Michael Che stands by his claim that Boston is ‘the most racist city’ he’s ever been to

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I was actually born in Boston, although I consider myself Southern now, because I grew up in the South and I have a Southern accent. I consider the South to be a pretty racist place, just because Confederate flags are pretty much everywhere you go here. But Boston? Are we saying Boston is racist to the same degree as, like, deep-South-level, Confederate-flag-waving racist? I guess to some people who have rarely been below the Mason-Dixon line, Boston is pretty racist. Michael Che is one of those people. Che is one half of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, and Che maintains that Boston is crazy-racist.

Michael Che, half of the Weekend Update duo on “Saturday Night Live,” had some strong words about Boston — and, of course, President Trump — during an appearance at Boston University Thursday. Sitting on a stool, Che was relaxed, sometimes pausing mid-sentence to laugh at one of his own jokes. Che told the crowd he stands by a comment he made on “SNL” the night before the Super Bowl: Boston is “the most racist city” he’s ever been to.

Che said he received a lot of angry messages on social media after making the statement, including one from a woman who was particularly upset. But rather than explaining himself, Che said, he responded with this: “Talk to your closest black friend and ask them to explain it to you.” To which she responded: “Touche.”

Che and his Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost have been telling Trump jokes for months, so it’s no surprise Che had a lot to say about the president Thursday. He said he actually enjoys Trump, if only for his entertainment value. But Che went on to say it’d be nice if Trump was leading some other country instead of being “our own little slice of crazy.”

Che said he never apologizes for his language or controversial statements because “I’m just trying to be more presidential.”

[From Boston Globe]

My mom grew up in Georgia in the 1960s, and she always said that Boston in the 1970s-1980s was one of the most racist places in which she’d ever lived too. But I thought Boston had changed? You had Deval Patrick as governor and now you’ve got Elizabeth Warren as senator, you’re a thriving financial and higher-education center, you’re as progressive-liberal as they come. My take is that Boston is still living down its racist past, but the city has made a lot of headway on race relations in the past few decades.

Also: Michael Che is a pretty problematic person, so don’t worry about it too much, Boston. Update/clarification: I wanted to include those links on his sexism and DGAF-about-racism-when-it’s-about-certain-people because I think they are legit background on Che. At no point did I say his past comments negate his experience of racism. He believes Boston is racist. Okay. I believe him.

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152 Responses to “Michael Che stands by his claim that Boston is ‘the most racist city’ he’s ever been to”

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  1. JRD says:

    I’ve lived all over, including Boston, and if it’s the most racist place he’s ever been to, he clearly hasn’t been to many places….

    • Blahhh says:

      I don’t think you get to tell a poc what is racist….

      • QQ says:

        Oh how DELIGHTFUL!! This came so early!!! LOLololol Im really giggling to myself in Black 😂😂 Well done!…Ive heard this numerous Numerous times, including a Gawker ranking, Im gonna choose to believe what Team Brown tells me on this LOLOL

      • BTownGirl says:

        @Blahhh Precisely!! When this story broke, someone said, “Well, YOU know he’s full of it”, because….I’m half-Jewish. Errrrr, that’s still white, pumpkin. I can’t even.

      • Lahdidahbaby says:

        A-fecking-men! I’ve lived in Boston and I thought it was terribly racist, and I’m not even black, though some of my family members are. Bottom line: If a POC says it’s racist, that’s the only opinion that really matters. Period.

    • Chingona says:

      I may be wrong but per your profile pic you do not look like a person of color, so you have not been racially profiled or have experienced any form of racism. A person of color and you can go into the exact same situation and be treated completely different. For example, I a women of color go into Dillard’s and see a pair of shoes I would like to try on with a dress to see if they go together before purchasing. I am not allowed to walk over the pair of shoes to the dress department, which is less than 10 ft away, instead the shoe sales person must hand the shoes to the dress sales person. While purchasing I see the same exact sales person let a white women walk around the store with shoes. I asked the cashier why was I not allowed to take the merchandise to a different department and she said that it was not a policy. So you see you can not speak on what a person of color experiences every day.

    • Nicole says:

      Like Che said please go find the nearest black person in Boston and ask them. Because frankly you have NO personal knowledge on the subject.

      And since when does electing liberal politicians signal the end of racism? In case you haven’t gotten the memo there are plenty of racist liberals out there. Just because they aren’t waving the confederate flag around doesn’t mean they don’t participate in latent racism

      • Angelina says:

        @Nicole. SPOT ON!!!

      • KWM says:

        Yeah, it is. The white lower income working class neighborhoods are extremely racist. The police department seems to be in the news a lot for incidents between officers. There are almost no people of color holding supervisor roles or higher in the fire department, police department, city government.
        So is it confederate flag waving, white hood wearing racism, no. But it is poorer performing schools, poorer health care, less representation, less advancement with more experiance than white peers. So yes, there is an issue.

    • AnotherDirtyMartini says:

      JRD, I’m thinking that’s prob you in your prof pic. I would be furious if a man told me so-and-so wasn’t sexist after I personally experienced sexism. How can you stand by your claim when you’re not a POC?

    • Moneypenny says:

      Interesting. I’m a woman of color who has lived all over America and all over the world. I live in Boston. He’s not wrong. Sure, things are lovely inside my ivory tower bubble, but get outside of that, and it is definitely racist (maybe not as bad as in the past). Do you care to discount my experience too? His thoughts are Boston are pretty widely held by black people.

    • Megan says:

      I have two words: Mark Wahlberg.

  2. SusanneToo says:

    I think there are probably a lot of candidates for that (dis)honor.

    • Esmom says:

      Yeah. Chicago is pretty high up there, despite it being a blue city in a blue state. It always drives me crazy when people who live in the city with families (we did until we moved to the burbs a couple years ago) say they’re doing it for the diversity. Schools in particular are so segregated and gentrification has resulted in these exclusive white enclaves, little mini-suburbias. It’s diverse only on paper.

      • AreYouForReal? says:

        Pretty much every northern city is. Even New York is segregated by income/class. Maybe the south is just more overt in its racism …

      • Lightpurple says:

        The busing crisis was horrific but life has changed. Boston is majority-minority and has been for quite some time. If Che had a bad experience, I’m sad about that. But he won’t elaborate on why he thinks that.

        One of my cousins moved from Boston to Chicago and was shocked at what she saw and the things that people would say to her in Chicago. She would tell stories of waiting in line in stores and the cashiers would tell her to cut in front of the others in line and that it was okay because she was white. She didn’t think it was okay and she wouldn’t do it. And this was Chicago in late 1990s- early 2000s.

        As a nation, we still have a very long way to go.

      • Esmom says:

        LP, We sure do have a long way to go. That cutting in line story is horrific, thankfully I’ve never seen anything like that. But one of my friends was dating a biracial guy with long dreadlocks in the 90s and her landlady said she didn’t want him coming over and threatened to terminate the lease if he did.

