Why is Boston so famous for its racism?! (Cambridge, Newton: magnet school, lawsuits)

[redplum33]

Omar died recently from a heroin overdose.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by Space_League

Earlier in this thread we were talking about how Boston's black community tends to get defined by its hardships and basically by the hoods. Whereas other cities like DC, Atlanta, and NYC are defined by their success stories. I'm interested in the impact of that on perceptions and potentially to change realities in those communities.

I'm not as familiar on NYC and DC, but I have a bit more knowledge on Atlanta from living here. Over here I would say the city is understood to have a robust Black middle class, but at the same time it's not really defined by that. The city's image seems much more defined by the UPPER class and the super rich black success stories.

Maybe to the non-black American world. But for black people its definitely both. The middle class and the upper class

Originally Posted by Space_League

This brings me to this thought about, which is more important? I could see an argument that those super success stories basically inspire communities, give folks footsteps to follow in and an influx of opportunities. It's kind of a 'trickle-down' mentality which seems outdated and questionable but there is some truth to it. Especially when it's a case of a community that's historically been marginalized so ingroup hypersuccess may directly translate to middle class and upper-middle class jobs and opportunities for people who may have otherwise been overlooked. I would say Atlanta is one of the best arguments for this kind of model.

On the other hand you have places like Chicago, which I believe it is the city responsible for more black billionaires than any other city on Earth. At the same time it doesn't seem to have translated to Chicago as much to the average city resident the way it has in DC or Atlanta.

Regardless of what the stats say (and I have no idea what they do say, so I'm interested if someone has them on hand). The city of Chicago, which produced Jordan, Kanye West, David Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, John Rogers etc. is still primarily defined by Englewood and West Garfield Park.

I tend to lean more towards saying that a healthy middle class is more important than a visible upper class. Sure it's cool to see a black hedge fund manager make 100 million, but isn't it better to have 1000 professionals making 100k? Surely that's going to have a way bigger impact on the overall health and vibrancy of the city.

However I don't know if it's so cut and dry when it comes to images and perceptions of cities. In those cases the mega success stories seem to have way outsized impact. There are towns and small cities in upstate NY with way, way better black HHI, education, homeownership stats than Atlanta on a per capita basis, but they don't inspire people the same way at all.

Boston's issue is it doesn't have anything to inspire its own population. Blacks not from Bosotn are typically seen as providing the "reform" that is necessary. Ayanna Pressley, Lydia Edwards, Deval Patrick, even someof the older city councilors of the last generation were born in NYC. On Showtimes City on a hill (produced by Ben Affleck) the reform DA is Decourcy Ward of Brooklyn.

There's nothing that would make African Americans move there or look it up aside from being offered a very well-paying job. As has been noted by myself (and other not on this forum) it is in a unique situation in American cities where its has basically an entire storyline of: 'the black people up there dont have anything, and they get harassed or beat up when they try to have nice things.'

his doesn't resonate in other cities with much poorer black populations like NOLA Cleveland or even Pittsburgh. Only Milwaukee is painted in the same light, but without the notorious racist past.

Boston does not create a conducive environment for minority political gain ( too much incumbency, no term limit too few councilors/alderman a la Chicago or New Haven), sports (our HIgh school sports are truly dismal in terms of facilities and scheduling, especially in black areas), entertainment ( not many studios, not much of a hip hop music industry). Things African Americans are typically socially lenient on (neighborhood preservation, street vending, late-night businesses) are very strict in the Boston Area.

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by Space_League

Earlier in this thread we were talking about how Boston's black community tends to get defined by its hardships and basically by the hoods. Whereas other cities like DC, Atlanta, and NYC are defined by their success stories. I'm interested in the impact of that on perceptions and potentially to change realities in those communities.

...

Regardless of what the stats say (and I have no idea what they do say, so I'm interested if someone has them on hand). The city of Chicago, which produced Jordan, Kanye West, David Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, John Rogers etc. is still primarily defined by Englewood and West Garfield Park.

What you're seeing in a city like Chicago is that black people have no influence in the imaging that is defined for black people. When white people have total control of the media, when discussing black people they will almost completely focus on the Englewood types of areas, whereas an Atlanta won't spend all its time focused on Bankhead.

It's the difference between having black newsreaders, versus having black editors and producers.

[Space_League]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

What you're seeing in a city like Chicago is that black people have no influence in the imaging that is defined for black people. When white people have total control of the media, when discussing black people they will almost completely focus on the Englewood types of areas, whereas an Atlanta won't spend all its time focused on Bankhead.

It's the difference between having black newsreaders, versus having black editors and producers.

That is an intersting point. Honestly the news in Atlanta is about stabbings, shootings, bodies found in woods, drugs and human trafficking basically the same as news anywhere if it bleeeds it leads. Yeah a good amount of the time it's a black anchor talking about this stuff but it's still in the news 24/7 and they definitely aren't downplaying it at all. Chicago could certainly be worse though in terms of fear mongering, I'm not familiar enough to compare them so I'll take your word on it. I believe the two cities have similar crime stats in actuality but Chicago has a scarier reputation these days.


I disagree on the fact that black people have no influence on Chicago's image. I think they have a big influence and one of the driving reasons the two cities are seen differently. Both cities have a huge black cultural impact from their music. However the two cities have radically different approahces and images to the music. Atlanta's exports an image which is generally about making money and living the good life. Chicago's music exports an image that is generally about violence and struggle

[jobaba]

Bensonhurst was famous for its racist white people too.

Now there's hardly any left. White people that is.

Nothing stays the same...

[msRB311]

more racist language during football at a high school:

https://whdh.com/news/private-school...s-during-game/

[BruinsGirl]

Pure madness

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2...f-resignation/

She is quitting Harvard Pre-med because of what?!?!

[WestieWhitie]

Must be nice being privileged enough to drop out of Harvard because they didn't let you hijack a class and hurt your tender fragile feelings. White privilege, I tell ya!

Originally Posted by BruinsGirl

Pure madness

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2...f-resignation/

She is quitting Harvard Pre-med because of what?!?!

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by BruinsGirl

Pure madness

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2...f-resignation/

She is quitting Harvard Pre-med because of what?!?!

Toxic thinking.

[Space_League]

The comments are popping off on that article