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Bruins disappointed to learn racists still exist
By adamg on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 2:46pm
After learning about racist tweets following the loss to Washington last night, the Bruins issued a statement:
The Bruins are very disappointed by the racist comments that were made following the game last night. These classless, ignorant views are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization.
Meanwhile, BostInno talks to the school department in Rhode Island which has at least one student who allegedly posted one of those comments.
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Comments
Buzzfeed.com Has This
This may not remain a local story; buzzfeed.com has this on its site so national awareness is possible. Not good for Boston's image.
This isn't a reflection on Boston, it's a reflection on the 'net
Anyone who thinks this is about Boston should read the "last note" section of Bill Simmons' piece on the end of the Bruins season.
As he rightly points out, it doesn't take a black hockey player scoring the winning goal for the Capitals to bring out racist bullshit on the internet. If you wanted to make the same story on how racist Boston is prior to yesterday, all you'd need to do is go read a few dozen comments left on boston.com and bostonherald.com articles to make a good hit piece. As Simmons points out, read YouTube comments and your entire view of humanity will sink into the abyss. The internet makes racist and other hate speech easy and cheap to do. It attracts it like a bathroom wall. It's not hard to find but most people aren't searching for it. This isn't a reflection on Boston or Bruins fans. It's a reflection on the internet.
You need to stop deflecting
Were all the tweeters from Boston or Bruins fans? No. But if you scroll through the tweets a whole lot were. That makes it both a Boston and a Bruins fan problem.
The Boston.com, BostonHerald and even UHub comments fields aren't a direct correlation to what happened yesterday on Twitter. Those comments were made primarily by people whose names, photos and personal info were in clear view of everyone reading them. They were made by people in a town perceived as racist by fans of a sport whose fans are perceived as lily white. It's a reflection on both, especially when the veil of anonymity is lifted and the Internet alone can't be saddled with all the blame.
You can't just say it has nothing to do with Boston or Bruins fans at all because that just feeds into this town's least endearing feature: The indignant brush-off to any question of race.
This was the town that helped desegregate hockey by bringing in Willie O'Ree, but it also remains incredibly uncomfortable with certain truths. Some people from Boston who were Bruins fans said some fucked up, repugnant shit about the color of an opposing player's skin. That's not cool and they shouldn't get a pass.
A Pass?
I understand where you're coming from, but Kaz isn't saying that the asswads who said those hideous things should get a pass. Do you really read it that way?
Anyway, these neanderthals are a tiny percentage of Bruins fandom. You did notice how many tweets there were condemning them, right? And how they were called out, and identified by name, in later messages? It seems obvious to me that the great majority of folks find them disgusting and repugnant, as well they should, and that speaks well for this city and for Bruins fans, not the opposite.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Sully, I don't think he was
Sully, I don't think he was saying the asswads got a pass, I think he was refering to Boston & surrounds getting a pass.
Bingo
...
So therefore by your logic:
So therefore by your logic: racist, bigoted, sexist comments on Boston Herald's website are a reflection of you and all of Boston and its citizens as well. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Bruins fans don't represent me or this city. Bostonians who comment on Twitter don't represent me or this city. You represent you. I represent me. There is no one or any collective spokesperson for Boston.
I'm not deflecting, it's your aim that's off
My point, and using Simmons' post to highlight it, is that people who want to condemn Bruins fans or Boston in general for this expression of racism surrounding that goal are aiming at the wrong target. Saying "Boston! For shame!...you know they've always HAD that race problem up there..." isn't the reality of this situation. And as Simmons' points out, it hasn't been the situation for years.
Some PEOPLE said some racist crap on Twitter about Ward. Go search for "nigger" on Twitter right now and you'll find about 500 different people within the past HOUR who have said some other racist crap on Twitter. Both groups are all ignorant foul-mouthed people. Welcome to the internet.
But to claim that "Boston" or "Bruins fans" are represented by this act is pointing the gun at the wrong target.
it was atleast one Bruins fan
and it reflects poorly on Bruins fans by association, albeit unfairly, and poorly on Boston by association, albeit unfairly.
