Is Boston racist?!?!?!? (Lynn: insurance, moving, bars)

[nocturnal rooster]

There are racist people everywhere, but I don't think Boston is that racist, especially in relationship to the south or PA. I lived in PA for 3 years and geez, It was as if I never left the south. I lived in SC for 4 years.

[jcoffy]

Boston is not racism i can say it is a great elite city. sometimes people misinterpreted the notion racism and prejudice. I have been lived in Boston for 2 years and moved to Atlanta than Pittsburgh and now i have a plan to move in New England agin may be in Hartford CT. By the way it was my greatest mistake leaving Boston and i still regret this adventure. I do not know for now but it was a city to make green, great schools,theaters, and etc.

[Huckleberry3911948]

i dont know what that means. you mean there is a city in USA without racial discrimination?
do white people have a monopoly on racial hatred? do you ever see a post on CDF on racial anger in detroit or memphis or charlotte or atlanta or NO? i would like to see a whole lot less of it but that can start with you and me no? we are not born to hate, it is carefully taught and given focus by others.
i have a dream.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by vilehelm

If you get outside of Boston into the outlying cities then you'll really hear the racism come out. I heard "the N word" when I lived in Concord way more than I ever heard it in the deep south where I live now.

I live in the Deep South(near Atlanta,GA) and I have heard the "N" word alot while living here. Some idiot even stuck his head out of his truck and called me that word in public. I'm not saying it doesn't happen in Massachussetts, but the South is no better.

[CrissyLynn]

You people should call consider yourselves Lucky! I live in GA ;where black people are ALWAYS considered "N-Words" and my little sisters still have to deal with school segregation as if it was the 1950z. At the football games the white people sit on one side of the field and the black people have to sit on the other. There is a separate black-basketball cheerleading squad from the white-football cheerleading squad. If I WERE to look past the ignorant views of the people in this town and date a black, Hispanic, or any other ethnicity than my own; my family would disown me and I would be considered "white-trash"

Im moving to BOSTON... were its not so bad!

[Joe_Ryder]

Bostonians aren't racist, they look down their noses at everyone equally.

[BDuby]

Originally Posted by eevee

well, our experiences in Boston have obviously differed. like I said in my previous posts, I've very rarely experienced any sort of racism. yeah, I got a few slurs thrown out to me but mostly by drunkards. I do know however that some blacks are just more of a target than others. don't take this the wrong way (I mean no offense, I don't even know you!), but some blacks make themselves targets by the way they act and portray themselves. they hype up negative stereotypes by acting "ghetto" (ie, speaking slang, constant swearing, saying the N word every 10 seconds, etc) and this makes them targets for racists. AFAIK, I've never acted "ghetto" (indeed, I've been called an "Oreo" more than a few times in my lifetime because I spoke proper English, liked to read, preferred some rock bands over rappers, and went to a good school) so maybe I've made myself less of a target.

I'm not saying racism doesn't exist in Boston (again, I said in my previous post that racism is a problem anywhere in the world multiple races reside), but it's no where near has bad as in some parts of the country. a black man in Boston is FAR more likely to get killed by another black man in a gang related crime than by a white man in a racially motivated crime (that doesn't mean, racially motivated crimes don't happen; the Pring-Wilson case did bring this issue to light a few years ago). I think that due to the whole busing riots issue, Boston picked up this reputation as being extremely racist. do a search on this forum and see how often this question pops up here. I'd like to think Boston has shed this reputation, but when questions like this keep popping up, I wonder if it ever will

I wasn't going to respond on this thread but when I saw this post I had to. "some blacks make themselves targets by the way they act and portray themselves." That is an ignorant statement. There is no excuse for shouting racial slurs at another person. I couldn't tell you how many time I would get these white boys driving down the street yelling ****** out of the car window. Most of the time I was either at the bus stop or just walking down the street. I don't know what going to a good school has to do with someone calling you a ****** .

Boston has had this troubled history with the busing issue of the 70s. So even now people still equate Boston with racism. When I tell people I'm from Boston they are surprised. The next question is "Are there Black people up there?" Some may say Boston is no more racist than any other city but I live in the South for 10 years and never had one instance of racism like I experienced in Boston. Maybe when the Black population in Boston begins to exert some political influence then perception about the city will change.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by BDuby

I wasn't going to respond on this thread but when I saw this post I had to. "some blacks make themselves targets by the way they act and portray themselves." That is an ignorant statement. There is no excuse for shouting racial slurs at another person. I couldn't tell you how many time I would get these white boys driving down the street yelling ****** out of the car window. Most of the time I was either at the bus stop or just walking down the street. I don't know what going to a good school has to do with someone calling you a ****** .