      • KB says:

        I’m not a person of color, but yes, Chicago should definitely be on the list. The shit I’ve heard there…

      • AG-UK says:

        I am from Texas but no longer live there but the only place I have been called the N word was in Chicago when I was about 16/17 near the lake in the middle of town. I had to look around to see oh yeah you are talking to me. Made me feel like s..t that’s for sure.

      • elimaeby says:

        I recently moved to Chicago, and, yeeeeeah. I’m a blonde, blue-eyed, white woman, and went on a Tinder date with a black gentleman. I had never heard anyone use the N-word directed at someone else in person. Four times. Four times in one night. I was stunned, sickened, and horrified. This was in a nice neighborhood, too.

      • AreYouForReal? says:

        @AG-UK – as I said below – mine was NYC on Madison Avenue. Did the same thing: stopped, completely frozen, and looked around like “are you talking to me?” (Not that it would’ve been better if she were talking to someone else, but yeah …

  3. lisa says:

    i hope a bunch of white people dont start telling him he doesnt know what a racist place is if he doesnt like boston

  4. Mousyb says:

    My mom went to grad school in Boston in the late 80s and said the same thing – experienced more racism there than any place in the south she’s been to. I few friends who live there now say its better but there are a lot of issues. I’m sure things have changed but this idea that Boston is this super progressive place is not entirely true – despite being a hub for higher education and progressive political leaders (also I’ve heard that Warren has been getting too liberal for some MA residents and may be voted out come reelection time).

    Also, most importantly people need to remember different races experience racism in very different ways…

    • KWM says:

      Yup, MA and RI are funny. We are blue liberal states, but the church still has a huge hold over the states. I have friends who are so involved in the Indivisble organization started a chapter and then will say in the very next breath about how they are ok if Roe v Wade was overturned, if the birth control coverage was removed from the ACA because you know the church.

    • Really? says:

      I believe it. When my friend was studying at MIT a few years back, he was constantly pulled over by the cops. Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr., was arrested at his own home because a neighbor reported a black man in the neighborhood. The now celebrated actor, Marky Mark, beat a man while calling him, “Vietnam fucking shit.” Maybe the state hides its racism better because of all the ivy league schools there, but it is no better than the red states in terms of acceptance.

  5. Krakken says:

    The city that gave us mark wahlberg!? Noooooo

  6. Jerkface says:

    New England is just as racist as the South but the accents and personalities are just different. So is upstate New York. Same racist crap, different accent and demeanor. Lived it, breathed it, saw it. It’s real.

    • bleu_moon says:

      I grew up in NH. There’s a lot of “Boston Bro” and “salt of the earth” types who are terribly racist. Most of my family in NH swears there wasn’t a drug problem in NH “when it was all white.” *eye roll*

      • KWM says:

        It wasn’t when it was white, they just didn’t care about the drug problem when it was poc overdosing. As soon as it started hitting the white citizens, suddenly it is OMG it is a crisis, we need rehab not arrest.

      • jerkface says:

        Yes I have witnessed exactly that. They call it an “opioid epidemic” when white students start dying off in packs and they go as far as to hunt down and arrest the suspected drug dealer or supplier and charge them with murder or whatever the best legal term would be for that (I’m foggy at the moment). When in reality they’ve just arrested a minority man who has been known to sell in the area and just say it came from him. No accountability placed on the white dead kids that decided it would be a good idea to take drugs that they know would be life altering. Its the big bad boogie man that tricked their perfect little babies into doing drugs.
        When groups of hispanic or black kids die they just call it troubled crack heads and juvenile delinquents doing what they do best, being crack heads. Makes me sick.

    • Kitten says:

      I don’t want to hijack the thread with dumb white people problems but on a semi-related topic, my BF and I were on the Cape for a wedding this weekend and we stopped at a few places (breweries and brewpubs) on the way back to Boston.
      I got my BF a Colin Kaepernick shirt for xmas because he’s a huge Niners fan and loves Colin for all the good work he does. He decided to wear it yesterday for our drive back to the city and at two out of the three places we went to, people verbally attacked my BF for his shirt. The first dude was a vet who was literally shaking with anger. Second dude was a guy that I knew was a Trumpster (I’m getting really good at spotting these guys) with a pit bull who said that he’s surprised that his dog was letting my BF pet him because his jersey is a “disgrace”. I’m so happy that my BF is so chill and calm and kind to everyone, even these asshole strangers, because I was so ready to pop off.

      I won’t get into more specifics but the comments made in both cases were tinged with racism and dog whistles. So yeah, we definitely have a ways to go out here. That being said, a couple weeks back when we went out in Somerville and he was wearing the shirt, several people stopped him to compliment him on it. I should also point out that two out of the three people who gave compliments were PoC so there’s that.

      • Kate says:

        I admire your boyfriend’s restraint Kitten.

      • jerkface says:

        Grrrrrrr. My partner is a huge Islanders fan and looks as they say to him “ethnic” as in “What are you a jew or you some Greek or Slavic mix up?” (WTF?)

        When we moved up to New England the sports bros were nasty as fck with the comments. Mets cap on me got some nasty remarks too.

        The people around here are so entitled that I had the waspiest looking lemon faced shrew strut up into my yard that I own and tell me the neighborhood was disappointed that I didn’t plant they type of flowers they liked and that they expected better. In my best New York accent I gave them a hardy GFY!

        I suffer no fools. My family is of mixed race, my siblings are obviously black. The stares we get when my youngest brother visited our little storybook coastal town solidified my hatred of most human who wear boat shoes. Thats all I can say right now because Im trying to control my foul mouth.

      • DeliberateMisspelling says:

        @Kitten,

        I didn’t see that you mentioned stopping anywhere specifically on Cape, but yeah… Barnstable is the reddest county in MA, and although MA is a blue state, that’s really saying something. My advice re: Cape Cod is usually just to take the hi-speed ferry from Boston to PTown and avoid the rest of it if at all possible. As someone who lives year-round in “the rest of it,” you’re not missing anything.

  7. mkyarwood says:

    I haven’t been, but I’ve heard this for years, and not just from people of colour.

  8. Maria says:

    ‘Che said he never apologizes for his language or controversial statements because “I’m just trying to be more presidential.’

    that is a good burn.

  9. OhDear says:

    I’ve been told by a lot of non-white people, particularly black people, that Boston is extremely racist (they all used to live there). My landlords, who are white (and also used to live there), have said that it’s very insular.

    Just because someone is liberal doesn’t mean they’re not racist.

  10. Akku says:

    Boston is racist. I’m black and when I was there studying I did find it pretty racist, sometimes quite overtly, sometimes in its “polite racism/make nice” form. Maybe if you’re white you might not notice it or delude yourself that it isn’t that bad/doesnt exist, but it’s quite obvious if you’re non-white. A defence of “not as racist as the south!” is really nothing to be proud of. And, yes, I’ve visited/lived in lots of places and Boston really does fester in my memory with its racism.