Student Sorry For Racist
Student Sorry For Racist Tweets Against Hockey Player
You're right, it's not a
You're right, it's not a reflection on Boston it's a reflection on a society that's still pretty fucked up when it comes to things like race, gender, sexuality, etc. Sports culture itself is especially problematic in these regards. The internet doesn't exist in a vacuum.
Not a vacuum, but an amplifier
The Internet shines a light on these dipshits, but don't mistake this for a general pattern of society.
From what I can see, a
From what I can see, a significant portion of the tweets shown on chirpstory are from under 20 year olds who don't live anywhere near Boston, are hockey fans but not necessarily Bruins fans. So does this really reflect on the city of Boston, Bruins fans, or hockey fans in general?
Their mamas must be so proud
Seriously. That type of ignorant racism has to be taught.
I work at a job where ppl
I work at a job where ppl think that freedom of peach allows them to say whatever they want.....well....you can say whatever you want, but think about this.....you still have to walk to your car.... hmmmmm...so what ppl do is use the internet to express this ignorance while in the comfort of their home......but to all you dummies who wrote these things, jobs,bosses,police,FBI as well as others seen who you are as well as your names....some ppl don't forget.....have a great day
Freedom of peach
...is fruitful.
Until you scratch the surface...
And then it can be the pits.
They have that in Atlanta
Everyone has the freedom to live somewhere with "Peach" in the address.
Not so much Peach as....
Peachtree.
One of my favorites was Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
Oy
The dawn of the Twitter age has also increased the amount of really lazy journalism, wherein doing a twitter search for people's tweets now constitutes news. Before Twitter existed, the same small but very existent percentage of neanderthals would have said racist epithets at their TVs or at bars, and now they say it on Twitter. If Ward scores against the Rangers in Round 2, let's do a Twitter search on people in the greater New York area? I'm sure you'll find plenty of the stupid.
One big difference
New York and its surrounding areas aren't racially segregated the way neighborhoods are here, New York area hockey fans are generally more diverse than hockey fans here (seriously, watch a Rangers game in Flushing sometime or a Devils game in Union City) and New York doesn't just deny racism every time it's brought up.
NYC remembers Bernie Goetz, Howard Beach, Crown Heights, Bensonhurst, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, Partick Dorismond and Sean Bell. It doesn't pretend there aren't racists around. In fact, New York seems hyper aware that there are pockets of the city and area that are incredibly racist (on all sides of the equation). It doesn't make the place a utopia or answer all questions about racism in America, but it's a lot more honest than Boston's approach -- which is to deny and stick its fingers in its ears.
Boston Bruins fans and Bostonians were among the folks tweeting after the Ward goal. I don't think that makes it a Boston and Bruins fan problem first and foremost, but it doesn't make them exempt from the discussion.
You know what doesn't help, though? The rote answers here and on other sites that are variations of "Everybody's racist but me," "But look how racist the people over there are being!", "The Internet's racist, not us," "This isn't a race thing," "Boston has nothing to do with this," "This is horrible and all those people who are in no way connected to Boston or the Bruins should pay," and "Why is this a big deal, racism is everywhere" aren't helping. Nobody's saying Boston has to flagellate itself in perpetuity for what happened in the '70s or even chastise the whole town for racist tweets that involved others, but denying Boston fans' role in this incident and denying that things like this can happen in a town and region as segregated as this sounds not only dishonest, but ignorant.
Kinda BS there
That NYC keeps having all these scandals involving blacks beaten/shot by cops suggests NYC is no more enlightened than Boston. Your comments about segregation suggest a familiarity with Boston neighborhoods that is about as current as mime with neighborhoods in New York, where I haven't lived in 30 years.
Yes, racism exists. No, tweets about Ward do not prove Boston is a racist hellhole.
