Dear Howie Carr, 

The horrifying screams echoing up from the alley will forever be ingrained in my mind. 

On April 25, 2024, I watched from my 2 Boylston Place dorm room as my peers at Emerson College were brutally arrested while peacefully protesting. I watched as a place and people I loved so deeply were torn apart. 

When I first visited Emerson in the summer of 2021, the second I walked through those purple tinted doors, I knew deep down I was meant to attend. It felt like home. 

Unlike some of my peers, I didn’t grow up dreaming of being a journalist. Nonetheless, I always deeply understood the power of words and the privilege of being published. Now, as a second-year journalism student, I believe in this power more than ever. 

I have seen the impact of journalism, specifically by Emerson students, as it intensely helps people. But, I have also witnessed firsthand the harm it can perpetrate if not executed correctly.  If I have learned anything from my journalism professors, it is to ask if you are doing more harm than good with a story. 

Your recent column “Howie Carr: Hey, Emerson kids! Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time” did more harm than good. 

While I recognize your right to have an opinion, there is a line between an opinion and blatant hate speech. You had the intention to harm 118 recently arrested people, a large majority of those being Emerson students. Going out of your way to look up personal information and refer to them as “snowflakes” (and worse) was unnecessary to the broader point you were attempting to prove.

These students just experienced an unimaginable trauma that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. They do not need you, nor the Boston Herald, to rub salt in their wounds by pushing an incorrect, hurtful, and thoughtless narrative. 

If I have learned anything in the past few days, it is that Emerson is a strong community of creative, passionate, and kind people. While your attempt at journalism failed, Emerson’s student journalists have been working tirelessly to keep our community updated with ethical information. 

While I will never understand what those 118 arrested went through on Thursday morning, I know what I witnessed that morning and the following days. 

I witnessed people embracing before being ripped away from each other. I witnessed terrified students watching from classrooms and dorms as their peers were arrested. I witnessed blood and tears. I witnessed an alleyway known as a community space become a vacant desert. I witnessed silent group hugs in the daylight. I witnessed an academic family stand up for others. I witnessed incredible journalism, giving me hope for the future of the industry.

You will never erase the hateful words said in your article, but our Emerson community will.