by Jill Stein 

The Green-Rainbow Party mourns the loss of Mel King, an icon of Boston politics and founding father of the Green-Rainbow Party, who died at home on March 28. Mel King was a poet, politician, philosopher, and irrepressible force for good. He inspired the best in everyone he touched, as a man who knew no enemies, and for whom "love is the question and the answer."

As a fearless, unstoppable agent of change, Mel launched the Rainbow Coalition Party in 1997, saying Bill Clinton's welfare "reform" and immigration policies were "unconscionable... I cannot be identified with parties that have those kinds of policies, and which really don’t care about workers.” In 2002 Mel led the merger of the Rainbow Coalition and Green Parties to "give more strength to our collective and individual voices" for our shared principles and agendas.

Mel was defiant in the face of fear-mongering against alternative parties. "I get angry at the use of fear to exert control, and that's all it is about... control. Every vote ought to be a revolutionary act. It ought to be about change. This country offers too many possibilities to allow that kind of fear to keep anyone from being who they truly are and from voting for a future they truly want."

Mel King was the inspiration for so much of what is just and decent in politics today. He was ahead of the curve throughout his decades of activism, including his pioneering legislation for community gardens, access to sustainable fresh food, and community development corporations to provide affordable housing and jobs for people, not profit. Mel's vision and courage are more timely and needed than ever. The Green-Rainbow Party is honored to carry forward his living political legacy.