April 27, 2007 1:20 PM

The changing face of Boston and the Commonwealth
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 1:20 PM

With an African-American governor in the State House on Beacon Hill, diversity has a new look - both in Boston and throughout the state:

Nothing is more emblematic of the change in attitude toward and among black professionals than the election last fall of Deval Patrick, the first African-American governor of the Commonwealth.

"How bad can it be here," asks [African-American Brigham and Women's internist Dr. Lisa] Owens, "when we have the second black governor in the country?" In fact, she knows black professionals who have moved to less expensive, and supposedly more welcoming, cities who regret leaving the dynamism of Boston behind.

"There's a buzz, an energy in Boston," says Dr. Owens, who grew up in Washington, D.C. "It's an intangible that people have not found, that they realize retrospectively when they leave."

Another such face is that of famed new Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matzusaka from Japan.

Dice-K and Deval are among the most visible representatives of the growing diversity in the Hub, where minorites, in aggregate, have outnumbered whites for several years.

Read about both of these phenomena in the Spring, 2007 DiversityBoston magazine, found exclusively online here on BostonWorks.

In addition to the above stories, you will find profiles of three second generation immigrant families carrying on the American Dream, as well as pieces on jobs for the disabled, the experience of Asian Indians in the region, and more.