    • lisa says:

      i think sometimes white people (hi! i’m one) think racism is people burning crosses and beating up blacks and denying them access to a school and not all of the other statements and actions that go on every day. you dont get a cookie for not beating up a black person. there are a trillion other ways to be offensive.

      • JennaQ says:

        Exactly. Since overt racism is deemed socially unacceptable, racism is much more covert and hidden in little microaggressions

    • Dizzie says:

      I’m white. Here’s what can happen- a white racist assumes because of your skin color you are one of them. They just let it rip until you stop it. Then they want to argue and give you all their bs reasons why they are right. This happened on my first trip to Boston, in the cab ride from the airport with my two teen daughters in the car. So yeah, racism can be in your face in that town. They may or may not be that overt/forthcoming to people of color, but then again how many cabbies won’t pick up people of color. (The you are white you are one of us has happened to me from the north to the south.)

  11. Renee2 says:

    I had a white friend in grad school who was from that area and she told me that Boston was hella racist. Also, don’t forget that is where Marky-Mark is from, and I don’t think that he existed in a vacuum.

    Also, just because Che is problematic doesn’t mean that we get to dismiss anything that he says is racist. In fact, I almost think that his saying it means that it’s more likely to be true as he is so often dismissive of racism. Think of how shitty his experiences there must have been for him to acknowledge the racism there!!

  12. Odette says:

    I’ve lived in the South and Boston. Boston was definitely more racist.

    • Snowflake says:

      Wow! I’ve seen some stuff/heard that made my head spin here in the south! And its worse there?! Dang

    • peanutbuttr says:

      Boston and the North have a different form of racism. It’s like “why yes, please give us your money. And yes, please give us your delicious pad Thai but wouldn’t you be happier living with your kind in Allston rather than here in Newton where you won’t be happy with people like us.” (For those who don’t know, Newton is a very affluent suburb of Boston while Allston is a collection of very run down apartments where students and immigrants live”.).

    • JennaQ says:

      (Poc, here) My aunt used to say in places like New England and New York, they don’t like you as a person, but they like you as a people. In the south, they don’t like you as a people, but they like you as a person.

      • Cait says:

        JennaQ…your aunt probably isn’t wrong.

        I live in New Orleans, and have lived around the south (mostly the Florida panhandle, Virginia and southern Alabama) for most of my life. It’s more overt in many ways here because of the monuments, flags, etc. But my grandfather in western New York was the most horrendously racist person I’ve ever known. When my dad, who was stationed for flight school in Selma (in 1967, no less), called home to tell his parents he was marrying a half-Chickasaw Baptist girl, my grandfather boycotted the wedding (the Protestant thing was also problematic for him, since that side immigrated to New York from Northern Ireland).

        When I visit my family in New York, the experience discussing culture and color is notably different. Grouping people together, there’s the appearance of progressive acknowledgement. Separately, there’s the individual stereotyping of a singular person. “I sure do like this aloo gobi, but maybe you shouldn’t be friends with that Dot Indian {note: I fucking kid you not}. They’re just so…different. Better to let them mingle with their own kind.”

        Here in the south – let’s take Baton Rouge and the BLM protests last year as an example – it’s, “HOMAHGAH, crowds of black people! So scary! But I’m not racist, I have that one black friend who understands why I have a Blue Lives Matter bumper sticker on my F-150, and why I celebrate my heritage! It was about states’ rights and economics, y’all!”

        This is just my personal experience, but it embodies a lot of what your aunt contextualized so astutely.

        And far be it from me as someone who has benefited from the significant privilege of looking very, very Caucasian to tell Michael Che what’s racist, where is racist, or how to define his personal experiences with racism.

      • Cannibell says:

        Wow, Jenna – that’s amazing. All props to your aunt for that bit of wisdom, which I will be remembering (and attributing).

    • Sarah says:

      Me too. Lived in the South and in Boston. (I’m white.) Boston was, by far, the most racist. For being known as such a liberal city, I was constantly reminded by how I wasn’t from there, I didn’t grow up there, I didn’t ‘fit in’ there, and I therefore, i didn’t really belong there.

  13. Merritt says:

    I think Boston is like a lot of Northern cities, it has a history of racism that frequently goes unacknowledged. The Boston PD, like many police departments has a bad history towards POC. It was highlighted during the time that Charles Stuart lied about an African-American murdering his wife Carol, when in fact Stuart himself had killed her. And in the opinions of many people the behavior of the police has not improved. A lot of white liberals still have prejudice. You don’t have to use racial slurs to be a racist.

  14. Iknowwhatboyslike says:

    Racism doesn’t have to be overt for it to be considered racist. Too many people of color that have lived or gone to school in Boston or the surrounding areas have told me this. What many people forget is that the North was and is as deeply segregated and racist as the South. The only thing was that there weren’t Jim Crow laws on the books. My theory is that the racism the early Irish settlers felt trickled down to them wanting to feel superior to the black people and there fore fed into the white supremacy.

  15. AreYouForReal? says:

    I don’t see why he’s a “problematic” person. He seems pretty straightforward to me. He may not agree with your particular opinions, but that doesn’t make him a bad person.

    • Shark Bait says:

      I also don’t understand why him being a problematic person means that his thoughts on racism should be automatically discredited. I remember the cat calling stuff with him, and even if he is a misogynist that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what racism is. Plus the comments to him on instagram from Bostonians are pretty bad and prove his point.

      • KB says:

        His jokes about telling girls to smile still make my blood boil, but I think he’s grown up a lot since then. I like him. Just like I like Chris Rock in spite of some of his “problematic” jokes at the Oscars.

    • Lofi says:

      I’m with you I followed the links and I’m still looking for the highly problematic stuff. He’s a comedian and pretty blunt about things Just because people think or respond differently to you doesn’t automatically make them problematic. And it certainly isn’t reason to dismiss their experience of racism and using their scale the fact that originally the author thought it was ok to tell Boston not to listen to Che because he’s one of those problematic black dudes is in itself problematic

    • jmacky says:

      @AreYouForReal? perfectly said. love Celebitchy but visiting less frequently because i think the pain of this last election has turned the discourse from critically engaging people and ideas, to if you don’t think about X EXACTLY the way i do and articulate it in EXACTLY the way i do, you are a garbage person. that becomes fascism and less human. Che experienced racism and articulated his experiences, AND probably made some crappy jokes in his life…

      it reminds of when Margaret Cho took Tilda to task and Celebitchy was little tough on Cho as if she needed to be this perfect vessel of critical race legal theory. humans are flawed and still deal with pain.

      i really think we need to work towards treating each other as human beings. we are all flawed but working towards kindness, respect and civility, is the way to move forward.

