Is Boston racist?!?!?!? (Somerville, Orleans, Merrimac: income, income tax, living)

[Bostonian08]

Originally Posted by vivabigpapi

If they're using that as a basis to say Boston's racist, then I guess LA's racist too, look at what happened to Rodney King.

I remember a lady who came here from Chicago giving a lecture who started her lecture with the words "Chicago is the most racist city in America..." It seems no matter where you go you will hear the same thing. Whether it's the recent riots in Paris, the shooting and sodomy in NYC, Katrina, casual use of the N word in southern cities, Tawana Brawley or Mumia, everyplace is racist to somebody.

There's no doubt that stupid people of any race are likely to be ignorantly prejudiced. Stupid people behave stupidly, regardless of skin color. Frankly I believe about 80% of the population is stupid and the rest of us just have to suffer their bad manners.

[Pushup]

Crock of s**t. Bostonian08 is right on. Any city could be classified as racist, but they are not. People are racist and they populate every corner of the earth. Boston is rather progressive and diverse. This rep. it has gotten from busing is pathetic.

[beautycovergirl]

Is it true that Boston is fairly racist..towards foreigners.. and that the living expenses are fairly high..one of the most expansive places to livein america? In regards of owning your own car and the taxes!

Ps.. I also heard that if a african american were to walk down the street on the south/north end of boston which if fulled with italians / irish, they'll be some discomfort.

[Bostonian08]

We seriously need an FAQ around here ...

[eevee]

no, no, no, NO! jeez, is this city EVER going to live down that whole bussing issue and lose the undeserved racist label?

look, I'm a born and raised Bostonian, lived in the city for 23 years. I'm black, and very, very rarely ever encountered any sort of racism. does it exist in the city? of course, racism sadly exist anywhere and everywhere multiple races reside. but I've never felt unsafe walking in the North or South End b/c of my race. indeed, the South End probably has the highest population of gays in Boston, so I'd say they're fairly tolerant. and the North End is, IMO, a giant yuppyfied tourist trap w/ lots of Italian resturants, but few actual Italians (well, maybe a few, but they're outnumbered by the yuppies). now, growing up, I've heard stories about South Boston (note: South Boston and the South End are 2 entirely different areas) about it being very racist. I've never heard of any specific events in the past years to verify this. it does have Boston's highest population of white Irish Catholics, a high number of low income whites, and a few Whitey Bulger loyalists (from what I've heard), but the area is rapidly gentrifying (for better or worse depending on who you ask) and is far more welcoming.

considering the huge student and immigrant population, I'd say Boston is cool w/ foreigners. don't know where you'd get the idea it wasn't. Boston area colleges, hospitals, and businesses attract people to the city from all over the globe, people who've blended in nicely w/ the locals. the city is not crazy diverse, but is welcoming

I know the movie "The Departed" makes Boston looks like it hasn't changed a bit since those riots, but, trust me, it has. to be perfectly, truthfully blunt, as a black person, you have a FAR greater chance of being killed by another black person in certain areas of this city than you do of falling victim to a hate crime. Boston's major issues are rooted in gang violence (and maybe a dash of mob violence thrown in for flavor).

yes, the COL in Boston is high; no, it's not the highest in the nation- NYC, SF, San Diego, and LA still has us beat in that department. not sure why this still surprises people, in this day and age of census reports and rankings (just google it and you'll see Boston falls w/in the top 10, but not really in the top 3). however, w/ the exception of NYC, Boston beats out the CA cities in the department of public transport. I have no clue how high car expenses are because I never even bother getting a driver's license while living in the city. Boston has a marvelous public transport that makes owning a car somewhat unnecessary (lots of people take part in car renting services like Zipcar for trips requiring a car). between the MBTA, commuter rail/boats, buses, and Amtrak, you're pretty covered in terms of transport

[eevee]

Originally Posted by Bostonian08

We seriously need an FAQ around here ...

you know, I'm in Chicago now and visit the Chicago board, and they have a stickied thread that's basically a FAQ w/ threads covering the most asked question to keep redundant threads at a minimum. I wish the Boston board had something similar, listing threads and links that talk about certain neighborhoods, public transportation, colleges, crime, and basic info. a nice little FAQ would be swell, so long as people actually searched the forum or read that thread first

[ogre]

Excellent post by Eevee. This covers it very accurately, and in good detail. Like Eevee, I'm guessing that there was some confusion between the South End and South Boston (known locally as Southie), which are different neighborhoods. Southie, like a number of other Boston neighborhoods, has traditionally been an area of longtime local residents with a very insular culture. The general tendency in these neighborhoods is that they're not very friendly toward anyone, of any race, from outside the neighborhood. I don't mean they're going to physically attack an outsider who wanders through, just that they may be a little cool toward those who aren't from the neighborhood. It's exactly the same phenomenon you see with longtime residents of small towns being mistrustful of outsiders.

The thing about those neighborhoods is that they're scattered around the city, mostly outside of the central city area around downtown. This means that you're very unlikely ever to have any reason to go to these neighborhoods, unless maybe you're driving through on your way to somewhere else. In and near downtown, where you're likely to spend your time, you shouldn't have any problems any more than you might encounter anywhere.

One note on cost of living: Eevee covered it well, but I would like to add that taxes in MA right now aren't as bad as people sometimes think. It's not a low-tax state, but it ranks kind of in the middle for taxes, rather than near the top. It is true that people keep saying the new governor, who has been in office about a year and a half, wants to raise taxes, but it hasn't happened yet. It's also true that you'll pay a lot in fees of one sort or another, such as parking meters (or garages), tolls when driving across bridges and through tunnels, and on the Turnpike, etc., but taxes themselves are lower than they are in many states.

[willdufauve]

Originally Posted by ogre

The general tendency in these neighborhoods is that they're not very friendly toward anyone, of any race, from outside the neighborhood. I don't mean they're going to physically attack an outsider who wanders through, just that they may be a little cool toward those who aren't from the neighborhood.

Disagree. A black person walking around southie might experience more than a little coolness.

[pushkinswife]

There was a thread about this a while back. I was looking to relocate to Boston at the time. Do a search in this forum for "racist" and you should find it. I am still open to relocating I just have to go where I get a job offer.

[Bostonian08]

Originally Posted by willdufauve

Disagree. A black person walking around southie might experience more than a little coolness.

But certainly no more than a white person shopping in Mattapan Sq or on the streets of Harlem. Mostly it's just an issue of running into a kook. Frankly I think a young AA person is safer in Castle Island than on Blue Hill Ave and certainly more so than Geneva St.

West Broadway has plenty of racial diversity in the public housing. And people of every race creed and color populate castle Island everyday.