Last Thursday at BU's Metcalf Auditorium, SNL comedian Michael Che, among other things, said that Boston was the most racist city he had been to. Predictably, he has taken a bit of flack since then, yet he came out and stood by his comments recently. As somebody who was at that performance, I appreciated Che's willingness to look at various issues and be straight up about it. Joking aside, let's examine whether or not this is true.
Boston does, of course, have a history of racism, which if you haven't seen, you can catch up on here:
The Boston Busing crisis is the most notable event in regards to Boston's history of racism. It's an event that Boston is probably still paying for in regards to race-relations, especially when there are stories about a kid in Charlestown spearing a black kid to death with an American flag.
One can't doubt that Boston is an incredibly passionate, competitive city; it's why so many kids come here for college in the first place and it's why so many people, from all different backgrounds, move here. It's a land of opportunity, a place that is a decent representation in that regard of the American dream. On the other hand, it can get a bit out of hand and the worst can come out, as NHL player Joel Ward would attest to. The Bruins players themselves weren't exactly perfect either in that regard, as their goalie Tim Thomas has an interesting history with African-Americans as well. Our beloved Red Sox, being the last team in MLB to integrate their rosters, aren't clean from criticism either, to the point where African-Americans apparently find it hard to root for them.
Celtics legend Tommy Heinsohn, when talking about how Bostonians were racist towards Bill Russell (aka one of the greatest players, and certainly the greatest Celtic, of all time), summed it up: "All I know is the guy won two NCAA championships, 50-some college games in a row, the Olympics, then he came to Boston and won 11 championships in 13 years, and they named a fucking tunnel after Ted Williams."
Between that and various anecdotes about bad experiences, it's pretty easy to see how Boston can be a racist city. The history is concerning and the substantive evidence, especially involving prominent African-Americans, is even more worrying.
There are a few potential counterarguments to this. The first is that there are always going to be bad apples, and especially in the case of the racist comments online, there's always going to be people hiding behind their computers, as South Park would attest to:
That idea is definitely valid and is commonly used everywhere. Yet, a better defense is that these racists are the same people who do things like this:
To rehash an earlier point, Boston is an incredibly passionate, competitive city, and while that doesn't excuse its actions, it might explain it. These fans are crazy about absolutely anything! They view every little slight as a threat of their manliness and I doubt the people who try to run me over as I cross Comm Ave care if I'm white or black or whatever race or gender.
So do I think Boston is racist? Well, I don't think I'm a great person to ask. Being from Texas, where there are places with Confederate flags and you hear about KKK meetings (not within my hometown of San Antonio, mind you, but in other, more rural areas), you get an idea of what that looks like and I sure as hell haven't heard about things like that up here. At the same time, I've only been up here for 2 years and change and have been at a place with a large international population, one that frankly isn't a good representation of Boston, as much as they market it.
So in conclusion, I don't know for sure if Boston is racist. It definitely has its problems, which as an incredibly international city, poses issues. Honestly, the answer doesn't even matter. The fact that we even need to ask the question is concerning enough. Until it goes away, despite what our president might think, not all press is good press, and as long as it's out there with a rep of a racist city, Boston will suffer.
