Is Boston racist?!?!?!? (Cambridge, Orleans, Richmond: home, rent, lease)

[smarty]

Originally Posted by jyoung666

A persons laziness and lack of motivation is what sets them back not their race!

I am not sure I agree with that statement. Many are born disadvantage. (like to a crack mom, work full time job supporting siblings, fear for their lives in Kindergarten.) instead of being lazy. In many case, there is no guidance. There are lots of peer pressure to not doing well in school. I think I see a statistic that daughter born to un-wed moms will most likely become one.
Hence, my comment regarding "is it the chicken or the egg?". It is a vicious cycle.

[nooneknowsmyname]

Originally Posted by jyoung666

Well unfortunatly I am not seening eye to eye with you on this subject! And what makes you a voice for the community, those area in which you speak of are diverse areas, including people from all races, and all religions. It is just what we call "the poor section" of the city. Not having to do anything with racism but with income.

I'm sorry but I respectfully have to disagree. When I lived in Boston, I was a university professor with a Ph D from one of the Boston areas most elite university. I was not poor, but still experienced racism as a well-educated African American professional woman. My son attended two of the most elite day schools in Cambridge from the time and he also experienced racism. Granted poor African Americans experience even more racism/elitism/classism because of their racial background and working class status. But if you think that well-educated African American professionals don't experience racism, then you need to think again. I'm not saying that the racism in Boston is worse than it is in the SF Bay Area where I currently live and work, I am just saying that there is racism in Boston.

[nooneknowsmyname]

Originally Posted by tberg224

You can't use the 'electing a governor' as proof of non racism, because the 1st state to do so was VA, a very southern good ole racists state.
That proves nothing.

I went to college in Boston, I don't know if it's racists still!
I do know that unlike DC and most east coast cities, there are VERY few Blacks by comparison, VERY FEW.

The African American population of Boston is in my view way below other cities, and in fact much less than Asian or Hispanic there.

This in turn might cause people to think Boston is racists or since it is more white, it just has a higher amount of white people's opinion without the black views to mix it out.

That said you have to wonder why Boston has such a light black population and many people from MA, NH I run across, again places were the black population is lagging, they say awful things which I consider racists but they don't consider it.
I think it comes from lack of exposure, so I again I don't know.

I agree that electing a Black governor doesn't not prove that a particular city isn't racist. But I disagree that Boston has VERY FEW Black people. Twenty-five percent isn't very few. Three percent, maybe, but not 25.

[nooneknowsmyname]

Originally Posted by ChunkyMonkey

I'm not arguing that the black population is not large. However, you have to admit it is smaller relative to other big cities. Your own numbers show that. Your NYC number is relatively small (It was 28% according to the census). However, I wonder what was the black population in the late 80s when Mayor Dinkins became the first black mayor of NYC. A huge chunk of Boston's blacks are from overseas, Africa and the Caribbean primarily, so voting strength as a bloc is weaker than most cities. That said, I think Boston is one of the most diverse cities in the country. If you look at immigrant data, its immigrants are fairly evenly distributed throughout the world recently led by Asians, South Americans and still a draw for Europeans and Canadians. So, a lot of the whites in Boston are probably Europeans. This is a contrast to a city like Washington or Atlanta that have a huge chunk of Black Americans, hence not as diverse and more segregated.

I never said that the percentage of Blacks in Boston was as large as it was in other Northeast or Midwest cities. But it isn't as small as some have suggested on this message board. Of course a lot of whites are or European origin. Boston, like NYC, Philadelphia and Chicago are cities the experienced waves of European immigrants between the late 1800's and the early decades of the 20th century. As far as the Black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean are concerned, what percentage of them aren't citizens eligible to vote? Do you know the exact numbers?

I never said that Boston wasn't diverse, nor that it didn't have many things to admire. I grew up in Massachusetts, lived in Boston for over 20 years and like the state and the city. But as an African American professional woman, I experienced racism when I lived there and I have family-- all very well educated professionals, who also experience racism, not the KKK kind, but subtle racism, nonetheless.

[nooneknowsmyname]

Originally Posted by sugarbabe23

no there isnt any racism its just an excuse for people to use.

An excuse for what?

[ChunkyMonkey]

Originally Posted by nooneknowsmyname

But as an African American professional woman, I experienced racism when I lived there and I have family-- all very well educated professionals, who also experience racism, not the KKK kind, but subtle racism, nonetheless.