Boston has had this troubled history with the busing issue of the 70s. So even now people still equate Boston with racism. When I tell people I'm from Boston they are surprised. The next question is "Are there Black people up there?" Some may say Boston is no more racist than any other city but I live in the South for 10 years and never had one instance of racism like I experienced in Boston. Maybe when the Black population in Boston begins to exert some political influence then perception about the city will change.

perfectly, 100% serious. call it "ignorant" if you want, but IMO, it's 100% true. unfortunately, there will always be ignorant people who will shout out racial slurs to anyone regardless of how that person carries themselves. I don't worry about these hardcore racists and would barely bat an eyelash if I heard one shout out the N-word at me.

it's the people that aren't hardcore racists, they are the ones that may harbor more racist feelings towards blacks that play up the negative aspects they perceive about blacks. I'm not excusing them, but it's true. a lot of whites may be perfectly accepting of blacks that are well educated, well spoken, well dressed, with reputable jobs and good moral compasses, but will be far less accepting of blacks that swear consistently, wear baggy jeans that drop to their knees, speak "ebonics" 100% of the time, aren't educated, live off of welfare, and generally are morally "questionable" (ie, for some, regardless of race, this can mean having a child out of wedlock).

I'm not making excuses for racists, but there is a reason why, in both the black and white community, people know and acknowledge the difference between blacks and "n%*gers". there are people who have no issues w/ the former but despise the latter. you may have white that love the "Obama" or "Bill Cosby" type of blacks and wouldn't hesitate to welcome them into a WASPY, majority white neighborhood, but would outright shun blacks that looked like thugs. and it's not just some socioeconomic issue, since there are low income blacks that don't play into the negative aspects of the black community so are fine in the eyes of whites.

so yes, I stand by my opinion that wearing baggy, drop-to-your-knees jeans and white T shirts, saying the N-word in public every 5 seconds, swearing nonstop in public, having more kids than you can care for, dropping out of schools, promoting gang life, and overall, just acting "ghetto" will make you a larger target for racists. again, not talking about the hardcore racists that hate all blacks regardless of anything else (ie, the people that shout out the N-word from cars), but the people who don't really have any outward racist feelings towards blacks, but dislike "ghetto" blacks all the same (and that dislike is translated to "racism" by most people, even though many blacks dislike "ghetto" blacks also).

no two people will ever have the exact same experience living in the same city, so I don't doubt you've experienced racism in Boston, but none in the South. people still equate Boston w/ racism b/c the busing issues were very public, but these people don't get it that nothing of that scale as happened since. as I said before, a black man in Boston is far more likely to be killed by another black man than a white man. and since people refuse to let Bostonians forget the busing saga that happened 30+ years, hope you don't forget that there were horrific, racially motivated crimes that got national attention that have happened in the South as recently as the late 90's. (and yes, I'm fully aware that racially motivated crimes have occurred in Boston too)

I live in Chicago now, and haven't run into the perception of Boston being racist. yes, the numbers of blacks that live here is small, but that doesn't automatically cry out racism. Boston has elected several black politicians, and of course the state of MA has collectively elected the 2nd black governor in history. it would be nice to see the black population in Boston, as a whole, do more to fix the issue plaguing their communities, but unfortunately, it hasn't happened yet. it takes more than protests and angry pastors speaking out, and frankly, the communities w/ the largest black population also tend to be the most crime ridden. one issue that I see (especially when comparing Boston to Chicago) is that Boston has no middle income black majority community that can be use as an example or force of influence for other majority black communities. middle income blacks tend to integrate into other, more diverse communities.

[miu]

Originally Posted by BDuby

I wasn't going to respond on this thread but when I saw this post I had to. "some blacks make themselves targets by the way they act and portray themselves." That is an ignorant statement. There is no excuse for shouting racial slurs at another person. I couldn't tell you how many time I would get these white boys driving down the street yelling ****** out of the car window. Most of the time I was either at the bus stop or just walking down the street. I don't know what going to a good school has to do with someone calling you a ****** .

Fine. But when a black person chooses to cross the street, not in a crosswalk, walking very slowly and not looking at the oncoming cars, it's going to make the people in those cars livid with rage. If you're not going to use the crosswalk and not wait for the walk signal, at least have the courtesy to walk or run quickly across the road. But what I see ALL of the time is that black people, particularly young black men, walk really really slowly when crossing the streets. As long as they keep doing that stupid nonsense, then they will keep getting cursed at by people in their cars.

Now if it's an old person or someone with an obvious handicap struggling to cross the street, then drivers will cut them slack, but again, they should be in a crosswalk. But a young person has no reason at all to be shuffling slowly across the street against traffic.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by BDuby

I wasn't going to respond on this thread but when I saw this post I had to. "some blacks make themselves targets by the way they act and portray themselves." That is an ignorant statement. There is no excuse for shouting racial slurs at another person. I couldn't tell you how many time I would get these white boys driving down the street yelling ****** out of the car window. Most of the time I was either at the bus stop or just walking down the street. I don't know what going to a good school has to do with someone calling you a ****** .

Boston has had this troubled history with the busing issue of the 70s. So even now people still equate Boston with racism. When I tell people I'm from Boston they are surprised. The next question is "Are there Black people up there?" Some may say Boston is no more racist than any other city but I live in the South for 10 years and never had one instance of racism like I experienced in Boston. Maybe when the Black population in Boston begins to exert some political influence then perception about the city will change.

Perhaps that is your experience. I am convinced that racil problems can occur all over the place and often do. Taylor County in Georgia just had their first integrated prom a few years ago. My high my have not had that problems, but I speak from experience that living in the South isn't that much better.