Is Boston racist?!?!?!? (Worcester, Cambridge, Somerville: housing, condo, rent)

[gravity]

Boston is a nice town, beautiful and very unique. However, aside from going to college there Boston to me is more racist than other places I have lived.

I have been followed in stores there (blatantly) and my brother has been called a racially charged word there twice by white guys in a car. I went to college in Boston but had ZERO plans for staying there. Most of my other colleagues also headed straight outta Boston because for young professionals of color Boston was not the way to go. This is my personal opinion. To me Boston has establishment feeling that says "Whites Only" but w/o the sign.

It also interesting to read other posters mentioning MA's Black governor. Just b/c there is a Black gov. does not mean racism still doesn't exist. If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama should get into office as President will we all say sexism or racism no longer exists in America?

Here is an interesting article I found and read way back when on the situation:
Written in 2002 but is still very much relevant
Resources: Database: "Divided We Stand. Is Boston Racist?" Boston Magazine (November 2002)

Another:
Mayor lauded on city's race issues - The Boston Globe

***You may have to copy and paste link..don't know how to conform it.

[CityGirl52]

One time I was in the Financial District heading up Summer Street to Filene's when it was there and I walked through the first floor of Filene's just near the make up counters and 3 black kids literally shoved me out of the way up against one of the counters and yelled really really loud "Out of the way Irish B****, We're the N****** in town so move!"

I don't think I'll ever forget it for as long as I live because it caught me off guard, I couldn't believe it! The sales people were beside themselves trying to help me and kept asking me if I was all right and all that, of course I was, just shocked that it even happened! I was like, "how did they know I was Irish?" I mean I've got Irish heritage of course, but I'm an American born and raised, so see that, see how ignorant people can be! I have to tell you guys, the security guard flew over to this commotional scene & escorted the 3 black "gentlemen" that they were supposed to be, right outside, in two seconds flat!

So don't just think it's whites against blacks in Boston when it comes to racism in the city because it's NOT, trust me! In all the years living in & being raised in the city of Boston I never had that happen before in my life! It was terrible, I can't imagine doing that to ANY ONE, no matter where they came from, it was a disgrace, they were so rude and ignorant, so see how appearance & looks and especially ACTIONS can be perceived!!! So for the longest time walking through Downtown Crossing I was waiting for it to happen again and it never did thank God!

[willdufauve]

Racism is a mental illness. You obviously didn't like it having the shoe on the other foot (and you shouldn't have had to). Until the culture addresses it's racism, everyone loses.

[seatown1967]

Originally Posted by BlackMoses

Being that I lived in ALL kinds of neighborhoods in Boston.. i'll say my two cents.

Is Boston racist in the "KKK" way? No. But is Boston racist in the way the city is planned way? YES!!

The racism is more or less due to the way the city is planned. If you're white and you live in a white neighborhood, OF COURSE YOU WONT EVER SEE RACISM OR ACKNOWLEDGE IT! But if you're Black/Latino and live in a Black/Latino neighborhood, you'll see how things like job opportunities, entrepenurialism, and how much your neighborhood is runned down and how EASILY expendible you and your neighborhood are when investors want to "gentrify" it are so blatantely evident.

People want to believe that the East Coast/NorthEast is some "haven" from racism because of its liberal stereotype, but that is NOT the case at all since there's a city called Boston that SWEEPS its issues under a rug. If you're black/latino and live in a black/latino neighborhood, you'll feel how the city subliminally shows that they do not care about your neighborhood.

Boston is definitely the most racially-organized city in the Country... this coming from someone who has moved all around the US... it's like as if you feel the inequality, but if you bring it up, you feel like it was all an illusion, simliar to the crime rate and yet people STILL have the mentality that "it doesn't happen" and/or "it's not as bad as ______ (insert another city)"... Boston is known for turning the other cheek.

But yes, Boston is NOT "KKK" racist, but rather Racist in the way where this isn't a city for minorities due to lack of opporunities in ALL aspects.

i like Boston and I really didnt see everything I am reading about. My Father lives in Fitchburg, Ma and my Wife from Maine but after reading this and that 4 page comment it makes me wonder what i will be in for when I move to EC, I just like living in mixed areas like we do know best school in town etc, by the way I am Black and wife White.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by JiminCT

Here's a game...count the black fans at Fenway who are not playing on the diamond. That alone should tell you enough about Boston.

