also the first Black female to join the Boston City School Committee. McGuire’s due diligence made it possible for many Black students to obtain an excellent education. She expanded her impact from Boston to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of desegregating schools to the White House and Massachusetts Congressional Council.
The Boston Celtics gave McGuire her well-deserved flowers at one of their games in 2020 as part of their “Heroes Among Us” program that honors the selfless heroes and people in the community.
“It was just shocking to know that someone who was part of this community for so many decades, fighting for this community, was stabbed and hurt in the community where she works and lives and walks on a regular basis,” METCO president Millie Arbaje-Thomas said.
The police have not made any arrests yet.
