Is Boston worth living? (Ipswich, Medway: 2014, insurance, condo)

[professeurpablo]

I'd go out on a limb and say that a lot of areas outside the core are extremely diverse. Perhaps the scale and scope are a bit different than New York, but the same holds true there as it does here. The core of Manhattan is not nearly as diverse as Queens for example. In Boston, the inner core area is quite wealthy and white, but when you move to outer areas of Boston and its surrounding cities, the story is quite different. Just a few examples: north of town, you have Somerville, especially the eastern part, as well as Malden, Everett, Revere and Chelsea, and south or southwest of downtown, you have Roslindale, Hyde Park, Milton, Quincy and Randolph, just to name a few spots.

[MassNative2891]

Originally Posted by mialia

I beg to differ on the racist thing- I am white. Very Irish ancestry white, and yes - there is racism in Boston. No one is going to call you the "N" word, but there is that mentality of "oh no, a black family moved in next door." Personally, I am NOT racist, but I see stuff like this all the time from my friends and family. I see white people on the red line not standing near black people. I hardly ever see black people hanging out with white people. I observe racism from whites towards blacks, asians, and hispanics alot. I think part of the reason why I do notice this is primarily because I spent a long time living in New York City where people are not racist, and there is alot more diversity.

One of my friends is from South Korea and another from Taiwan. Both live in Cambridge - They've both told me stories of being randomly called a <---insert that derogatory word that rhymes with "stink," while walking around Chinatown. SERIOUSLY???????

As much as I like to go on about how non-racist Boston is, you are right in your explanation. However I think it shows itself more in segregation than the In-Your-Face xenophobia in other places. The town I live in is the most diverse in MA and get's crapped on by most of City-Data religiously.

If an incident happens in Randolph, Everett, Stoughton, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Roslindale, or Revere people act like it's the MA version of Compton all of a sudden.

Speaking to what I know, the 3 recent homicides in Randolph in the last 5-6 years have involved all out of towners, not all minorities either.

That being said, around the South Shore (at least that I know of) everyone gets along pretty well. That POV may be due to me going to Blue Hills (Regional School) though. My cousin went to a D1 school out of RHS and experienced a culture shock due to the lack of Black People and Asians. It was hilarious to me, since I didn't experience it.

From grade school I went to schools that were proportional in race up until HS. Almost the entire minority population (Black, Asian, Latino, etc.) came from either Randolph, Holbrook, Canton or Milton; mostly Randolph and Milton. Meanwhile the Caucasian kids from Braintree and Westwood would say things like "OMG, I can't believe you live in Randolph; i'm not even allowed to drive through there". Tell that to people that have actually been to the town and it's comical.

[mialia]

....I'm from the Westwood/Medfield/Walpole/Foxboro area, and YES - that is exactly correct. These towns are atleast 95% white and get a big fat zero with diversity.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by mialia

....I'm from the Westwood/Medfield/Walpole/Foxboro area, and YES - that is exactly correct. These towns are atleast 95% white and get a big fat zero with diversity.

Yes, but NYC also has its fair share of very white suburbs.

On the flip side, both NYC and Boston are also diverse in many places. Randolph has already been mentioned. Personally, I currently live in Roslindale, and I used to live in Allston/Brighton and both are very diverse neighborhoods.

[scratchie]

Originally Posted by johnathanc

I will admit that there seems to be fewer blacks in professional positions compared to NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, DC and perhaps Houston.

This right here speaks to the racism in Boston. It's not always obvious or explicit, but it's there. I worked professional high-tech jobs in Boston for 14 years and had virtually no black co-workers (the ones who were in the same software development roles as me weren't African-American, either; they were African or West Indian). There are large stretches of the city -- most of the "nice" parts -- where you hardly see a black face. The contrast between Boston and NYC in this regard is obvious. Somebody else said that the segregation in Boston is due to economic reasons, well, that's a sign of racism right there. Either it's impossible to get a good job as a black person in Boston or else those who do move out as soon as they can (or both). And don't even get me started on the suburbs. As I said, you won't necessarily encounter much explicit, obvious racism in Boston, but there are plenty of nice suburbs, close to the city, where the black population is less than 5%.

[scratchie]

Originally Posted by iAMtheVVALRUS

I used to live in Allston/Brighton and both are very diverse neighborhoods.

I lived in Allston for years and hardly saw any African-Americans except for Mr. Butch. Plenty of Haitians and Brazilians (and tons of Latinos and Asians of course) but almost no black Americans.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by scratchie

I lived in Allston for years and hardly saw any African-Americans except for Mr. Butch. Plenty of Haitians and Brazilians (and tons of Latinos and Asians of course) but almost no black Americans.

So diverse means black? Don't forget about the large Korean population and Russian too in Brighton and Allston. Also, there are some African Americans too. Allston is pretty divserse.

[scratchie]

No, diverse doesn't mean "black" specifically, but it's hard to say that a neighborhood is *truly* diverse if one of the largest ethnic groups in the city doesn't live there. There's no denying that when you talk about white and black Americans, most of Boston (and Massachusetts) is still extremely segregated.

[mdovell]

But this is not to say that there have not been attempts.

Metco Program - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

I think the program works but it addresses the symptoms and not the disease. Those that attend such schools no doubt will have a higher chance to attend higher education. From higher education is more mobility and that means leaving.

What is at issue is some of the compounding and the outright lack of businesses to have a skin the game. When high school dropouts have children they are more apt to drop out just as when people attend higher education it means that their children are more likely to attend. Businesses seem to be more likely to move overseas then invest in our own communities even though US contract laws are much better than anywhere else on the planet.

Even within the state we can get businesses to operate cheaper.
Nuclea Biotechnologies in Pittsfield hopes to relocate manufacturing to old GE site from Cambridge | masslive.com

Also if Haitian is not considered African American and Caucasian contains North African/Arab and if Cape Verdian is not then how much less is this going to be down the line? It seems to me that this concept is going in two different directions. Irish wasn't always considered white, Italian wasn't always considered white, Arab was not always considered white and yet what was considered black a generation or two ago is breaking apart like the Redsox in 2012!

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by scratchie

This right here speaks to the racism in Boston. It's not always obvious or explicit, but it's there. I worked professional high-tech jobs in Boston for 14 years and had virtually no black co-workers

this post probably provides a better list of counter-arguments to this that I can come up with on the top of my head.

Originally Posted by scratchie

No, diverse doesn't mean "black" specifically, but it's hard to say that a neighborhood is *truly* diverse if one of the largest ethnic groups in the city doesn't live there. There's no denying that when you talk about white and black Americans, most of Boston (and Massachusetts) is still extremely segregated.

And yet you think NYC isn't segregated?

Hate to break it to you, pal, but that city is one of the most segregated cities in the country.

Check this map or this article if you want.

Furthermore, for good or bad, for historical reasons, eastern MA (and New England as a whole) is just very white. Therefore, I don't think that the fact that Medfield MA is 97% white should be evidence of the fact that Boston is a segregated city. It isn't like the 12,000 people living in Medfield are actively keeping minorities from moving to their town. It could just be that few people who belong to minority groups have had reason to move to those small semi-rural suburbs.

Originally Posted by mdovell

But this is not to say that there have not been attempts.

Metco Program - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Umm....what are you responding to exactly?