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Yea I saw that, it’s a good piece. Dart actually blocked me on Twitter years back lol. He says what most of us would say. Underrepresented, undervalues, ignored, lowkey hated on etc.
As for the comments there?
Nothing new or worth note. Same general lack of consensus.
Some who never experienced anything in a long time. Others who say it’s one of the most racist, if not the most. Folks saying it liberal cities/northeast in general. The one or two who say they love Boston. Others who say it’s average. Others who say the south/Midwest was worse. Others saying black Bostonians POV doesn’t matter/Stockholm. Those saying he should focus on the white folks not the black folks.
Really same old, same old. Black ppl really don’t discuss customs, events, places, amenities, politics, schools, QOL, traffic, food in regards to Boston on online forums. Conversation ends in a racism debate which further fuels the mystique and rumor. But idk…why would people cape for a city that if it wasn’t a positive experience?
Anyways I think by far what happens is people live in Boston and it’s just normal. The black population slowly grows and gains prominence which is nice. Suburbanization happens , blah blah. Nothing remarkable actually happens-it’s all just overhyped and overdissected by folks like you and I. In reality people just live their lives and enjoy their friends and families. Blacks in Boston aren’t especially destitute or undereducated or whatever. Nor are they more strapped for things to do than blacks elsewhere.
Just like we're still fighting the Civil War in some precincts (and I don't mean re-enactors), I think the mid-1970s busing fight continues to color outsiders' perception of Boston.
Though the fact that the city has only now voted to install a non-white, non-male mayor when every other large Northeast city and several in the Midwest have done so already (Chicago's on its second, and New York is about to install its second too; Philadelphia's had three, and Kansas City's on its third right now as well) probably doesn't help things any either.
But I agree that what happened in Boston wasn't unique to Boston. There's a neighborhood here in Philadelphia that I refused to set foot in for many years much as I refused to set foot in South Boston while I lived there. And even in neighborhoods I did set foot in here, I heard stories about racist attitudes on the part of the older white residents (unlike Fishtown and Southie, though, these neighborhoods were Italian rather than Irish, and I did visit the North End and East Boston when I lived there.)
(FWIW, Boston and Philadelphia magazines are published by the same company, headquartered here in Philly. We at Philadelphia have had reckonings of our own with race and racism; my getting hired there as its first Black full-time editorial staffer six years ago this coming Monday was the outcome of one such reckoning.)
I also still remember the story of how Boston got its first Black School Committee member because Irish-Americans voted for him in large numbers based on his surname. That took place while I lived there.
Basically, I'd say simply that Boston's a late bloomer in the racial-transformation department, but that it's coming along nicely.
Just like we're still fighting the Civil War in some precincts (and I don't mean re-enactors), I think the mid-1970s busing fight continues to color outsiders' perception of Boston.
Though the fact that the city has only now voted to install a non-white, non-male mayor when every other large Northeast city and several in the Midwest have done so already (Chicago's on its second, and New York is about to install its second too; Philadelphia's had three, and Kansas City's on its third right now as well) probably doesn't help things any either.
But I agree that what happened in Boston wasn't unique to Boston. There's a neighborhood here in Philadelphia that I refused to set foot in for many years much as I refused to set foot in South Boston while I lived there. And even in neighborhoods I did set foot in here, I heard stories about racist attitudes on the part of the older white residents (unlike Fishtown and Southie, though, these neighborhoods were Italian rather than Irish, and I did visit the North End and East Boston when I lived there.)
(FWIW, Boston and Philadelphia magazines are published by the same company, headquartered here in Philly. We at Philadelphia have had reckonings of our own with race and racism; my getting hired there as its first Black full-time editorial staffer six years ago this coming Monday was the outcome of one such reckoning.)
I also still remember the story of how Boston got its first Black School Committee member because Irish-Americans voted for him in large numbers based on his surname. That took place while I lived there.
Basically, I'd say simply that Boston's a late bloomer in the racial-transformation department, but that it's coming along nicely.
