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Wasn’t too uncommon in high school. There was definitely a spectrum though. Or perhaps “very complicated, multi-dimensional Venn diagram” would be a better way to put it.
What high school? Most Boston HS are like 5% or less white. Of course they have non white friends.
I think the inky ones that aren’t are the exam schools and Obryant is like 11% white. Even BLS had well documented racial tensions just last year. I think there was some racists graffiti at the school.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 05-10-2020 at 04:59 PM..
BLS. And like I said: it was a complicated mix. It wasn't a racial utopia, but it also wasn't the second coming of busing. I'll try to go into some detail without overstepping my bounds or speculating.
Race was a factor, but it wasn't the only factor. Something that seemed more important was what neighborhood you were from, but that often tied into race. I remember white kids from Charlestown, West Roxbury, and Oak Square (in Brighton) all seemed to hang out with each other. There'd be a few non-white kids in those crews, but they'd maybe be called (I hate this term with a passion) "whitewashed".
Beyond that, ethnicity seemed to matter a little. The Haitian kids seemed to have an identity on top of being black. Vietnamese and Filipino students seemed to tend to be lower class than the Chinese and Korean kids and were more likely to hang out with black and latino students. Among the Chinese kids, there seemed to be some socioeconomic spread that may have had something to do with Mandarin vs Cantonese? I'm probably over my head now. Let's take a step back.
Next, you'd have extracurriculars. There were some specifically designed to promote unity among racial minority groups: A.S.I.A. (Asian Students in Action), T.A.G. (Talented and Gifted Latino Program), and B.L.A.C.K. (Black Leaders Aspiring for Change and Knowledge) were some of the biggest. There were also some more intersectional groups. If a white kid and a black kid both liked manga/anime, they might meet in the Japanese Culture Club. I remember GSA (the Gay-Straight Alliance) as being pretty mixed, too.
Did you play any sports? Were you in any music/art groups? If so, which ones? The football team seemed a mix of white/black/latino. The volleyball team seemed mostly asian. String instrumental groups seemed very asian while vocal and wind groups seemed more mixed. I remember the theater kids as being mostly white, but the more "progressive" white kids from Rozzie or JP than the Westie or Brighton crowd.
And some of it came down to literally random chance. Who did you share classes with? Who did you know from elementary school? Who did you meet randomly during lunch? Who were mutual friends? Most of my friends (but not all of them) were asian. The school was mostly white/asian, so I guess it's not too surprising. I met a lot of them (but not all of them) in band. I changed neighborhoods part of the way through school, but neither neighborhood was terribly clicky.
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 05-10-2020 at 07:34 PM..
BLS. And like I said: it was a complicated mix. It wasn't a racial utopia, but it also wasn't the second coming of busing. I'll try to go into some detail without overstepping my bounds or speculating.
Race was a factor, but it wasn't the only factor. Something that seemed more important was what neighborhood you were from, but that often tied into race. I remember white kids from Charlestown, West Roxbury, and Oak Square (in Brighton) all seemed to hang out with each other. There'd be a few non-white kids in those crews, but they'd maybe be called (I hate this term with a passion) "whitewashed".
Beyond that, ethnicity seemed to matter a little. The Haitian kids seemed to have an identity on top of being black. Vietnamese and Filipino students seemed to tend to be lower class than the Chinese and Korean kids and were be more likely to hang out with black and latino students. Among the Chinese kids, there seemed to be some socioeconomic spread that may have had something to do with Mandarin vs Cantonese? I'm probably over my head now. Let's take a step back.
Next, you'd have extracurriculars. There were some specifically designed to promote unity among racial minority groups: A.S.I.A. (Asian Students in Action), T.A.G. (Talented and Gifted Latino Program), and B.L.A.C.K. (Black Leaders Aspiring for Change and Knowledge) were some of the biggest. There were also some more intersectional groups. If a white kid and a black kid both liked manga/anime, they might meet in the Japanese Culture Club. I remember GSA (the Gay-Straight Alliance) as being pretty mixed, too.
Did you play any sports? Were you in any music/art groups? If so, which ones? The football team seemed a mix of white/black/latino. The volleyball team seemed mostly asian. String instrumental groups seemed very asian while vocal and wind groups seemed more mixed. I remember the theater kids as being mostly white, but the more "progressive" white kids from Rozzie or JP than the Westie or Brighton crowd.
And some of it came down to literally random chance. Who did you share classes with? Who did you know from elementary school? Who did you meet randomly during lunch? Who were mutual friends? Most of my friends (but not all of them) were asian. The school was mostly white/asian, so I guess it's not too surprising. I met a lot of them (but not all of them) in band. I changed neighborhoods part of the way through school, but neither neighborhood was terribly clicky.
Somehow I never knew much about BLS . I was at Roxbury Latin so I mostly hung out with black kids I. Boston who went to private schools in the area and then African American/Jamaican/Bajan/Trinidadian kids. I didn’t really talk to Haitian kids much..I was closer with Puerto Rican and Dominican kids. I knew more kids from non-BPS exam schools due to BNBL basketball, little league, Hyde Park Youth Basketball and my Boston YouthFun/Hopeline Job at Franklin Park Zoo. I also had two cousins at BLA. A few kids from my elementary went to BLS but we weren’t close. I knew more kids at City in a Hill, Westie, and CTown from playing ball in Roxbury than BLS
At RL we had a ton of West Roxbury white kids but they were all super Irish and cliquey and hung with white kids from Dorchester. The ‘city kids’ were somewhat cut off from the suburban kids but particularly the suburban kids from Metrowest towns who were noticeably nerdier, progressive and less athletically inclined.