  16. alizia1234 says:

    There’s a big cultural/economic divide in Boston between the affluent liberal neighbourhoods and the less well-off parts in South Boston and Charleston. In the latter parts of town, some the old fault-lines between Italian/Irish and black communities persist, dating back to racist fury about bussing schoolkids in the early 1970s. There may be plenty of affluent middle class racism as well – but I suspect it finds rawer expression in the poorer and more segregated parts of town.

    • Kitten says:

      I assume you meant CharlesTOWN and not Charleston.

      I’ve lived in Charlestown for 8 years and the economic divide of such a small neighborhood (and yes it is VERY divide among racial lines) has been a source of sadness for me. I live across from the projects that span several blocks through the neighborhood. They are the oldest projects in the country and take up much of the one square mile area that makes up Charlestown. I never know how to feel about this because I know as a white person who makes a good salary, I’m part of the gentrification process that has led to a community of rich white folks and struggling minorities. I can see into the projects from the windows in my upper-level duplex apt and it seems doubtful that these housing projects have ever been rehabbed/refreshed/repainted even once.

      A few years ago when we had all those awful snow storms and Boston essentially shut down, the city’s plows and snow removal services dumped huge piles of snow into the center of the project courtyard where they have an old, dilapidated basketball court and a pretty sorry-looking playground for the kids. Well, when all that snow melted what was left was piles of trash, traffic cones and whatever else was stuck in the snow. Luckily, there are plenty of nice parks around here for kids to play in but the kids should at the very least have access to a safe and clean outdoor area to play.

      I’m friendly with a few of my neighbors across the street–a wonderful young woman who works at the TJ Max up the street, Miss Sally who is always walking her little Yorkie and James, the guy who sometimes sits on our stoop to have a smoke. Many of these people will likely be displaced when they tear down the projects and turn them into expensive commercial and residential properties, although the city has promised that many of the existing residents will be offered a slot of affordable housing in the new complex. We’ll see I guess…

      As far as Michael’s comments go, I’m sad that he feels that way and wish he could have elaborated a bit more on what his experiences were. I’ve seen and heard racism in Boston, witnessed it first-hand years ago when I dated a black man for many months. I don’t doubt his experience at all, but I do think that the takeaway from this thread is that no one city or place has an exclusive on racism.

  17. Pippa says:

    I lived in Boston, and yeah I wouldn’t argue with him. Most racist? Why make it a competition. It undermines the fact that it IS racist. This is the home of Mark Whalberg, grocery store-blinder and thrower of rocks at little black girls. Of Matt Damon, whitesplainer extraordinaire. And these are the two kinds of racism I see on display, as a white person. You’ve got the Southie-style overt racism, and the Cambridge liberal racism. The kind of liberal who goes to protests when MA refuses to let Syrians in, but who has no Muslim friends. The kind of liberal who will speak eloquently about Black Lives Matter, but has no friends and thinks they understand it better than the black person they’re speaking to. So yeah, I’d say Boston is racist, and that’s the important point, not where in the hierarchy of racist cities it falls.

  18. Adrien says:

    Yep! His statement is not even controversial. He was like saying that water is wet. A lot of people there are comfortably racist.

  19. Luca76 says:

    I don’t know it well but yeah it has the reputation of being one of the most racist cities. It was an epicenter of lots of racism during the busing of the 70s. It’s also a bastion of Ivy League eliitism. Southern racism and Northern racism is very different but both are pretty bad.

  20. peanutbuttr says:

    I went to college in Boston and can say that Northeners. can be just as racist as Southerners. It’s just that their racism is different. Their brand of racism is “We want you to have equal rights so long as we don’t have to interact with you on a regular basis.”

    • Esmom says:

      That pretty much sums it up. UGH. It’s heartbreaking.

    • Eye rolling every day here says:

      So you are for forcing people that don’t want to be together, to be together? If people of any race prefer to be with their own kind, what is the problem with that?

      • Tina says:

        Ok. I’ll bite. If people who are in the minority want to hang out with other people who are in the minority, that’s fine. But if people who are in the majority, who hold the vast majority of the levers of power (i.e. white people) only want to be with other white people, then that’s a problem. And if you can’t see why, I suggest you read a book once in a while.

  21. MissMerry says:

    In general, Boston is a pretty rough place. Even rich, white people are grumpy, rude and selfish.
    This is coming from a New Englander, born and raised and still living here.

    I’ve lived within an hour of Boston my entire life, the closest I’ve got to living ‘in Boston’ was the end of the Orange line in Malden, which has a large Chinese population. Not sure if he thinks it’s a racist city to just black people or all people of color…?

    I’d love to hear some examples from this guy of how and why he sees Boston as racist, but in terms of Bostonians, or even New Englanders, ‘caring’ that this guy thinks Boston is racist…yeah…at the end of the day, they don’t give a sh*t what you think of Boston or them.

    And that’s kinda Boston in a nutshell….lol.

    • Tata says:

      I agree with your assessment of boston ha. Also, the drivers, no turn Signals! Some lady said you cam always tell when it is someone from boston driving, they have no effs to give.

    • Arpeggi says:

      When PK Subban was still playing with Mtl, I remember a couple of stories where Bruins’ fans showed up at the arena with ape masks and bananas and were making “ape-like” noises when he was on the ice. The team even apologized and said that anyone acting like that would be kicked out in order to make it stop. So yeah, I have no problem believing that POC can have a terrible experience in Boston

    • Americano says:

      Another sports example. I visit Boston often to visit family and for work. I also happen to be a baseball fan. I’ve been to games at Fenway and I’ve witnessed some pretty disgusting racist heckling by Red Sox fans of their own player David Price because the fans felt frustrated by his performance on the field. David Price has mentioned it interviews, as well.

  22. Bitsy says:

    I get what he’s saying. I love in the south and I love it and don’t find it to be racist. I do find neo-liberal, pretentious cities like Chicago, Seattle, and Boston to be very racist. It’s not as overt as the south bit is there. In the south you do see confederate flags and women who brag about being in the DAR…but you also see very strong black and Hispanic middle class communities that have political and economic power. I don’t see that at all in cities like Boston. Boston and the like are feel-good diverse cities that like their POC to be tokens…seen but not heard.

    • Luca76 says:

      Confederate flags are the epitome of racism. It’s basically an advertisement for white supremacism. Saying the North has racism too doesn’t diminish the history of the South. The north/ south /east and west has racism.

      • Snowflake says:

        Thank you Luca! One of my bosses asked this young african-American sales guy why he didnt get this customer. He kinda didnt answer, so i told my boss, he has a confederate flag license plate. My boss looked at me like, so? I said that’s a pretty good sign he is a racist. In my exp, it is. From observation. I’m white. My hubby is black. Peeps stare occas when we are out.

      • Mousyb says:

        It doesnt seem like Bitsy is diminishing that though? These two things can exist at the same time you know. BOTH versions of racism are bad and Bitsy wasnt saying the tokenism/seen but not heard racism of northern cities is sooo much worse than confederate flags/overt southern racism…

        Lets not play racism/oppression Olympics here. All of these flavors of racism exist in our country at the same time and it sucks!

