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I chose Boston simply because it's something people feel more viscerally and passionately about when they doncare. And it's a muuuuuuch longer lasting stain on the city.
Chicago has the notoriety but it doesn't really effect tourism or Chicagos status perceptions of it's offerings a city. The racism really has the effect shrinks Boston into a “racist college town” when it's really much much more than that. You have people that really just see Boston as a small white irrelevant city of racists fans when in reality the cultural tapestry/diveristy is one of the richest in the US.
Whitpeople aren't refusing to visit Chicago because of the crime-plenty white tourist in Chicago at all times. You can't say that about blacks (or even minorities) and Boston.
In the last paragraph, a loooot of my family and people I know wont even touch Chicago because of the shootings. Some will even skip an OHare connection.
Luckily with my awesome data skillz ive convinced a lot of people that Chicago is awesome.
I grew up in the only black plurality town in Bostons MSA surrounded by towns that were all at the time 90%+ white. We got a flood people from the City of Bostons neighborhoods in the early mid 2000s because of the effects on how bad it was...
Nothing special about Boston there. Cities all across the country experienced black flight in the 90s and 2000s.
Still not sure what that has to do with Boston and surrounding areas being more culturally hostile to some minorities than other major cities and their suburbs.
Census data show a significant number of people from neighboring cities commute to/from Boston proper, which suggests the city has strong econmic influence that goes well beoynd its borders that suburbs are highly dependent upon.
I'm also quite certain everyone in suburban Boston roots for Boston's teams, uses Boston's airport, a signfiicant number of them shop in Boston, they watch Boston TV stations and listen to Boston radio stations.
That's what you think qualifies as a functional extension? Commuting for work and Bosotn media? Lol...maybe in places devoid of local culture. It think thats an absolutely terrible argument. So much more to the culture than that. Regardless they don't live in and vote in Boston.
And no I don't think a significant amount of them shop in Boston -actually I know they don't. Not from outside immediately adjacent cities. Far more jobs outside of Boston than in Boston itself, and many radio stations serving suburbs come from Worcester or Providence or the Cape.
But please tell us more about how our city functions
That's what you think qualifies as a functional extension?
To an outsider, it's all that counts.
No one outside of Greater Boston cares what police or fire department you call for an emergency, what school district you go to, or who you pay your property taxes to. It's all "Boston."
Nothing special about Boston there. Cities all across the country experienced black flight in the 90s and 2000s.
Still not sure what that has to do with Boston and surrounding areas being more culturally hostile to some minorities than other major cities and their suburbs.
Boston might be unique in how deep the concentration of Black sin two towns- Randolph and Brockton -is.
In 2017 there were 2x as many black homebuyers in Brockton than Boston- despite Boston being 7x larger. Might not be able to find that in any other metro in the US.
No one outside of Greater Boston cares what police or fire department you call for an emergency, what school district you go to, or who you pay your property taxes to.
Okay to an outsider... but to those of us there its a major difference, because the quality of those services and their hiring practices are very very important.
Nothing special about Boston there. Cities all across the country experienced black flight in the 90s and 2000s.
Still not sure what that has to do with Boston and surrounding areas being more culturally hostile to some minorities than other major cities and their suburbs.
Before I respond further I’d like you to define what you mean when you say Boston is culturally hostile
Okay to an outsider... but to those of us there its a major difference, because the quality of those services and their hiring practices are very very important.
But this thread is about an outsider perception of Boston.
Nothing special about Boston there. Cities all across the country experienced black flight in the 90s and 2000s.
Still not sure what that has to do with Boston and surrounding areas being more hostile to some minorities than other major cities and their suburbs.
It doesnt. Boston really is no different than any other metro, probably is more equitable than a lot of cities including some big ones that I would never name on this thread because the boosters would get so bent out shape.
But the issue stems from the City of Boston. Its classism. Its horrid public schooling. Ithe 1990 case where the guy said “a black guy shot my wife!!!” When he did. White guys from dorchester beating up black guys in the 1980s. The bussing riots of the 1976-1977 school year. The corrupt and absolutely destructive BPD. While you look over and see flowers and dandilions in the suburbs. My mom grew up with a black kid from Mattapan in her hometown during the bussing crisis. Yes one black kid out of 700 kids. The city of Boston was BAD. And all the situations kept adding up, and the residents of the city of Boston were outwardly racist and confrontational about it. The exact opposite outside the city of Boston
I mean in the 1980s what Northern City did you see have a white family yell on Channel 5 news that they “didnt want the N** going to school with their kids”. ??? I mean Boston was pretty damn racist back then and continued for quite some time. It was highly publicized and Bostonians didnt seem to care. And I havent even gotten to the systematic flaws of the city of Boston that propelled this.
Now Boston NEEDS to overcompensate for the damage they did to their name and more importantly, the community.
In summary part of Bostons racist reputation stems from the suburbs and city in such polar opposite vortexes. Also, it didnt just start with the African Americans... bostons racist reputation goes back to Jews in the 50s-70s, Irish in the early 1900s and Italians around the Great Depression from the Brahmin foll. Theres always been a sentiment in Boston of classism and certain groups thinking they are better than another.. and its been like this since the 1700s. It kind of just evolved.
Before I respond further I’d like you to define what you mean when you say Boston is culturally hostile
Yeah I would say it's culturally exclusive and segregated. Not hostile, no. But the segregation isn't welcoming to outsiders who can't find any place that feels like they won't stick out. And I get that
But you can easily argue exclusion and segregation is a form of hostility and id accept that.
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