Mastodawn

David McMullin May 3, 2023

The other day, talking about issues on the fediverse, @mekkaokereke proposed an (apt) analogy which led to a tangential conversation about racism in Boston. I noticed, as I have whenever this comes up, a curious thing about what “Boston” seems to represent in the public imagination.

A thread (a rant?) about #Boston #demographics…
1/7

https://musicians.today/@mcmullin/110283766606470442

David McMullin (@[email protected])

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] Boston resident here with one clarification: Boston is _not_ especially white. What it is is segregated. But there are plenty of Black people here and they’re not hiding. (Imagine listening to everyone agreeing about how white NYC is, as if the Upper East Side below 96th St. is the whole city.) Whether Boston is as racist as everyone thinks, I’m not qualified to say. (Black Bostonians can tell you.) But compare it to NYC, Philadelphia, New Haven—not VT.

Musicians Today

David McMullin May 3, 2023

I’m not going to offer an opinion about racism in Boston, because there are 1.3 million residents of color in the Boston area who can speak about that with more authority.

Does that surprise you? That’s actually what I want to talk about.

2/

David McMullin May 3, 2023

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that “Boston” is about the whitest city there could ever be. That’s apparently its defining feature. People say things like “I lived there for a year and there were no Black people anywhere!” Then it turns out they’re talking about Cape Cod or the exurbs beyond 495. Or Vermont, even.
3/

David McMullin May 3, 2023

You could never get away with saying “New York City has no diversity at all,” and then trying to back that up by talking about Greenwich or the Hamptons. But use that logic for “Boston” and everyone just nods along. Whatever this place is that people mean when they say “Boston,” it’s not the actual city of Boston.
4/

David McMullin May 3, 2023

The City of Boston itself is less than 50% white. Granted, the city lines are rather arbitrary, and it’s part of a larger metropolis including several other municipalities and rings of suburbs. But many of the nearby communities are also quite diverse. It gets whiter the farther out you go, but however you define Greater Boston, it’s going to include a substantial nucleus of non-white residents: 1.3 million, according to the Census Bureau.
5/

https://statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Massachusetts/Boston/Race-and-Ethnicity#figure/place/non-white-population

David McMullin May 3, 2023

The only way Boston could be as white as everyone thinks is if these people just don’t count.

The “Boston” people are thinking of seems to mean: just the white parts of the largest possible geographic area around the city, excluding most of the city itself. And sure, if you do it that way, then “Boston” is all white.

But so is Chicago. So is Detroit. And no one ever talks this way about those places.

6/

David McMullin May 3, 2023

Why are people so committed to this odd mythic conception of an all-white “Boston,” and what agenda does it serve?

(Not a rhetorical question; I’m honestly curious.)

7/end

Adrianna Tan May 3, 2023

@mcmullin I am an immigrant who is not white who has visited Boston only occasionally, the perceived whiteness feels to me like the lack of cultural dominance and power from non-white cultures in ways I don’t associate with other American cities. Boston reminded me a lot of Australia: very diverse, but white people call the shots, and if anyone talks about racism too much people get awkward and defensive. I don’t feel that way in the other cities you referenced.

MRB82 May 3, 2023

@skinnylatte @mcmullin
As someone who's moved from Australia to eventually Greater Boston, you are 100% correct.

Adrianna Tan May 3, 2023

@mrb82 @mcmullin You should see the number of Australians who respond to *my posts* about experiencing racism in America with ‘move to Aus it’s better’ then block me when I tell them about my experiences with racism there lol

MRB82 May 3, 2023

@skinnylatte @mcmullin Yep. IMO one of the biggest blind spots of Australians is the fierce egalitarianism streak that permeates the country. It also makes it extremely hard for them to see things in terms of power differentials because there are very few overt power structures left. Like Aussies call bosses by first names. No sir or ma'am. So when they engage in casual racism they see it not as racist but as an act of endearment which is just so fucked up and probably why they get so defensive.

Adrianna Tan May 3, 2023

@mrb82 @mcmullin Spent some time there. “Other countries just don’t understand that in Australia it is totally fine to call Black people *** and Indian people ***, that means we like them and the rest of the world are pansies.” Meanwhile, they faint when someone says “white people”

MRB82 May 3, 2023

@skinnylatte @mcmullin YES! EXACTLY THAT!

It's such a huge problem that the Australian Human Rights Commission runs campaigns about it.

https://itstopswithme.humanrights.gov.au/

https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/casual-racism-faqs.pdf

Home

Racism. It Stops With Me is a national campaign that provides tools and resources to help people and organisations learn about racism and take action to create change. The campaign invites us to ask ourselves important questions about the role of racism in shaping society, the way we see ourselves and how we interact with one another. To explore these questions and find out more information, visit the About the campaign section of this website.

Racism. It Stops With Me

MRB82 May 3, 2023

@skinnylatte @mcmullin
Also, lol @ "ThE CiTy oF BoStOn iTsElF Is lEsS ThAn 50% wHiTe."

It's not mixed diversity. You can literally see the segregation and the red lines of demarcation in the census.

David McMullin May 3, 2023

@mrb82 @skinnylatte
I never said it was mixed diversity (or that it isn’t racist, for that matter). Boston is both highly segregated and less than 50% white. These two facts don’t negate each other.

Your comment is actually a perfect example of what I’m taking about: Half of Boston are POC, mostly living in non-white neighborhoods. And it’s somehow wrong to say that, or we’re supposed to pretend they’re not here, because… what? Only the white neighborhoods count?

MRB82 May 3, 2023

@mcmullin @skinnylatte You're arguing that Boston is diverse when in practice it's segregated. Where the wealth is, where the wealth goes, where the wealth plays, it's white people as far as the eye can see. This is what people mean when they say that Boston feels like a really white city. It may be 50% black on paper but the culture, services, the hegemony radiates from white areas.

@mrb82 @skinnylatte

I said it’s segregated up front. I bet you and I agree almost completely about Boston’s racial problems and what makes it “feel like” a white city.

Where we disagree is that I don’t think the other half of Boston is just on paper; I think it’s 360,000 real people, who have the biggest stake and the most relevant perspective on these issues. It’s weird to just sweep them all out of mind when talking about race in Boston.

https://musicians.today/@mcmullin/110283766606470442

David McMullin (@[email protected])

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] Boston resident here with one clarification: Boston is _not_ especially white. What it is is segregated. But there are plenty of Black people here and they’re not hiding. (Imagine listening to everyone agreeing about how white NYC is, as if the Upper East Side below 96th St. is the whole city.) Whether Boston is as racist as everyone thinks, I’m not qualified to say. (Black Bostonians can tell you.) But compare it to NYC, Philadelphia, New Haven—not VT.

Musicians Today