Within the region, besides Philadelphia, Newark has had 4 mayors that were/are black(has had a black person as mayor since 1970, except for a period from November 2013-July 2014) and Rochester is on its 3rd.
In terms of 13224, its black population is more middle class and has a longer history of being so. Many live in the predominantly black working, middle class Salt Springs neighborhood, particularly in its eastern portion near Le Moyne College like this street view: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0494...7i13312!8i6656
So, due to the dynamics, you get a wide range of student results, which can include black valedictorians that go to Ivy League schools. One currently is at Cornell and another in the past graduated from Harvard and later Northwestern's Medill School of Communications. Some alumni: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorsey_Levens
I also still remember the story of how Boston got its first Black School Committee member because Irish-Americans voted for him in large numbers based on his surname. That took place while I lived there.
John O'Bryant, who generously gave me some time when I asked to interview him to complete an assignment for a journalism course. Sure the Irish-American voters liked an Irish surname but they could be somewhat more discriminating than that. They returned Curley to office multiple times partly because Curley had taken elocution lessons and was given to silver tongued oration, or so they say. Enough Irish-Americans voted for White over the inflammatory Hicks in '67 to put White over the top. But it remains quite the contrast between the Irish and a certain characteristic type of Irish-American like Kelly Ann Conway, Mike Pence, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and the like, who continue to nurse grievance.
Of the '60s new journalism products around Boston, I wish the Real Paper and the Pheonix had survived rather than Boston-- with D. Herbert Lipson's agenda so transparently bougie--but that's life.
John O'Bryant, who generously gave me some time when I asked to interview him to complete an assignment for a journalism course. Sure the Irish-American voters liked an Irish surname but they could be somewhat more discriminating than that. They returned Curley to office multiple times partly because Curley had taken elocution lessons and was given to silver tongued oration, or so they say. Enough Irish-Americans voted for White over the inflammatory Hicks in '67 to put White over the top. But it remains quite the contrast between the Irish and a certain characteristic type of Irish-American like Kelly Ann Conway, Mike Pence, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and the like, who continue to nurse grievance.
Of the '60s new journalism products around Boston, I wish the Real Paper and the Pheonix had survived rather than Boston-- with D. Herbert Lipson's agenda so transparently bougie--but that's life.
Good point about White vs. Hicks, who would have set the city back had she gotten elected. Even if New Boston City Hall got built on White's watch. (I'm probably one of the five people on the planet who actually like New Boston City Hall. Didn't Tom Menino run on a platform that promised to demolish it?)
Ray Flynn, who beat the guy who I campaigned for (Mel King) in 1981, was also an Irish-American pol in the Kevin White mold. Sheesh, he even graduated from Harvard, something sons of Southie like him just didn't do. (But two of my classmates there hailed from East Boston. One wound up down this way, operating an art gallery on the Jersey Shore under the moniker "Joe Harvard" [Joe was his real first name].)
Did your article see the light of day anywhere?
Alr-weeklies haven't fared well over the last decade or two. We lost the better of ours, the Philadlephia CityPaper, completely, while Philadelphia Weekly took a sharp right turn recently.
One of the editors of the CityPaper is a colleague of mine here at Philadelphia. Herb Lipson had Issues aplenty with race, which is why the mag couldn't even bring itself to hire a Black staffer until his son Dave (also David Herbert, he doesn't use the middle name) had taken over running the company. You all in Boston were spared the worst of it: Herb ran a signed editorial called "Off the Cuff" that appeared on the first inside page of every issue of Philadelphia. He professed to love the city a great deal, but reading the editorials, you got the impression that in truth, he thought it was going to Hell in a handbasket, and that They (when I describe this in conversation, here I point at my own head) were the ones sending it there.