      • Bitsy says:

        Luca, I disagree. I know a lot of whites who display confederate flags yet they work alongside blacks peacefully, have black friends, and support black causes. It’s cognitive dissonance and lack of awareness and I don’t think that makes then bad people. None of us can help how we’re raised and it takes exposure and education to change ideology.
        But my point I am very firm on; black communities are hands down doing better in the south than in liberal eastern and northern cities. For example, here in Texas where I live, black people are economically and politically more powerful in Dallas and Houston than in fake-progressive Austin.

      • sanders says:

        Hey Bitsy, fellow Texan, though a transplant from Canada. As a poc, I’ve encountered virtually zero overt discrimination here compared to my experience in two big cities in Southern Ontario. I’m South Asian and not aware of what Texas is like for black people but my husband has noted there are more black people higher up in his work place than he saw back in Canada. Also, he has gotten much further along in his field than he would have back home.
        I’d concur with your assessment of Austin, it is so white compared to Dallas and Houston.

      • pinetree13 says:

        Yeah if you display the confederate flag you’re racist. It’s saying to the world “I wanted the slave-owners to win!” It doesn’t matter if they have black friends.

      • Eye rolling every day here says:

        Southerners simply don’t care if you approve of our flags or history. It burns you up that you can’t dictate what it means to us. We will fly them forever and laugh in your face when you whine about them. Think what you want, it doesn’t matter at all to us and it infuriates you!

      • Tina says:

        I suspect that if it didn’t matter at all to you, you wouldn’t comment quite so vehemently.

      • teacakes says:

        @Eye rolling – I’m not American, but didn’t the South LOSE that war it started?

        I wouldn’t be bragging about racist loser symbols if I were you, but it clearly chaps your hide that ‘your side’ lost a war fought 150 years ago so I don’t exactly expect rationality from people like you.

  23. Almondjoy says:

    I’ve never been there so I can’t say for myself but have heard this numerous times.

    Also, Michael Che being problematic doesn’t invalidate his experiences while being in Boston. A problematic person of color still experiences racism just like the rest of us 🤷🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

    • Shark Bait says:

      Yeah I didn’t understand that at all. His problematic statements are rooted in misogyny and have nothing at all with him being able to gauge racism.

    • sanders says:

      I’ve heard the same about Boston from a Chinese American woman (born and raised in the US) who did her medical residency there and said it was the most racist place she had ever lived. So I guess even class/professional status does not protect one from racism there.

  24. Beth says:

    The most racist EVER?! No way. Living in Kissimmee, Florida I see more racism than Boston (which I still call home). Someone might have to face a little trouble strutting around Boston in a Yankees cap no matter what their race though

    • Jayna says:

      Kissimmee? You’re living in TrumpLand, USA, as far as the white voters.

      • Beth says:

        No kidding! Really?! I’m not happy to be here, but I have to take care of my parents. I was born and raised in Boston and it was nothing like it is here. Believe it or not, plenty of people I know here that aren’t white voted for Trump. Awful that anyone would vote for the monster Trump

    • Odette says:

      Interesting. I lived near by in Lake Mary and give the “more racist” label to Boston by a mile.

  25. Kirby says:

    Im white, grew up in Boston, left for Chicago and then NYC. Boston is SO EFFING WHITE. You take the bus from NYC, its a good mix of people. id get on the T to get to North Station its filter out to 75% white. I get on a train to Beverly Farms(where my mom lives) its 100% white, with bonus entitlement attitudes. Theres not only a race divid there is a huge class one as well. A lot of my clients now are from Manchester by the Sea and they people that live there are awful. All the women are on mood stabilizers and all the men are dumpy alcoholic babies. I loved when Manchester by the Sea the movie came out, all the precious people got SO UPSET because it was mostly filmed in Gloucester and Gloucester is “dirty and poor”

    • Shark Bait says:

      I’ve gone to Boston several times for work and a few times just to visit. I noticed that compared to Philly (where I live) and DC/Baltimore (where I go for work) and of course NYC, it was much whiter. I’ve been on public transportation in DC and Baltimore and have been the only white person there. In my line of work (not the painting- I just went back to my old job in domestic violence/sexual assault advocacy and support) I tend to work with a big minority population here in Philly just because of our demographics. So it just tends to be something I pick up on and I noticed Boston seemed much whiter to me. It is a lovely place, but if a person of color says they feel like it’s a racist city, I’m not going to argue with them. If someone told me Philly is a cesspool, I would be inclined to agree. I think Philadelphians can be a bit more self deprecating.

    • Kitten says:

      You’re talking about a commuter rail, I assume. Yes the commuter trains are full of lots of white (surprise!) commuters traveling to their city jobs from the suburbs. These people are not Boston residents so I’m not sure it’s really fair to use them as an example of how white Boston is.
      As someone who has lived in Boston for 20 years and relies on public transportation, I can tell you that the train passengers on the BOSTON railways are really diverse. If you’re going to a Copley/Newbury St or some of the more touristy areas of the city you’ll see more white faces but if you’ve ever taken the orange or red lines, then you would know that there are plenty of black folks and Hispanic, asians etc coming in from areas like Somerville, Charlestown , JP, Rozzie, Dot, etc.

      • Lightpurple says:

        Not only are the passengers extremely diverse but the jobs of driving those trains and managing those stations that, jobs that come with union protection, a decent salary and good health insurance and a pension, as recently as 10 years ago were all held by white men are now, for the most part, held by women of color.

        People have their own experiences with different places and I would not hold what happened 30-40 years ago (Chuck Stuart tried to frame Willie Bennett in 1989; the busing crisis was in the mid-70s, “No Irish Need Apply” was over a century ago,) as I’m seeing people do, as an indication of what an area is like now. Nor would I equate Beverly or Manchester by the Sea, one of the richest towns in the country, as Boston. No, I’m not saying that racism doesn’t exist here or that people haven’t experienced horrible treatment based upon skin color, ethnic origin or religion or classifications.

        I too came from a northern suburb, but not Manchester-by-the Sea. Chelsea, which is majority-minority, with predominately Spanish speaking families. I now live in another northern suburb that is also majority-minority with predominately Chinese speaking families. Neither Matt Damon or Mark Wahlberg represent me. Neither does Mindy Kaling, who grew up in much wealthier surroundings.

        Racism does exist here. I hear it every day as I try cases at the Commission against Discrimination and the EEOC. I don’t know what Che’s experiences were but it felt like a slap when he said it, especially when he said it in comparison to Atlanta where I had seen quite open racism, but again, he knows what his experiences were, I don’t. It just makes me very sad that our world is still like this.

