Why is Boston so famous for its racism?! (Wellesley: health, job)

[timberline742]

Sigh, if you want to be offended, go ahead and be offended. It is your right. This is silly.

[The_General]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Clearly it was not.


And even more clearly, it wasn't saying all Irish, including you (and me) are racist, which was your next jump:





BJimmy summed it up as to the intent:




It was to the history of the perception.

That is absolutely you interpretation. I'm reading a quote and you are interpreting you're own thoughts on that quote.

So The Irish isn't all Irish, who is it talking about then, that's your interpretation. Is one guy in West Roxbury "The Irish"

[bjimmy24]

Ruth4Truth has no idea the trouble she has caused!

[klaucka]

Originally Posted by xo_kizzy_xo

Absolutely, positively this.

The story of the Irish in these parts doesn't differ much from others' stories re arriving in this area. Back then it was more ethnic wars than racism. I remember my mother telling me in the town where she grew up, those of a particular ethnicity lived here, another ethnicity lived there, while another neighborhood was "mixed" and nobody from the first two would ever set foot there. Nor would anyone living in the first two dare trespass into each other's enclave.

There's also the "distrusting of outsiders" trait. Some ethnic groups are better known for this than others.

I would agree with this ethnic wars statement. My Lithuanian grandfather who lived in Dorchester (a Lithuanian haven until the 70s) would always rant about how horrible the Irish were (throwing rocks, getting jumped and beat up) if they ever stepped foot in Southie. He kept up these rants his whole life and would love to tell these stories at holiday parties to try to incite my other Irish grandfather. Nothing would change his mind, not even his half Irish grandchildren. Everyone he ever discussed had their ethnicity / race attached when he mentioned the name, no exception, and it was very much an us v. all of them mentality. He did not have one friend that was not Lithuanian, and they were very social people that hung out only at the "Lithy Club". Of course he applied this to black people as well, but he didnt dislike them more than any other group - he disliked everyone that wasnt Lithuanian. However, he did have a special place of hatred in his heart that was held exclusively for the Irish, probably because they ruled politics and the unions during this time period.
- oh and because he claimed they threw rocks at him .

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Pretty awful comparison, as the major waves of immigration of these groups don't correlate with the Irish.

I don't even know what this means...can you explain?

[stanley-88888888]

i give her the benefit of the doubt since she i one of a dozen or so good posters (opposed to the thousand other trolls on this site). several responding to this thread are part of those dozen that i try to rep as often as i can.

but re-reading it i kinda' see the-generals point of view. perhaps she'll come back and expand...

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by stanley-88888888

i thought she was saying that the irish were originally marginalized by society.

Yeah, big time! How was that not clear? Before Black slavery was "invented", the Irish were in that role. The reason color-coded slavery was invented, was because when the Irish servants escaped, they were too hard to identify in a crowd, because they blended in. So somebody had the "bright idea" ( ) of importing free, forced labor of a clearly distinguishable race.

Eventually, the Irish were able to "move on up", and shed some of the stigma of their past. But not entirely (until more recent times), as the Kennedy candidacy for President demonstrated, loud and clear. The whole debate was couched in terms of concern over a "Catholic" gaining the Presidency, but many people (especially, I assume, the Irish) knew what "Catholic" was code for. Even in my lifetime, some of Canada's Irish were still in the role of house-servants.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

No the perception IS that Irish people are racist. This comes from the 1970s/80s. IN the 1860s/1870 the WASPS cities every where were anti-immigrant period. Whether it was the Germans, Irish, or later on the Italians, Poles and Jews This " Irish were oppressed narrative" is not unique to the Irish *big eye roll* and only people in Boston think it is...

That's true, Italianswrre lynched in New Orleans and almost cause a war, and my grandfather was told never to speajItaluan in Public. However none of that is unique to Boston.

[Calvert Hall '62]

Originally Posted by Infinite_heights77

I mean, the city of perceived to me a very racist city. Is it overblown or sensationalist?

Stirring up the marshmallows again.

[OutdoorLover]

I am not saying that racism doesn't exist here, but on the other hand, it exists everywhere. As far as the great fame of Boston as the most racist place on earth though - can't say I am aware of that fame or that I put much stock in it. Anecdotes, even if perfectly true, are kind of meaningless when you're trying to describe a society as a whole, by the way.