It is true in the sense that the city is still shaped in fundamental ways by racial conflict. The 1970s busing conflicts are in the past in sense, but in another are still shaping force/scars (read the Soiling of Old Glory for a primer on it, great book). I teach at a college, teaching politics, including around race issues, and also work in the local community. There are a lot of good people seeking to work through all this, but it does not take much - be it a reading I'll give my students or a topic at a local meeting - to see the tensions and coded language emerge. I don't hear people say the n word publicly, but the coded language is evident, and so when a bunch of folks go nuts on twitter I was not the least bit surprised. I recall being at Bos-Mtl game this year and hearing fans yell "kill him" to Subban. I've been at a number of Bruins games and never heard that sort of language, even against players they hate. It is well known that black athletes have had serious questions about going to Boston. Things are better than they were but these tensions linger, and the city is still quite segregated, adding to the problems.okcanuck wrote:Boston Canucker is that true? Racism is that obvious in Boston?
I guiess I must be the most naive person on the planet, its just hard for me to believe that there is that many people with that kind of hatred toward people just because of the colour of their skin.
I did see a documentary recently, I believe on PBS, saying that racism in the northern states has overtaken the southern states. Wow, makes me glad I live in a tolerant society like we have in Canada. Plus we have a better hockey team than the Boston Bums.
I can attest to HW's point about the general hostility of Boston fans in all regards. As I said previously, I lived in NYC for 10 yrs (including being there in 94) and never the level of personal vitriol I hear here. Prior to Game 1 of the Finals last year I was walking with a friend to play tennis, and I was wearing a t shirt with the old school Canuck logo. A guy working on a rooftop with a nail gun screamed down, in a joking but still not too friendly tone, that he could hit me in the chest with a nail from up there. My friend was shocked, and all I said to him was, "that's Boston," you can't just be an opponent you have to be hated, demonized. If you want more evidence, just youtube clips of Bruins play by play goofball Jack Edwards...the most astonishing vitriolic homerism I have ever heard, and they Love him here, love him!