      • Kitten says:

        I feel you so much on this, LP. I won’t diminish what is his very real experience, yet it’s hard to hold back from defending the city I love. And ITA that using Marky Mark as someone who represents this city is really insulting. Hey guys, that one actor that did that awful thing that time doesn’t actually represent the 5 million people who live in the greater Boston area.

        I do think that the despicable busing crisis in the 70s was a starting point for many of the systemic issues we have now. Schools are often poorly integrated and with time, that really takes a toll on black and minority children who are forced to receive subpar educations. I see it a lot in Ctown because the are so many young white families here. It seems like as soon as the kids are past elementary school age they are sent to private school or the families move to the burbs so their children can get a better education. Additionally, we do not do enough to address violence in communities of color. Where are the programs to tackle the systemic issues that lead to high crime rates? It seems like many non-profits competing for the same resources are scared to criticize public officials, perhaps because they fear they will not get funding if they do so.

        But we also have communities like Somerville, where a BLM flag flies outside of city hall. We have a good amount of POC working in high profile positions in government, in hospitals, in our universities and colleges. It breaks my heart to know that anyone would be a target for racism here and I wish I could do more to ensure that people of color and other minorities feel as comfortable and safe as possible in this city.

        PS The groom at the wedding I went to this weekend is chelsea born and raised 😉

      • Beth says:

        I’m totally agreeing with you Kitten and Light purple! I’ll always defend my favorite city and after 16 years of being in Florida, I still say “back home in Massachusetts “. I was born in Norwood and am from the greater Boston area town Norfolk. My school only had 2 black kids in it, they were my friends, they fit in and were never harassed for their race.

        Hearing people use examples of things that happened 40 years ago is unfair and ridiculous. When using a couple of famous people who misbehaved as an example of how everyone there acts is also unfair. My parents started letting us take the T into the city all the time without them when we were 12 because they knew there was no worry.

        Unfortunately, there’s going to be racism in every city and that needs to change. I am so sorry if he had a bad experience there, but there are many other cities that are worse. Florida is worse. I miss nice people, the best food in the world , great schools, the best hospitals, living 10 minutes away from the Patriots, and of course having all 4 seasons .

      • sanders says:

        Couple of things, It’s unfortunate that the need to defend your home town from any kind of criticism takes precedence over the very real pain of actual human beings living with racism. Your opinion that Florida is more racist than Boston is not any kind of consolation for people who experience racism, both overt and systemic. This impacts the quality of their lives and mental health in multiple ways. The stakes are much higher than feeling good about your home town.
        There are multiple poc on this thread stating that they have experienced racism in boston in a way that they haven’t in other parts of the US, not 40 yrs ago but now. Rather than wondering what it is about your home town that creates such a hostile environment for poc, your ego is bruised because the town you grew up in and its image is more important than the actual lives of poc.
        I am more discouraged when I read comments like this from ‘allies’ than the obvious troll on here going on about the confederate flag. I have no expectations from someone who appears so deeply entrenched in their white supremacist ideology. I expect much more from people who claim to understand racism enough to be able to identify and acknowledge it, but only selectively when it is convenient to their world view and comfort zone. This is not helpful to say the least. For any white person who is feeling uncomfortable with Boston being called a hostile and racist environment, which, again, is really not that big of a deal as actually experiencing racism in boston, this is an opportunity to tune in to where the discomfort is coming from.

      • Beth says:

        @sanders,I’m white but am from a family with many different races and have friends of many races. I’ve visited and spent time with them in public in the city of Boston as recently as last year,and there were no signs of racism towards any of us. My not white friends and I would get mean looks from people of all races and ages. Since this past summer when I started dating my black boyfriend in Florida is when I saw more. People in public have given us rude looks, moved to another table at a restaurant, and made comments. When were holding hands and he gave me a kiss on the cheek, someone told us there shouldn’t be couples like us in America. We knew none of these people. Disgusted that people could be like this. There are racist people all over, but living in blue state Massachusetts for 22 years,I didn’t see much ever, but in red state Florida, there’s lots. Yes,it’s my opinion, but there’s many people who feel the same

  26. Angelina says:

    As a mixed race family who spent the last 8 years living in a Boston suburb (quite close to downtown), I don’t think his comments are too far off from the truth. We were not prepared for and sometimes shocked by the mindset, attitudes, and experiences we encountered there. We made the decision to leave Boston last summer and have absolutely no regrets!

    I should mention that we’ve lived in four different states in the US and several countries abroad and never experienced anything remotely close to what we did in Boston.

  27. kNY says:

    I think it’s important to note that he states that Boston is the most racist city that he’s ever been to – not the most racist city period. So that is his experience and there’s no arguing or talking him out of it. That is the place where he experienced the most racism. Other people of color agree with his assertion, and other people of color have had different experiences.

    I think that if he had said Mobile or Little Rock, no one would have blinked. But because Boston is not a place most white people think of as a gun toting, confederate flag waving Mecca, it’s a bit of a shocking statement. And we (all of us) need to absorb his statement, because I think many people who are not regularly discriminated against tend to write places like Boston off as Blue/Democratic and therefore somewhere where people of color are free of discrimination.

    • JennaQ says:

      Yes! We expect it from the south, but not from places like Boston. But racism can be found anywhere.

    • KWM says:

      I live in RI, my daughter goes to public school in second grade, we are a Title 1 school with 63% of students get free or reduced lunch. We are white and she is the minority. I get asked constantly how I can send her to school there, with those other kids, you can afford to send her to a private school. Those kids being black and spainish speaking children. So yes racist is alive and well in NE.

      Best part, our local catholic school is closing after this school year, the parents are losing their shit about the fact that they may have to now send their kids to school with those children. The good catholics here, are fine with poc as long as they can throw money at the problem and not have to interact with them.

      • Eye rolling every day here says:

        Your child will end up hating you. You aren’t doing her any favors by sending her there and putting her in danger to prove how not racist you are. Please wake up and stop the insanity, you are literally offering her up on a platter as a sacrifice to diversity! Is it really worth it? When she comes home one day in a sorry state you cannot take it back and do you want to live with the guilt all so you can pose and preen to other people about how open minded and tolerant you are? My god, this is your child! Wake up!

      • Tina says:

        Wow. This is explicitly racist. Ignore this, KWM, and keep on doing what you’re doing.

      • Lightpurple says:

        Danger? Sacrifice? Sorry state? From sitting in a classroom with kids who look different? Because kids don’t get bullied or beaten up at majority white schools? Seriously, are you a troll or is there something very wrong with you?

      • Beth says:

        @KWM, don’t let anyone asking you why your sending your kid there change your mind. She’s lucky to be around all kinds of people of different races. It’s great to see people with your attitude!