That's one way to look at it
The other way is to look at NYC's reaction to each of those incidents and see a population that speaks far more openly about racial intolerance and is far more active about exposing and quelling it. To think that all of these incidents were brought on by cops is also a fundamental misunderstanding of the city's history. Howard Beach, Bensonhurt, Crown Heights, Bernard Goetz, the Puerto Rican Day Parade assaults -- none of those had anything to do with police. They all, however, had everything to do with how New Yorkers associate with each other.
And Boston's not still segregated? Neighborhoods in Mattapan, Roxbury, South Boston and West Roxbury aren't still fairly homogenous? South Boston can wail away about yuppies all it likes, but increasing economic diversity isn't exactly changing the complexion of that neighborhood. As much as my former neighbors in Fort Hill might disagree, Roxbury and Mattapan aren't any more diverse than they were 20 years ago.
There's a whole lot of middle to the city where the old labels just don't apply anymore (Dorchester, JP, Allston, Brighton, Eastie, the North End), but all it takes is a story like this for Boston's divisions, race issues and denial thereof to boil to the surface.
"Racist hellhole." That's a leap. Tweets about Ward don't prove that, but those Tweets from Bostonians and Bruins fans don't make folks like myself more comfortable about moving here and still make pro athletes hesitant about coming here. Simmons acknowledged as much when writing about LeBron and Bill Russell a few years back.
Amadou Diallo
And Abner Louima. NYPD at its finest. Ancient history? Here's the New York Times from Jan. 24, 2012: Officer Pleads Guilty to Civil Rights Violation:
"Mr. Daragjati was recorded last April using a racial slur to brag about the arrest of the black man, whom prosecutors said the officer had stopped, searched, arrested without cause and falsely accused of resisting arrest."
And you have the chutzpah to write:
"All it takes is a story like this for Boston's divisions, race issues and denial thereof to boil to the surface."
Pot, meet kettle.
I haven't seen anybody denying that, yes, some of those tweets from the other night were local. But just like it might be unfair to judge New York based on what the police did to Diallo and Louima, or even on what Daragjati did to some poor guy on Staten Island, it's unfair to judge Boston on what happened in the 1970s - or to impute a racist cast to everybody in the city.
Are there still segregated neighborhoods in Boston? Yes. Is there still racism? Yes. Is Boston perfect? No. But to fail to recognize that the city has changed - to assume, as you seem to be doing, that black families would feel unsafe at Castle Island - is akin to viewing New York through the lens of the 1970s, when crime was rampant, the subways were unsafe, disgusting deathtraps, when even the president of the United States was telling New York to drop dead.
The very fact we're having this discussion shows Boston is at least on par with what you claim is so wonderful about New York - that people are willing to discuss it. Don't mistake people feeling it's wrong to stereotype all Bruins fans as racists with a willingness to either shovel things under the rug or to turn to a little ultra-V.
Segregated Boston? Stats might disagree with you
Look, I'm as pissed off about the neanderthals attacking the achievement of Joel Ward- heck looking at his hockey career just being in the lineup is an accomplishment, with winning a series (thanks to Knuble's interference, but that's another story) a great achievement- as anyone else, but the fact that racist taunts are being used to claim that the city of Boston or the Boston area is a font of racism is what is getting people defensive. To whit, your comments.
To say that West Roxbury or South Boston are still segregated places is saying that Massachusetts is not friendly to nonwhites, at leat according to the statistics. Why do I say that- look at the 2010 census stats. Massachusetts as a whole has a population that is 76.1% white non-Hispanic. South Boston's number is 78.8% and West Roxbury is 76.1%. I guess it depends on what your definition of diversity is, but when 1/5 to 1/4 of the population is different from the rest, it should count for something.
As for Roxbury and Mattapan, that is an old story. Trust me, when those neighborhoods get to the level of white folk moving back in, the story will be that of displacement of a black community in Boston.
Segregation of Boston
I bet if you compare maps, the segregation of Boston is one of money more so than race.
Include the suburbs, however
And you see white flight.
If you don't think there is racism in the Boston Area, take a multicultural lacrosse team to Wilmington for a game. Post racial my ass - Boston just exported its worst assholes to the suburbs, where they can sport redneck bumperstickers, train their kids in racist bullshit while ensuring that they won't ever have to deal with a non-white kid.
