THROWBACK: BAD OLD DAYS DEPT.
Revisiting the standoff at Carson Beach
BY PETER ROBERGE & BINJ STAFF
It’s well known that behind the image of humanity and progress commonly projected by Boston since Revolutionary War times, there’s been more than just a touch of racism running through local history. Long before Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones had despicable slurs shouted at him while playing at Fenway Park, the city honed and has experienced a unique brand of bigotry dating back centuries.
Revisiting old stories in which heat only accelerated so much racial animosity, the turf wars that took place on Carson Beach in Southie in the summer of 1977 stand out as especially ugly. Mainly fought between white and black residents of South Boston and nearby Columbia Point in Dorchester, the events that unfolded were proof that America hadn’t exactly fulfilled Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of God’s children playing together. The following description of a day at Carson Beach comes from a WGBH newscast which aired nearly 40 years ago:
Four Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) police officers escort a small group of African American youth on to Carson Beach in South Boston. There are white swimmers and…