        @eye rolling don’t be so ignorant and think there’s danger,sacrifice,and it’s going to make her kid hate her just becaue there’s more than just white people there. What stupid,shameful, mean, racist things to say! White people are also bullies, and you definitely proved it

      • Crimson says:

        @eye rolling – The only way to teach a child to view everyone as human beings first and foremost is for them to be comfortable within the environment they are raised. KWMs child most likely knows her school peers as friends and accepts them as people. I don’t understand why you would remove a child from his neighborhood unless you have a real problem with the level of education they are receiving from the school for which they are zoned. There should be no other reason to send your child to a different school because that does propagate racism and classism.

        I will use my upbringing as an example for how twisted your opinion is: I was raised in a middle-class white neighborhood and took the bus as a kindergartener to our local public school. I loved it. I met kids of different cultures and socio-economic levels, which I was fascinated by, and we all got along fine. To my dismay, my parents decided that my three siblings and I would attend the Catholic school two blocks from our house. I did not enjoy it one bit. I hated being segregated from half of my neighborhood friends (the other half did attend the Catholic school). I especially hated the guilt that was constantly pounded into us every single day by the nuns. I saw how debilitating it was as I grew older. I specifically remember wishing oh so much that I could just be “normal” and go to the public school. Finally I did, in the ninth grade and in high school. It was like breathing fresh air. If anything, I hated that my parents saddled me with eight years (the most formative years for a child) of deeply ingrained guilt for just about anything pleasurable a human being should feel. Thus, @eye rolling, I find your logic is backwards.

  28. Anilehcim says:

    I believe it. All I can say is that racism is alive and well everywhere. I’m from north Jersey and we’re a very “blue” state and some of the most liberal and progressive areas are loaded with rich white people who vote democrat and then treat black people who live in their area like shit, like they’re inferior. I have a relative who participated in the Women’s March, campaigned for Hillary, and I sat at her dining room table in shock and disgust when she referred to black kids from her city who go around selling candy to raise money for school sports teams as “scary.” In many ways I think that in some areas, people vote based on what they think is cool or socially acceptable, not how they really feel, and it’s largely the people who are wealthy enough to be completely unaffected by what they vote for. They’re the same people who’ll say “some of my best friends are black!” and they have that one token black friend. Just my experience.

    • whyme says:

      I’m from West NJ and you’d never know we were a “blue” state. At all. It’s Trumpland here. Trump stickers and signs still on houses and cars (Mercedes and Pickups alike). All mostly wealthy, mostly white, mostly college educated and so racist without some even realizing it. Just because one neighbor may be black, and one is spanish they think that makes them somehow tolerant, I guess??? I don’t know. But it’s a different world from Manhattan/Queens and we’re about an hour away.

  29. lizzie says:

    i always thought pittsburgh was the most racist place ever. definition of deep rooted systemic rather than overt racism. no one there THINKS they are racist and no one would say the N word but there are also hardly any POC other than Asian students and lots of people in their 30’s and up are incredibly tone deaf.

    • Anilehcim says:

      Regarding Pittsburgh, my cousin’s cousin is from there, and I felt like I was talking to David Duke when I had a conversation with her at a holiday. I’m not familiar with Pittsburgh, but I read after the encounter that it is a very racist place and it all made sense. Some stereotypes are true. Like I said in another comment, though, racism is alive and well everywhere. I guess some people just feel more emboldened than others.

    • Beth says:

      My black bf is originally from Philadelphia and says there and Pittsburgh are extremely racist. I’ll be bringing him to meet my multiracial family in Boston this summer. He’ll see less racism in Boston than here in Florida

  30. NarNar says:

    I’m from upstate NY and the first and only time I was ever called a Ni@*& was while in college in Boston. My blonde haired, blue eyed sister in law who I love dearly lives in Boston and even she says its racist as hell.

  31. Joy says:

    I’m a white woman from the south and I was startled by the racism in New England when I first went there for work. I had naively assumed that southerners owned racism. I was wrong. It may not be as obvious with literal flag waving racists, but it exists.

  32. L84Tea says:

    I dated a guy from Boston and yeeeeah, he was pretty racist towards Hispanics, blacks, and Filipinos and was pretty relentless about the fact that they were “taking over the city”. Just one of many reasons I kicked that dude to the curb many moons ago.

  33. Meredith says:

    Boston is the most openly racist city I’ve visited. I was pretty shocked at the things I heard.

  34. Ash says:

    Boston’s racism and Northern racism is a all together alternate dynamic…. as in you had an influx of white/cauacasian/european (watev you want to refer as) catholic immigrants coming into the north [i.e. ellis island]. The white american protestant (anglicanized) majority who were blown about these catholic “foreigners” coming in, and yet were still dealing with the aftermath or conclusion of slavery and this new (to be paid but never truly compensated workforce—- Black people newly freed, free colored men/women)…. devised to galvanize an assault to further oppress this new population component, and thrawt their new status as citizens and not property (allowing for voting to be null in void at the time), the white protestant anglicanized majority sought to open the meaning of whiteness and incorporate these new mostly catholic, immigrants, but still WHITE into a the fold, allowing them to become police offices, etc, est neighborhoods, etc. etc. while inundating them with “at least you’re not black” “be clear of the blacks” “blacks are gonna still your jobs” not to mention Blacks were competing for work and legitimacy and now had to compete with these immigrants for low wage jobs already on top of everything….

    so when Che says boston is racist…. he aint lying. Chris Rock said this as well, esp with the busing system in the 1970’s which he was a child while…where after decades of lowkey segregation schools were being integrated on an active scale in Boston. And who perpetrated this racism —-often times the Irish American, Italian American, and descendants of that white immigrant communities in Boston.

  35. Chicken says:

    I was born and raised in the South. I moved to New England when I was 16 and I was blown away by the racism. That said, I’m a white woman, so I can only comment on what I observed, and not what I personally experienced towards me.

  36. Saks says:

    I don’t find Che funny at all, in my pov his segment is by far the worst in SNL, but I won’t give him a hard time over what he experienced. I think in those topics it comes to personal experiences and all are valid, for example, I’m a brown Mexican and from all places in the USA, Atlanta is where I was treated with more racism (someone told me to “speak american” when I was talking to my cousin, and even I was also told by a random black woman that Latinos were awful) while everyone in Boston was great to me.

    • Lightpurple says:

      Atlanta is where I had one of my weirdest experiences. We went down to attend several Red Sox games and to visit family. We were sitting in the ballpark and I realized that the only people of color anywhere near us in the stadium were the players on the field and the stadium workers. Almost all of the people attending the game, all of the ones anywhere near us any way, were white, which I thought rather odd given the demographics of the city itself.

  37. Pix says:

    I hate to agree, but Boston is also the most racist place i have ever been. It’s actually pretty shocking how blatantly racist some folks are in Boston.

  38. Jenn says:

    At least in the Black American community this is not news it is a common sentiment based on treatment and experience. These “yah right!” comments from mainly non Black people are typical and depressing.

    Like I wouldn’t get mad if Native Americans called some place “most racist”. I’d be interested not disbelieving.
    People groups have different experiences in different places.