Of course there's racism in Boston. I'm not arguing against that, but there's racism in every city in this country. Boston does not stand out as a racist city IMO.

[CityGirl52]

Yes, there's racism in Boston and outside of Boston I guess, now that you came to that conclusion, I would say there was and is to this day and it's not going away any time soon, let me tell you.

I grew up in Boston but it was before the busing crisis when I went to High School in Cambridge. One time as a freshman in high school, my friends and I were going to a dance at Cambridge High & Latin High School. We didn't even get near the front door. As we were walking toward the school's gym a group of black girls walked toward us and started yelling and screaming at us, asking us if we had our tickets for the dance, really harrassing us like crazy. The next thing we knew we were being attacked by 2 of them, physically and verbally, big time. Eventually, it seemed like hours, but it was only minutes, I ended up getting help from one of our black male friends we were in school with, who happened to thankfully be walking from the other direction and saw the whole thing explode; he made the girls stop because 2 of us were on the ground unconscious and he helped all of us get over across the street to the Cambridge City Hospital. (We just had little concussions & a few bruises that's about it thank God!) These girls were on a roll; let me tell you! It wasn't just us they were doing this to we found out later. The Cambridge Police ended up escorting my friends and I back to our neighborhood in Boston that night via their motorcycle parade and their cruisers with their lights flashing away. We never got in the door of that dance that we were all dying to go to. IN any case, ironically years later I was at a Diversity Class for a weekend that my company ran and what was discussed? Race in Boston and around the State and guess who was in this class? A black girl that grew up in Cambridge during that time and she explained to us that it wasn't a racial clash that was going on at that particular time but a clash between two different groups of black teens that lived beside Cambridge High & Latin that were proving themselves to each other. Well we were certainly in their paths THAT night without knowing what was going on! I had heard that back then too, but at the time we were too angry to believe it.

Through the years, I worked with plenty of wonderful black girls and we had some pretty funny conversations about growing up in the City of Boston. My experiences and my younger siblings experience are completely different though, I have to tell you. I'm glad I grew up b4 the busing crises because there anger and attitude is blatant and very upfront and oh so sad. It's not just their anger with it all back then it's crazy but I recently met a black girl in work and she was telling me her experiences with busing and going to school in Southie and what it was like for her during those years. It wasn't pretty and it was a terrible time for all those kids that grew up and experienced that whole scene back then, I feel for every one of them, let me tell you. It was a total disgrace that the politicians and people in the right places couldn't have done something about it back then or tryed to do something about it all, they let that one go right by them. HOW any one in their right mind could even think that all of that back then would or could have worked out is beyond my comprehension. In any case, I had a really good conversation with my new black friend at work, we both are living miles away from the City of Boston and came to the same conclusion, her and I. The bottom line with the whole busing scene back then? The bigger picture with it all? Was real estate & all that property in each of the neighborhoods that busing effected, I'm not living in the City of Boston because of this crises and she's not living in the City of Boston any more because of this crises, do you know or realize exactly HOW many people moved away from their beloved City of Boston due to this terrible situation the federal court put every one living there through? I'll tell you something about it back then and don't forget it because it's a fact. The City was booming during that busing crises and who do you think made out in the end? Those same exact politicians and people in the right places, that's who, they're lining their pockets good, let me tell you AND that's the bottom line with all your racial issues in the City of Boston and NO one, NO one is going to change MY mind or HERS either. Here we are years later, we're each white AND black and we have the same exact opinion on this one all the way AND it's not changing our minds, one iota!

[aiightitsALLIEohsnap!]

No, Boston isnt Racist; there is a lot of white people, but it is not racist. I think youd love it there.

[LAX_Airport]

I posted an Ad in a personals section of Boston. Well, I was surprised. The women like me and not just the black ones. I am black and may move to Boston.
However I didn't know about the history of Boston. I am not pre-judging Boston, but I am posting an article that I found for others to use.

"June 23, 2004
Barry Bonds vs. Boston
"A Flea Market of Racism"

By DAVE ZIRIN

The media and sports radio establishment of Boston are calling for the head of All-World baseball player Barry Bonds...

I found this at: Is Boston racist?!?!?!?

Hope this helps for people who may want to move to Boston. "My advice is to just see it, and experience it for yourself, then go from there. "

Thats how we do it in California.

[ChunkyMonkey]

This article simply shows that Boston was racist in the 50s and 60s. Well, so was every city in the country.