At least soccer cracked down on this shit.
Who's denying that some of
Who's denying that some of thie junk came from Bruins fans/Mass. natives? Is it really "breaking news" that some people are racist? Has there been a history of racial issues here? yes. Can you read anything into some idiots' tweets? No. All you have to do is go onto Twitter right now and search for any offensive term you can think of and there are small-minded people of all races from all over the world throwing them around.
What?
New York neighborhoods aren't as segregated? Exactly how did you come up with that? Harlem? Spanish Harlem? Crown Heights? Astoria? These are all great melting pots?
Haven't been to any of these recently, have you?
I lived in Astoria at the beginning of the 2000s and have family there still. Everyone thinks its all Greeks, but it's a dense mix of Greeks, Turks, Middle Eastern Muslims, Brazilians, Jamaicans/Trinis and, more recently, West Africans. That's a great melting pot.
Harlem? Shit, man, you have white and Asian kids buying condos up in Harlem now and having brunch there. It's still a nexus of black culture, but it's not as one-dimensional as it's been portrayed.
Spanish Harlem? Where the Target is? That hasn't been strictly "Spanish"... well, ever. Forget for a second that "Spanish" is already a misnomer -- considering many of the residents are from Central, Latin and South America, as well as the Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries, but "Spanish Harlem's" Puerto Rican population has shared air with blacks and Italians for some time. Puerto Ricans are still predominant, but there are now actual Napoletan Italians up there, as well as Chinese, Koreans and Middle Easterners (Qatari, Yemeni, etc.)
Crown Heights: Yeah, haven't been there in about 20 years, have you. It's not just Afro-Caribbeans vs. Hassidic Jews anymore. Crown Heights is getting just as gentrified as any place else in Brooklyn. Lots of hipsters, but lots of immigrants, too.
You just named four of the most mixed and quickly evolving neighborhoods in the city. Should've gone for Murray Hill, the West Village or the UWS.
Off your rocker
You are crazy if you can see less segregation in this map:
...than this map:
Those are both taken from the NYTimes Census map project using 2010 census data on race with 1 dot = 200 people in both images (same zoom level for comparison). If anything I see *MORE* homogeneity in the Boston area than the NYC area (again, I'm betting Boston's segregation is more based on money than race even though race is a confounding variable on money in our country).
(Key: green = white, blue = black, yellow = Hispanic, red = Asian)
Thanks for finding those maps
I was looking at the BRA maps yesterday, but these are nicer.
One thing that really stands out is the relative density of Dorchester and Roxbury compared to the rest of the city. You can see it on the ethnic distribution map, but it really stands out on the occupied/vacant units map. Everything south of Roxbury Crossing, and parts of Brighton, are at suburban densities when it comes to dwelling units.
The population density map is fairly useless because it arbitrarily cuts off at 5,000 people/sq mile. Kind of silly to group the Fenway, or the North End, in with Hyde Park.
What I see
A whole lot of green in Boston, occasionally interrupted by a swath of blue in Roxbury/Mattapan and a swath of yellow in Eastie. On the other one? Nice mixes in Hudson County, Brooklyn, Queens and Uptown.
What about the four neighborhoods dude mentioned? I see red, blue and green swirled with that yellow in Spanish Harlem, a big blob of blue with yellow, red and green swirled in for Harlem and big nonspecific puddles of color in Crown Heights and Astoria.
And then what did he say? West Village? Green. Murray Hill? Green.
These maps just proved dude's point. By the way, best outsider's view of Boston race relations ever: http://www.xojane.com/issues/sometimes-i-worry-boston-making-me-racist
hmmm....so she's saying she
hmmm....so she's saying she must guard against her racist attitudes more often because she sees fewer African-Americans in Boston than she did in Florida? Ah, yes - it's the town's fault. Weak. She should move to where I am near Adams Village in Dorchester - one of the most diverse areas in the entire country.
Misinterpretation
He called out Murray Hill and the West Village as being some of the least diverse neighborhoods in NYC.