Polite Racism? (Boston: racist, money, teach)

[blktoptrvl]

Originally Posted by miu

So perhaps then, it's completely in your imagination...

Perhaps, but I doubt it. What makes you think you are qualified to know if what another person senses is true or not based on their experience? Do you think your experiences trump anothers?

Originally Posted by miu

However, consider that... how can Boston fix what Boston doesn't know about?

How can Boston NOT KNOW it has a reputation as a racist city? In fact, it can't.

Harvard Gazette: Has Boston shed its racist reputation?

How is it that these folks can be aware of Boston's reputation, but you aren't?

Originally Posted by miu

But go ahead, stay in SC and continue to bash Boston. If we don't miss you, it's because Boston is way overcrowded and out-of-staters and internationals keep coming here. Shrug.

Shrug... OK. I'll go to other parts of the country and enjoy them. You stay there in Boston and enjoy it.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by blktoptrvl

Perhaps, but I doubt it. What makes you think you are qualified to know if what another person senses is true or not based on their experience? Do you think your experiences trump anothers?



How can Boston NOT KNOW it has a reputation as a racist city? In fact, it can't.

Harvard Gazette: Has Boston shed its racist reputation?

How is it that these folks can be aware of Boston's reputation, but you aren't?


Shrug... OK. I'll go to other parts of the country and enjoy them. You stay there in Boston and enjoy it.

You and I are both just making stuff up dude. Were black so of course were just making stuff up, because black people are not trustworthy and always looking to play everybody. Duh, cmon you know that!

[Amontillado]

BostonBornMassMade, I appreciate your response to my posting, but that isn't the direction this thread is going, so I won't say any more. It's an uncomfortable topic anyway.

[Better Than You]

Originally Posted by Amontillado

I'm wondering if maybe it's "politeness" that keeps us from emphasizing the racial aspect of stories like this:

Party that ended in violence evokes sad memories for mother who hosted gathering - Metro - The Boston Globe

We're seeing roads blocked by people who want to tell us that "Black lives matter", but we can't help knowing what happens among black people, and we have to wonder what black people think about it, with themselves as victims, perpetrators and (maybe) as enablers too. If "Black lives matter" then where's the effort to get illegal weapons out of the hands of young men? We can't help forming an opinion about black people based on what we hear about them--and I can't call that racist. Maybe there's some kind of "politeness" that prevents us from making an issue out of it, though. Elephant, living-room, etc.

Why is a sergeant with the Boston School Police living in the projects? Do they pay that little?

[Better Than You]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

I fit well into all parts of boston. Because as you said, I'm educated. But obviously i feel otherwise. The thing your missing is we minorities put on a face to keep white people at ease. And any successful minority knows the last thong you ever want to do os make white people uncomfortable because they run s**y and you will be worse off for it. Even here online white people are wayyy outnumber black commentators and have no problem asserting themselves. If we were to say how we really felt we'd lose everything because it would make white people uncomfortable. A LOT of black people teach their kids what to and what not to say around "WPs" we even have a white telephone voice so ppl don't know were black...this has nothing to do with Boston. Because black and latino ppl everywhere in America do this.Thats just a side note.

And a lot of white people have to teach their kids to avoid black and Hispanic neighborhoods/hangouts and other tactics based on race in order for self-preservation and survival.

[scoobydew]

Originally Posted by missionhill

Good post but you define racism too narrowly. Racism is the practice of making adverse judgments and holding adverse assumptions about other people based on race. People do that all the time and the consequences accumulate for the target groups. You don't have to be an outright bigot to be racist.

I disagree. I think your definition sprawls into what we know as bias. And I believe one can be a bigot without being a racist, but one can't be a racist without being a bigot. There are all kinds of bigots from all political ideologies. They don't all think their race is superior. They just think their opinions are always valid, and other people's are always invalid. Example: "If you're a Republican you're_______" Example: If you support gay marriage you're_________" Example: If you're white you're__________ fill in your favorite pejorative or generalization. We all do it, to some degree. I like to think that what puts me on a different plane than a bigot is that 1) I recognize that as a human I can be biased and 2), I TRY not to be as much as possible, at least when it comes to things that are important. I think what defines a bigot is how locked into their own views they are, and how dismissive they are to different views. I will add that they usually cannot offer any factual or at least significantly experiential/rational basis for the opinions they hold. I'll even go further and say I think most of us have held certain bigoted views at one point or another, but I wouldn't necessarily say that because of that we are all bigots. A bigot rises to a different level than biased. Part of my point in all of this is to make the argument that bias will never go away as long as their are human on the earth, and this pie-in-the-sky notion racial bias will ever go away is similarly unrealistic. We can't control what people think or say we can only control what people in authority DO that is discriminatory, based on FACTS. People will believe what they want to believe and if one person has racial bias, another person has ethnic bias, and another person doesn't like their neighbor because they are religious, or gay, or Republican, or for whatever reason.

