sports bar question (Boston, Cambridge: crimes, houses, neighborhoods)
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I wanted to watch the NFL this weekend at Stadium sports bar in S. Boston, but a co-worker is telling me it is not "black friendly" in S. Boston (which I have heard before) just want to see what I would experience there as a black female.
thanks!
cool, thanks, boston mark! I think you replied to my post about sportsbars earlier this month and mentioned stadium sports bar? when I mentioned it to a co-worker, she's like-ugh, you don't want to go there, it's not "black friendly". I just want to check out different places and watch football, not worry about whether I'm in the "wrong" part of town or "wrong" bar.
it doesn't hurt I date white guys either, I suppose, but you never know! perhaps I'll brave it! my biggest problem may be my team as opposed to my skin color! ha!
Boston's reputation as a backazzwards and racist city was well deserved at one time, but there's been huge improvement in just the past decade or so. I could once count on getting profiled and stopped by the police in Cambridge or Boston for being a paleface in a community "of color" or for walking down the street in "mixed company." That hasn't happened for years.
Sports Depot is in a diversely-populated community, and has a predominantly but far from entirely Caucasian clientele. No one bats an eye when my "TGIF" group of friends rolls in. Our long-standing joke is that we're a family: there's a Black side, a "high yella" side (one of us is B/W biracial with light complexion), and a "way high yella" side (the White folks.) As recently as the '80s in much of Beantown, a collection of people like that would be lucky to not be subjected to more than dirty looks and relocated seats. Today nobody thinks twice. The most ignorant assumption made - and it's made fairly often - is that we're a group of co-workers; the thinking is that folks who are that much not alike on the outside must've met by being at the same job. That's pretty harmless.
As much as things change, a lot of people are held back by what they remember. I didn't live in Boston until late 1979, but the cross-district school busing debacle during the middle years of that decade was heavily reported throughout the country. In theory, segregation and educational inequality would soon be remedied by having some children from all-White Charlestown and South Boston transported to schools in all-Black Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods, and vice-versa. The reality was of course far different. Whether part of the stampede to parochial schools and South Shore suburbs or not, many residents of "Southie" and Charlestown brought an ugly name to themselves and their communities by their behavior. Buses were pelted with bricks and stones, racial brawls happened every day, and the entire city was on edge. Woe betide anyone of any shade who was caught in the "wrong" part of town. There were hate crimes perpetrated by each side against the other which were shocking enough to be recalled to this day, to say nothing of the thousands of less remarkable but still unfortunate incidents that occurred. Folks beyond a certain age continue to associate Southie in particular with that era. But time and gentrification have made that community a very different place socially. A lot of the row houses and old factory buildings of the "Lower End" are now occupied by non-native yuppies who don't have the baggage of the '70s in their heads. And something I learned a long time ago is, most individuals are in the "movable middle" without strong feelings one way or the other. They go with the flow. If the thing to do is smash school bus windows and scream racial slurs, they're there; if what's cool is to accept somebody regardless of who or what they are, they're there with that too. No South Boston native that I've met hasn't been a warm and open-minded person to anyone they deal with. And a lot of that is a byproduct of the tense times three decades ago. Those who were always "color blind" in their thinking, or in the movable middle, are perceptibly eager to counteract what's assumed about them and their "town." As for the haters, they've mostly either relocated or keep to themselves. But still, I'm one of those who remembers. And with all that said, a watering hole in South Boston is not where I'd point an AA person to regardless of the progess that's happened.
thanks goyguy-I ended up going downtown, but even today, racism exists. I find it hard to believe that white people can relate to what blacks go through. but that said, I don't want to get off the t in S Boston, walk to the bar and have people call me names ("n" word) on the streets. (this is what my co-worker said would happen if i go there). I don't have time for racist people. I just live my life and if i want to go to a bar and enjoy the game, it shouldn't matter what color I am. I feel that if you (not you, personally) don't like it then simply look away!
I don't want to get off the t in S Boston, walk to the bar and have people call me names ("n" word) on the streets. (this is what my co-worker said would happen if i go there).
I seriously doubt that would happen. I am white, half my family comes out of South Boston. About 5 years ago I lived in Southie and had a black girlfriend and two black coworkers who came over all the time and didn't have a problem. Another friend who is Brazilian works there and has never had a problem in 6 years or so in that job.
I won't say every single person in South Boston is a paragon of progressive values, and the place did not bathe itself in glory in past decades, but things have definitely changed there and I would not expect hostility just for walking the streets or going to a bar to watch the game. I think your coworker is living in a 1970's time warp. I've seen the same thing in New York neighborhoods that were synonymous with racism 20 years ago but are much more diverse today, and the vibe is not the same. I have an African-born friend with a Dominican wife and they live in Bensonhurst and get along fine with everyone.
It's taken almost 400 years too long but there is some progress in America. I wouldn't listen to people who haven't set foot in South Boston in 30 years, if ever, but think they know what's up there today.
sorry for the late reply-but thanks holden125. I am from CO originally and feel very comfortable there, as far as racial treatment goes.
But an interesting thing I discovered was I was treated worse in San Diego, San Fran, and S Carolina (I know, big shock!) My experiences in Boston have been pleasant for the most part.
That occured to me after I posted. Just don't wear any Giants gear.
I was thinking the same thing! Don't wear any gear sporting the emblems of non-Boston teams. If you go to a sports bar and not rooting for the enemy teams, you do just fine.
One of my black co-workers lives with his family somewhere in South Boston. I don't think that he's ever had a problem walking around that area.
Another suggestion, since it seems like you'd like to go on your own and without a friend, is to go early, sit at the bar and to get to know your bartender. Try to bond with him or her. Ask their opinion on their menu, then tip well. That way you have a buddy in there to look out for you.
Of course, being a woman and going alone, no matter what your race, always use your commonsense around drunken men.
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