I was friends in HS with black kids from Beaver Country Day, Xaverian, NCDS, Nobles, Brinmer and May, St Sebs, Bel Hill, Catholic Memorial, Dana Hall, and Windsor. Most of them came from the DRM,Hyde Park, Randolph, Milton, (especially Milton), Mission Hill, JP, Framingham, Stoughton even Chelsea. A lot of us took steppingstone together, we played sports against each other, summer league basketball against each other, dated and bonded over being the black kids at the private schools. some of them came from housing projects like Orchard Lark, Mission Main and Bromley-Heath. Our schools would throw “student of color” dances, or the black affinity group would throw one. So you’d get 5/600 uniformly black and Latino kids waiting to get inside Milton Academy or St Sebastians. We also would all attend the New England Independent School Student of Color Conference a two day trip to a boarding school with racial workaholics, speakers and a dance. Black kids from all 6 New England states would convene. That being said also talked with white kids from Dorchester, Canton, Milton, Holbrook. It wasn’t a racial utopia and there was certainly racial solidarity. We never really hung out.
One time we went to a party of this Jamaican girl from Beaver Country Day, she lived in subsidized housing in Roslindale. I had been talking about it and was going to the party with other black and Dominican kids from RL. Some of my white classmates found the location of the Facebook event page crashed that party it was cool and all but the girl asked me to make them leave. they didn’t want to party with (drunk) whites boys. They wer e’my’ white oriole so it was my jobs to make them leave. Wasn’t a big deal but underscores Boston’s lack of racial harmony.
I remember another I had a Haitian/African American friend form Mattapan at my school and we were at a dance at Beaver Country day and a racial skirmish kind of broke out between us and a white kid from Dorchester who he knew. He claimed this kid had left a racist voicemail on his phone (I never knew that kid to be racist, and my friend was a little shady..) my friend ended up ripping his chain off his neck lying about it and it was a chain the kids dead grandmother gave him..we got kicked out of the dance.
I remember a Jewish kid from San Diego was in our classes and didn’t really get along well with Irish kids on the football team who used to make Jewish jokes. I heard he threw a party and they weren’t invited, two crashed it and beat him up at his own house. One of them was a kid from Cedar Grove in Dorchester another was originally from Southie but lived in Milton. Even in Milton it was Irish East Milton (’the E’) versus Black West Milton (‘Miltapan’) a joking rivalry but that was also racial.
Ha! I’ve heard friends from the suburbs say similar things, but the truth is that there are (were?) a lot more poor kids at BLS than there are at most nice, suburban schools. It may be “upper tier” for BPS, but not for MA.
Inter-city segregation on the metro-level is far worse than intra-city segregation in Boston proper. Randolph is perhaps the one exception..
Quote:
Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade
he threw a party and they weren’t invited, two crashed it and beat him up at his own house.
Yeah, I’ve always imagined the RL white crew as the BLS Westies but worse. A few guys I knew in elementary went to RL, and I hated pretty much all of them. While I was there, I can’t remember any racial brawls, and the incidents that inspired #BlackAtBls happened after I graduated. However, there was an undeniable tension.
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 05-10-2020 at 08:17 PM..
Ha! I’ve heard friends from the suburbs say similar things, but the truth is that there are (were?) a lot more poor kids at BLS than there are at most nice, suburban schools. It may be “upper tier” for BPS, but not for MA.
Inter-city segregation on the metro-level is far worse than intra-city segregation in Boston proper. Randolph is perhaps the one exception..
I keep forgetting half I lived in Canton/Randolph where friend groups were much more diverse than other towns. In Randolph I Had the most diverse friend group I have ever had. Canton wasup there too. But go to any town around it, probably more segregated until you hit Cambridge.
Ha! I’ve heard friends from the suburbs say similar things, but the truth is that there are (were?) a lot more poor kids at BLS than there are at most nice, suburban schools. It may be “upper tier” for BPS, but not for MA.
Inter-city segregation on the metro-level is far worse than intra-city segregation in Boston proper. Randolph is perhaps the one exception..
Yeah, I’ve always imagined the RL white crew as the BLS Westies but worse. A few guys I knew in elementary went to RL, and I hated pretty much all of them.
A couple really and ones that would get bounced out of the school for stealing, poor grades, alcoholism/drugs, off campus fight every couple years.
One was a Westie kid who’s mom worked in the courts...he got kicked out once in the grade ahead of me. He went to play Hockey at Burlington for a year and came back in my grade.. he got arrested and was forced to go to AA. Fought with the basketball coach. Got arrested again and got kicked out. Other Westie/Dorchester/Milton white kids tried to petition his explosion *eye roll*
The more progressive white kids definitely were at BLS/BLA. RL definitely better than CM or BC High though. By a good margin.
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