Originally Posted by missionhill

You used the term "true racists" which implies deliberate, malevolent racism versus the ordinary everyday racism we all (dare I say it?) get caught up in. Most people aren't going around like Nazis thinking they are superior to other races and cultures. Calling someone a racist has way too much potency if you ask me-- like calling someone a Nazi. It's hard to live in the society we live in without participating in racism, but if you call me a racist it's grave insult.

I used the term true racist to delineate it from the way it was being used in the posts. And I agree most people aren't going around thinking their race is superior, but racism IS that belief. Whether it's overt or blatant isn't really the issue. On the other hand, every human holds biases of all kinds. At the end of the day trying to delve into someone's mindset to draw conclusive inferences about someone's character, without knowing a lot about them or observing a lot of their behavior is an extremely difficult endeavor and should be avoided. One reason it should be avoided is because doing so immediately bring the person doing the labeling to a morally inferior position which really gives him less standing to make his case. Another reason it should be avoided, I already mentioned. It lessens the potency of the word when it really does apply to a given person.

[edwardsyzzurphands]

I think I have a much different way of defining racism than most folks it seems. If a look here or there or an uncomfortable glare makes you feel like you are experiencing racism, then you truly have lived a privileged life.

I know when I look around the country and see what is happening to people that look like me (I am black) I know the situation is much more dire and there are more important race related issues to tackle before petty bulls*it like what many of us discuss much too often.

When someone tells me about certain black mecca's, I just simply ask them: Show me the black unemployment rate, show me the health outlooks for black patients vs white patients, show me how the local police departments handle confrontations with men of colour, show me the black incarceration rate, show me the black median income levels. Those are the important things that actually influence your quality of life or even having a life as a person of colour.

When I was living in NYC attending University I was told that I was living in a city that celebrated black culture and life. It sure did not stop a police officer from stopping me a few blocks away from my Ivy League Institution (See I am one of "those blacks" that supposedly has "made it" because I am educated) and slamming my head against a wall, throwing my backpack on the ground and reaching for his firearm because I "fit the description" of a robbery suspect. After that confrontation do you honestly think I gave a f*ck about being followed around a store by the owner or getting a glare at a bar?

Boston is no better or worse than other places around the country. When we start separating racist cities from supposedly non racist cities all it does is ignore the reality our community is facing around the nation and severely dumbing down the conversation. I think Boston like all cities around the country are a microcosm of the USA as a whole, in that it can be one of the best places for a black person to live in some ways and the worst in others. That is the reality.

[BostonBornMassMade]

l have experienced racial harassment from boston area police. One time I was a little suspicious eating in my cwa a burger king I guess...quick illegal car search ought to do. One time I was a potential gang member walking back toward my house with a soda. They decided to follow alongside me walking for about 30 seconds window up until they explained why. Just left a bad taste in my mouth for a while. I remember when I was 16 a supervisor at my job at FPZ who was 19 or 20 telling some of us younger kids to be wary of the police because they stopped him twice on his way to work on his street at like 8 am roughed him up and called him a punk an a b***h. I knew him well and knew he was even close to a threat, laid back dude who minded his own business and was really responsible. At worst would have had like a joint on him, maybe. But overall is say police are a mixed bag in boston. For every protest they handle peacefully and community meeting we have a Michael Doherty uber incident or even worse a Michael Cox incident (1995).

[Whatsnext75]

I don't know why this day in age police would pick on black men for no reason. I really dont. It's not good if this is happening. As a white woman I've never been bothered by them. I dont know the Michael Cox incident, but it sounds like Michael Doherty is just a complete loser and it finally came to a head at 40. He's a good looking guy so his looks probably helped him in his life. Making the salary he makes he could have done well and had a nice life but he seems to just want to be white trash. I hope he gets fired. He had the one incident with his ex and then the uber incident. It's guys like him that give cops a bad name.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Beating of Michael Cox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

His son now plays football for the NY Giants, side note.