Despite the fact that many visitors to the city of
Boston think this
city is a "
happy medium" in many ways, we in
Boston are far from
living happily together.
Of all the cities I've traveled to,
Boston is one of the most
segregated,
racist, and
classist. Yes, like many other cities,
Boston has a "
Little Italy" (we call it the
North End) and a
Chinatown; these areas are as much for the sake of new
immigrants who want the comfort of others who speak their
language, as they are
tourist attractions. It's the other neighborhoods, the ones that the
tourists,
business travelers, and
college kids don't usually see, that trouble me. We have an
Irish neighborhood, a
Latino neighborhood, towns outside the city that have been labeled "
Jewish towns", and of course the "
ghettos" overflowing with
African-Americans. For the same ridiculous "reason" that these groups don't get along in other parts of the country and world, they don't get along here AT ALL.
Prime example: a few years ago, the local
Irish people were gearing up for their annual famous
St. Patrick's Day Parade, and went to the
town meeting (or whatever forum it is that you discuss these things) with their proposed parade-route. The parade was to primarily take place in the "Irish neighborhoods", but there was one point on the route, where the
parade would have gone down
ONE BLOCK in the
North End (remember, Boston's
Little Italy). The people of the
North End who showed up, protested loudly that "those people" can't take "their" parade in "our" neighborhood. A large fight ensued, and in the end I believe the parade route was changed.
Huh?
Unfortunately, many
casual observers (and this includes
college students who stay in the areas of the city that their schools are for all 4 years) don't see any of this
hatred and
animosity because these neighborhoods aren't
tourist attractions, and are tucked away in parts of the city that I don't think are even printed on the maps they give tourists. So,
visitors are impressed with the fact that we have such a "
culturally diverse" city with
no visible signs of
racism or any other
hatred.
This is so painfully untrue.
Another example:
I grew up in a
suburb of Boston, which is known by surrounding towns as "
The Jew Town" because of our astronomical
Jewish population. Not only does this town have this
ugly epithet for a nickname, but at the few
high school sporting events I attended (particularly
Football), the opposing team's
cheerleaders, on more than one occassion, threw
bagels and
pennies onto the field while our team's
cheerleaders were doing their "welcome cheer". Now, this doesn't necessarily reflect upon
Boston proper, but for a major metropolitan area North of the
Mason-Dixon line,
Boston and surroundings is one ugly,
hate-filled area.
On a lighter and unrelated note,
Boston does have
fantastic shopping.