Sudhir Venkatesh, who writes the "Freakonomics" blog for the New York Times, has reheated the old chestnut that Boston is the most racist US city. He doesn't cite any evidence, mind you, and, like many who make this claim, he bases his assessment on anecdote. Commenters are torn. Some seem to have visited Boston only in passing. ("Anyone who’s from here knows that you take the Red Line if you’re going to a white enclave and the Orange Line if you’re going to a black one." Especially handy advice if you are heading for the notoriously white enclave of Ashmont.)
The busing incidents happened 30 years ago, and the Yawkeys are long gone from Fenway. Massachusetts is one of only three states to elect a black governor since Reconstruction, and the Celtics just won a World Championship without playing a single white guy. Nonetheless, transportation and school resources are unevenly distributed, and racial epithets can still be heard on the streets.
Does Boston deserve the label of racism? Is New York City, for example, all that better?
Image labeled "Bostonist" by Flickr user WallyG.
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