It doesn't tell you about Boston as much as about economic disparities in America and the cost of tickets to sporting events. I've been at plenty of games at Yankee Stadium and it's the same thing in the lower tier, where the prices are the same or higher as at tiny Fenway. One of the NY tabloids a few years back had a picture of a buzzer-beating shot at a Knicks game on the back cover. All the players on the court were black but the only black person among the 1000 faces in the crowd in that picture was Spike Lee.

[willdufauve]

The Fenway neighborhood itself has been racially mixed and everyone pretty much got along good for as long as I can remember, which goes back 35 years. One of the most mellow, race-friendly, glbt-friendly neighborhoods in Boston at the time.The black people I know don't think Fenway Park, for a game, especially in the bleachers, is where they want to spend any time no matter what color the players are. I don't think I've ever known a black person who cared about baseball but I imagine some exist somewhere.

We used to sell some parking spaces for the games, strictly suburban and white, paranoid half to death about being in a real Boston neighborhood, see the game and get out of the area ASAP.

[seatown1967]

Originally Posted by Cauzinariot

I just moved to the Maryland/D.C. area last year after living in Boston for the last 22 years. The segregation and casual racism down here shocked the Hell out of me. I have lived many areas in Boston and have never encountered racism like this. Yet people I've met say Boston is racist. Personally I'm confused. I don't think of myself as an ignorant "colorblind" type, I mean when I got down here the racism level hit me instantly. Is it possible for me to have been amongst rampant racism in Boston and have never noticed it? I mean, I have seen the racism among police and public officials frequently but I always figured that was a nation-wide thing. General people didn't seem too racist... Maybe they wait until I'm not around.... I can think of isolated cases, but they were always by already well-known *******s, and it always stirred a huge reaction---like it was NOT an accepted thing. So... I mean, I don't have too many white friends up there but when I talked to them about the situation down here they were all angry and shocked. So, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe the racists in Boston are just much better at hiding it. But I guess it depends where you go. I lived in Brighton, J.P., Roslindale, East Boston, and Cambridge. It may be different in Southie or something.

Thank you for all you said, I like The Boston area being from Seattle and living in Tulsa, Ok, after coming up there this summer I didnt see or feel Boston and the surrounding area was that way, I always felt people up there were much more bright then that, I will keep cheer for the Sox and Celtics, I hope everything I have read is not true about that wonderful city.

[seatown1967]

Is Boston a Racist place are not? When I tell people that I want to move back to the EC they say you are crazy, I hear that it from mostly whites who say people are mean and etc. But i disagree but after reading all these comments I wonder? My wife is from Maine, I have family in Western Mass and NH I just didnt see of feel it believe me I would know, my family make is Black, White, Indian and Irish and PRico. So I hope when my Daughter who is very very smart gets ready for College in the EC (Boston) area what should I tell her?

[seatown1967]

Originally Posted by gravity

Boston is a nice town, beautiful and very unique. However, aside from going to college there Boston to me is more racist than other places I have lived.

I have been followed in stores there (blatantly) and my brother has been called a racially charged word there twice by white guys in a car. I went to college in Boston but had ZERO plans for staying there. Most of my other colleagues also headed straight outta Boston because for young professionals of color Boston was not the way to go. This is my personal opinion. To me Boston has establishment feeling that says "Whites Only" but w/o the sign.

It also interesting to read other posters mentioning MA's Black governor. Just b/c there is a Black gov. does not mean racism still doesn't exist. If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama should get into office as President will we all say sexism or racism no longer exists in America?

Here is an interesting article I found and read way back when on the situation:
Written in 2002 but is still very much relevant
Resources: Database: "Divided We Stand. Is Boston Racist?" Boston Magazine (November 2002)

Another:
Mayor lauded on city's race issues - The Boston Globe

***You may have to copy and paste link..don't know how to conform it.

Thanks for that.

[willdufauve]

If you're in a city of a million people, and only one racism incident happens that year but it happens to you, then to you, it's a racist city - even though the odds were one in a million.

The other 999,999 people don't think it's a racist city.

Individual experience has a lot to do with it. If you're 6'4" and 275 pounds, probably no one will hassle you. If you're small, not affluent, or not very lucky, you might have a different experience of the racial scene.

I don't know how many racist incidents, of what kind, make a place racist but some places truly are worse than others for reasons of history, economics, or whatever. You listen to it all and do what feels right to you.