Black women visiting Boston for the first time (Warren: renting, high crime)

[GeePee]

Originally Posted by 78Record

We all want to appoint people in positions they are qualified for and reward based on merit. However, institutional racism still affects certain groups in the population. To gain qualifications you may need to go to University, but before that, we need to remove inequality in our school system based on race and socio-economic factors. Until these factors are address, qualifications and merits will be awarded to the people who are given the opportunity. Instead of being defensive acknowledge that yes, there is racism and will always be racism. I think this entire post is filled with exaggeration and generalizations which is causing individuals to take it personally. You don't need to take it personally. You may not be racist however you do need to acknowledge that there are racist around you. Yes, you do need a better representation of your city's population!

Great post. That about sums it up!

[tamajane]

Originally Posted by Rajana

I think it might be because Boston is quite arrogant nationally in proclaiming how liberal, progressive and accepting of diversity it IS. When many of its residents from there are in truth not. It's hypocritical. The state does not want that to be the headline, though, so they ignore the issues. But look at how racially segregated is - wealthier towns have virtually zero blacks. So few that the state had to pass a law to only get blacks to attend schools in those cities (to benefit the white students, mind you). And 50 years later, nothing has changed. METCO still exists, and the black population actually living within METCO towns is virtually zero. Why?

Percentage of Black residents:
Wellesley - 3%
Newton - 3.5%
Weston - .05%
Needham - 1.4%

But let's even look at some non-wealthy metro west or outer suburbs...

Waltham - 5.65%
Watertown - 1.76% (this one surprised even me)
Harvard (town) - 4.0%
Leominster - 3.8%

And metro cities that bill themselves as uber-liberal and progressive:
Cambridge - 11%
Brookline - 3.3%
Amherst (western MA) - 4% home of U Mass

But here:

Dorchester - 43.5%
Roxbury - 61.65%
Brockton - 39.5%
Springfield - 22%
These are the cities that also are known to have extensive crime and public services issues.

These numbers may not be all that different from some other states, but the fact that blue Massachusetts residents scoff loudly at the possibility their state has a very obviously racist configuration, and it's progressive leaders have been absent in addressing it - that's troubling.

So black people are being forced to live in Springfield, and barred from Leominster?

What is a racist "configuration", you need an even distribution of all races in all places? How about by age, gender, religion and sexuality too. Maybe we should all be on a list and redistributed to areas to fill racist anti-racist quotas.

[miu]

Originally Posted by Rajana

I think it might be because Boston is quite arrogant nationally in proclaiming how liberal, progressive and accepting of diversity it IS. When many of its residents from there are in truth not. It's hypocritical. The state does not want that to be the headline, though, so they ignore the issues. But look at how racially segregated is - wealthier towns have virtually zero blacks. So few that the state had to pass a law to only get blacks to attend schools in those cities (to benefit the white students, mind you). And 50 years later, nothing has changed. METCO still exists, and the black population actually living within METCO towns is virtually zero. Why?

Percentage of Black residents:
Wellesley - 3%
Newton - 3.5%
Weston - .05%
Needham - 1.4%

But let's even look at some non-wealthy metro west or outer suburbs...

Waltham - 5.65%
Watertown - 1.76% (this one surprised even me)
Harvard (town) - 4.0%
Leominster - 3.8%

And metro cities that bill themselves as uber-liberal and progressive:
Cambridge - 11%
Brookline - 3.3%
Amherst (western MA) - 4% home of U Mass

But here:

Dorchester - 43.5%
Roxbury - 61.65%
Brockton - 39.5%
Springfield - 22%
These are the cities that also are known to have extensive crime and public services issues.

These numbers may not be all that different from some other states, but the fact that blue Massachusetts residents scoff loudly at the possibility their state has a very obviously racist configuration, and it's progressive leaders have been absent in addressing it - that's troubling.

Rajana - Where do you live and why?

According to my black and Hispanic co-workers, they don't feel excluded by those white majority towns, but prefer to live next to those of their own race and CULTURE. And many don't own cars, and so the other deciding factor is public transportation. And when one is limited to bus and trains, living near people of their same "tribe" also factors in.

Any black or Hispanic I've known or worked with, has no problem getting a good job if they are able to speak business English and dress the part. But if they talk ghetto-speak and can't style themselves appropriately during work hours, then they really aren't going to be able to get well-paying jobs with direct contact with a company's customers.