I don't think anything like "Being White in Philly" ever ran in the pages of Boston, though I may be wrong about this. (That March 2013 cover story touched off a firestorm, one of the byproducts of which was my starting to write freelance for the mag. They hired me Nov. 16, 2015, after another cover gaffe concerning race touched off a similar firestorm. I am the embodiment of a promise the mag's then editor-in-chief made to the Philladelphia Association of Black Journalists, which I joined promptly after getting hired to acknowledge the role the organization played in my hiring, in the wake of that contretemps.)
Given this list that Mutiny77 posted in the Mecca thread, it looks like in terms of black population growth in the region’s bigger metros, Boston and Buffalo are the top 2 in terms of growth percentage. New Haven is next in growth percentage for metros in the region with at least 100k black residents.
Just like we're still fighting the Civil War in some precincts (and I don't mean re-enactors), I think the mid-1970s busing fight continues to color outsiders' perception of Boston.
Maybe that's true for older Gen Xers and above, but I'm in my early 40s and that occurred a few years before I was born, and I don't even recall having learned about it in school. Also, as a Southerner, there were more than enough local/regional examples of upheaval to some extent or another over school desegregation efforts so it's not like what occurred in Boston would have really resonated as much in my neck of the woods.
Quote:
Though the fact that the city has only now voted to install a non-white, non-male mayor when every other large Northeast city and several in the Midwest have done so already (Chicago's on its second, and New York is about to install its second too; Philadelphia's had three, and Kansas City's on its third right now as well) probably doesn't help things any either.
Although it's neither large or Northern, Boston's colonial-era Southern counterpart, Charleston, SC, has only elected White men as mayors in its nearly 240-year history as an incorporated municipality. And Charleston has always had a large Black population.
In part- Boston's modern-day present isn't as interesting as its very recent past. Going from a novel ultra-white hardscrabble yet the intellectual yet backwards city is a lot more notable and interesting than becoming just another diverse, and tech-oriented city.
Bostons' status as a diverse, safe, responsible, and stable city really isn't interesting. It's balkanized enough where you can't get a "feel" for the metro without going to various regions of it extensively. High levels of ethnic segrgeation and extensive independent histories contribute to that. So people have a good deal of differing perceptions of the area.
To that point, there are still racial tensions in some Boston suburbs. Certain towns have that reputation and small subjects of the metro have an off/racist vibe. Places far on the North Shore and Far on the South Shore most notably.
There are a lot of people who look at Boston sideways but will give it a chance. Some folks turn around and like it a lot. Other dont its fine really. If you live in Boston by far your biggest concern will be housing. Then making friends After that life is pleasant. I always stand firm in the "would move back" category. Unfortunately what positive the city has and the offering it does have arent talked about. Int the past few weeks friends of mine have seen/done:
an Arnez J comedy show
Jadakiss at a local d(black owned) ispensary
Celtics games at the Garden
Apple picking in suburban MA
Live black couples therapy podcast at the underground Cafe (black owned) on Northeasterns campus
RnB Day parties at Savvor
whale watching downtown Boston
and the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts' "Mass Black Expo" is this upcoming week. https://www.massblackexpo.com/
In short- you're going to have ampe access to black culture and amenities in a pretty densearea, not to mention just a bunch of amenities in general.
Additionally, I find outside of housing Bosotn is decidedly cheaper than NYC on everyday things.
And yea just keeps in mind your going to do this in a cleaner, calmer city than NYC or Philly-by a wide margin.
8 of the 17 are Black, 3 of 17 are Hispanic, 3 of 17 are Asian, 3 of 17 are white.
Of her first 2 new cabinet appointments- one is black and 1 is Asian, she has retained 1 white cabinet staffer from Marty Walsh.
We’ll see how inclusive her administration is, quote from a recent article I read : “ Amid the shuttered Starbucks and empty office buildings, she sees an opportunity to reimagine downtown and help fulfill her agenda to create a more equitable city, one with more child-care centers, businesses owned by Black and brown entrepreneurs, housing, and arts and culture.”
This is also the first year Boston City Council will have not just more minorities than whites but more black councilors than white councilors.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 11-14-2021 at 04:22 PM..
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