Here Are Some Groups To Support If You’re Really Committed To “Boston Isn’t Racist”
Because yelling online won’t prove your point.
Over the weekend, Michael Che repeated a claim he had previously made that Boston is “America’s most racist city.” All over the internet there was debate about this, and while we may not be able to confirm for sure if that statement is true, here’s something that we know: Boston is extremely thin-skinned and self-conscious about the idea of being called racist, because a certain part of the internet lost their minds over this accusation.
And of course they did. Not only is there a certain demographic of Boston that’s constantly in trying to deflect any criticism of the city, but there are a lot of people who are proud of the so-called “compassionate liberalism” that Massachusetts is believed to embody, even by many outside of the state. The idea that there’s a prominent underbelly of racial tension really does a number on that whole “City On A Hill” idealism.
So is Boston racist? Of course it is. I could use a lot of examples to prove this, but I will go with the easiest one: it’s deeply connected to this little-known racist institution called “America.” Saying Boston isn’t racist is only slightly less dumb than saying racism is over. So is Boston the most racist city? I don’t know. I’m not sure there’s an objective way to quantify that, but even if we did and then found out that we were less racist than all of the southern cities, that’s not the kind of high bar of effort we should be proud of.
So if you really want to make an argument that racism has no place in Boston, how about instead of posting about it, you support some of these Boston-area groups that help combat racism and fight for civil rights. Because if you really want to make a statement about race-relations in Boston, the best statement can be made with actions:
Showing Up For Racial Justice: Boston
Lawyer’s Committee For Civil Rights and Economic Justice
Mass Action Against Police Brutality
As Wikipedia might say, “This list is incomplete, you can help by expanding it.” Please let us know of any other groups you think deserve to be on this list.
So if you want to do something about Boston’s racist reputation, then actually do something. Oh and also stop getting so disproportionately excited for white shooting guards and wide receivers because it’s fucking weird and uncomfortable.