Again, it's never the colour of their skin holding them back, it's that they don't meet the business or type of work's cultural's standards. And my parents' were the ones teaching me when I was young, the importance of separating casual youth culture and the proper behaviour for a successful professional career path. Being well-spoken, following traditional etiquette rules and dress codes is really essential to being hired at a good company. But after work hours can be spent talking slang with ones friends and dressing in any style.

[KoNgFooCj]

I think some dress codes are tweaked specifically to discourage black applicants.

[miu]

Originally Posted by Bbobsully94

I think some dress codes are tweaked specifically to discourage black applicants.

Seriously?? What's wrong with wanting men to wear a suit and a tie? But dress codes are there instead of requiring a rigid uniform.

When my parents had several furniture stores, there was no set dress code. But basically, it was a very relaxed business casual. And one of the gay men wore ironed imported French blue jeans. Then one of the straight guys started wearing blue jeans also, but his were well worn Levis. No rips, but faded and not ironed. So finally my parents said no to all blue jeans for employees out on the floor.

If a company wants their employees to style themselves a certain way, they have the right to set the standards. And if that means no to colourful or fake fingernails on the women, or hoodies or sweatpants on men, so be it.

[KoNgFooCj]

I guess I meant more when it comes to hairstyles , as we've seen recently on several occasions across the country.

[78Record]

Originally Posted by miu

Rajana - Where do you live and why?

According to my black and Hispanic co-workers, they don't feel excluded by those white majority towns, but prefer to live next to those of their own race and CULTURE. And many don't own cars, and so the other deciding factor is public transportation. And when one is limited to bus and trains, living near people of their same "tribe" also factors in.

Any black or Hispanic I've known or worked with, has no problem getting a good job if they are able to speak business English and dress the part. But if they talk ghetto-speak and can't style themselves appropriately during work hours, then they really aren't going to be able to get well-paying jobs with direct contact with a company's customers.

Again, it's never the colour of their skin holding them back, it's that they don't meet the business or type of work's cultural's standards. And my parents' were the ones teaching me when I was young, the importance of separating casual youth culture and the proper behaviour for a successful professional career path. Being well-spoken, following traditional etiquette rules and dress codes is really essential to being hired at a good company. But after work hours can be spent talking slang with ones friends and dressing in any style.

I think this is oversimplifying it a bit. If finding a decent job was reduced to your dressed and speech wouldn't it be prudent for them to just change their style of dress and speak "better" (not have ghetto-speak). Your statement only proves a point that there isn't much diversity in the city's population. How about a person of color not being able to get a job in a fortune 500 company because their parents didn't have the means both intellectually or financially to encourage them to do well in school or go to school. When companies go directly to schools to recruit graduates and won't even look at an application outside of their heavily recruited schools, then what? There are people out there who want to do well and be recognized apart from dressing well and "well-spoken." I agree that one needs to be professional in a working environment, however, it's not just about dress and speech. Tell me, would a well-dressed Latino or Asian with a deep accent or limited English competency be eligible for the jobs you referenced? Don't get me started on individuals from the Caribbean, say Jamaica with that deep broken English, how would they fair out in your world? What is the dress code at Google? Again with the generalizations!

[ApePeeD]

Originally Posted by Britttravel112

security guard was staring at me and fallowing me around

So?

I'm a white dude, and I know the guard of the local grocery store pretty well, because I shop when there's pretty much nobody else in the store.

It's his JOB to follow people around.

Yeah, it's a little creepy, and he probably knows I really like bananas, milk, and bread every damned time.

[thenewtexan]

Originally Posted by Bbobsully94

I guess I meant more when it comes to hairstyles , as we've seen recently on several occasions across the country.

Any corporations specifically disallowing certain hairstyles specifically tied to race? Leave out the anecdotes. Links, please. We'll wait.

[GeePee]

Originally Posted by thenewtexan

Any corporations specifically disallowing certain hairstyles specifically tied to race? Leave out the anecdotes. Links, please. We'll wait.

there was a high school wrestler on the news a little bit ago who had to cut his dreadlocks to compete.. The news gobbled it up. Ate it like a sandwich. people were of course shocked and dismayed.

What they conveniently leave out is that in the rule book it is not allowed to have hair longer than an inch. you know.... details.