  39. whyme says:

    What is everyone getting so upset about? He is the one that said it was the most racist city “he’s” ever been to. He was treated horribly or observed people being racist. Why is that so hard to believe? And why are people getting in an uproar about it? Do we live in some Make Believe Land where everyone gets along? Racism is at an all time high right now! A man just admitted to plotting and traveling to NY to kill black men and killed one!!!!! People are actually yelling at him online because of this? Sheesh.

    • greenmonster says:

      Exactly whyme! He gave his opinion. He didn’t even say, Boston was the most racist city EVER as the headline claims. He said it’s the most racist city he’s been to. That is a difference.

      I’m dissapointed that his point of view gets negated because he seems to be a “problematic person”.

  40. Justwastingtime says:

    We all can only state our individual experiences. I am a white female with a mixed race family who has lived in NYC, Boston, and LA.. Of those three cities, not even close. For all socio-economic classes from wealthy to working class – Boston was far more racist than NYC or LA.

  41. Moonstone says:

    I’m mixed race and live in Boston and I couldn’t agree with him more, the things I’ve heard and had to experience everywhere I go here would blow your mind!

  42. Amelie says:

    Yeah Boston is VERY white and I say this as a white person. My mom lives in the South End for work during the week and every time I go up to visit I’m struck by the parade of whiteness. I live in NYC on the Upper West Side which itself is very Jewish, but I see more diversity on a city block there than I do on a city block in Boston. I first heard about Boston being super racist not from Michael Che, but as a kid from a black female camp counselor at a summer camp I attended in the Boston area. I didn’t really believe her since I was just a privileged middle class white kid in middle school but as I grew up and my horizons expanded, I started noticing the lack of diversity every time I visited Boston. Sure, there might be minorities living in the fringe neighborhoods of the city limits and suburbs and there are some pretty depressing towns surrounding the city of Boston with low-income housing which I’m assuming is where a lot of minorities live as well. But the majority of them aren’t living in the city center. Now I’ve obviously never experienced racism in Boston as a white person and I’ve never been there long enough to observe it myself, but I could easily see it being very racist. No city is perfect obviously (a white man was just arrested here in NYC for the very specific mission to kill a black person which he unfortunately did carry out), but I think Boston’s problem is compounded by its history being dominated by Irish Americans. According to Wikipedia, people of Irish descent are the single largest ethnic group which makes sense.

    • Kitten says:

      Um where are these “depressing towns” right outside of Boston where you assume “the minorities” live? The largest black and Hispanic populations can be found in JP, East Boston, Dot, Roxbury, and Mattapan. No that isn’t “downtown Boston” (although these areas are only 3-6 miles away) but guess what? Most white people cant afford to live in downtown Boston either. As far as JP, Dot, Roxbury etc being “depressing towns” I hate to break it to you but they aren’t towns, they are considered part of Boston and each area has their own style and thriving culture with great restaurants, parks, and boutique shops and not depressing at all. I actually prefer those areas over the more touristy and overpriced parts of the city.

      Additionally, using one block in the south end as evidence of Boston’s “whiteness” is like using a block in TriBeCa as evidence of NYC’s whiteness. Perhaps you should have ventured a mere mile further from where your mom lives towards Mission Hill or Roxbury Crossing where you will see plenty of people from all races and walks of life.

      • Kitten says:

        Just to add: the south end is one of the most unaffordable and exclusive neighborhoods in Boston. It’s been largely gentrified by the gay community for the past 40 or so years but now, even they are moving out to more affordable areas.

      • Amelie says:

        Wasn’t talking about any of those areas and well aware they are part of Boston. I’m talking further out of Boston where I once visited a satellite MGH location. Can’t remember the exact name of the town since this was back in 2012 but it was definitely blue collar/lower income area. I could easily ask the person I know who works there if you really want a name. I also haven’t only wandered around the South End. I’ve seen enough to notice the lack of diversity in general compared to other cities I’ve lived in (Madrid, Spain which has many immigrants from South America and Asia and NYC which I don’t think I need to explain).

        And yes I know about the unaffordability of the South End too. I couldn’t afford to live there either, just lucky I have a place to crash when I’m in town.

    • Lightpurple says:

      Only millionaires live in the city center, unless they’re in Chinatown and Chinatown is not very white at all. Dorchester is hardly a fringe area; it is the largest neighborhood in Boston. Why are you comparing it to NYC? Why not compare to a city of comparable size?

  43. JJ says:

    I lived in Boston for almost a decade and never experienced a shred of racism. I lived In the north end and felt very welcomed and protected by the neighborhood- I loved it. When I moved to the suburbs my husband went across the street to meet the neighbors and was told by the man that our neighborhood was “nice, really quiet and didn’t have any loud blacks or hispanics”. We’re a mixed race couple-things got awkward fast.

  44. Marianne says:

    I know it sucks to have your hometown trashed, but hes giving an honest opinion on an experience he’s had. It doesn’t mean everyone will have the same experience or association. And I personally think that no place is without problems.

  45. Sg says:

    “Michael Che is a pretty problematic person, so don’t worry about it too much, Boston.”

    Unbelievable. Your clarification does not help at all.

    • deevia says:

      Because he didn’t fit into the feminism cause so his opinion is written off. The author is so tied up to her identity as a woman that she fails to think critically on the horizon. Or may be she likes to start sh!t judging from the misguided headline.

    • Madailein says:

      The author is frequently problematic herself, in being far too biased about multiple issues to report accurately or insightfully on them. Here, she appears to be more concerned w protecting the feelings of Bostonians than w validating the responses of people of color. Evidently, if someone is “wrong” in her eyes about some topic (feminism, for example) she appears to think they cannot be “right,” or genuinely believable, about anything else. Frustrating.

  46. Hkk says:

    I went to college in New England. Racism up there is different. For the most part they are gonna agree with affirmative action… give the blacks a chance. They are gonna be polite to you. But they are the they and you… poc are the other. Expected to know your place… not looking at you for promotions, not expecting you to be brightest in your class… have an accent because you are straight up from Africa, not gonna try to understand what you are saying… date a white lady? Oh now they will be rude to you as a matter of fact. No one is going to burn your house down or spray paint ni99a on your garage but they will let you know in ‘polite’, ‘civilized’ ways… or behind your back let it slip to white people paying attention … how you really feel. Grown men calling black men son… not putting your change in your hand. Yes, racist.

  47. notafan says:

    I’m Indian. Went to college in Boston. Went back last summer for my college reunion. Still racist.

  48. Carolina says:

    I’m a WOC from the South and I’ve only ever been called a racial slur in New England.

  49. PinkyPenny says:

    The sad thing is that even people of color contribute to the racism.I live in central CA and it’s happened a couple of times that I am first in line and they ignore me and ask to take the white person first, even though clearly I am standing in the front clearly you can tell I was next, and the cashiers are people of my color.It has been so ingrained that even my own people give priority to a white person.