Results tagged “racism”

Nothing can stop the US Postal Service from delivering the mail, not rain or sleet or even a blizzard of racism from a Hingham resident with bad intentions. You've seen the video by now - we provided it just in case you didn't - of 60-year old Erica Winchester's impersonation of Michael Richards directed at Hugson Jean, a former USPS letter carrier. more ›

From Above the Law, we have this tidbit about an unnamed Harvard law student who has caused a nationwide ruckus because she thinks that African Americans might be genetically stupid. more ›

Did you need a reason to wish the Globe to death today? Sports columnist Bob Ryan has one for you: Untrammeled bigotry! Sure, Boston in general and Boston baseball in particular have a proud history of hating just about anything that isn't white and pasty, but those days are behind us, right? Well, no. more ›

Three men were arrested today on charges that they set fire to the predominately black Macedonia Church in Springfield following the election victory of Barack Obama. The incident was a part of a small spate of racially-motivated crimes that broke out in isolated parts of the country on Election Day. The fire did $2 million worth of damage to the church. [Globe] more ›

In yesterday's Globe, Jeff Jacoby asserted that the impending population shifts that will supposedly move whites into the minority are mythical. Citing Census population projections, Jacoby shows that most of the projected “minority” population increase in the U.S. actually consists of white Hispanics. Since these people are racially white (and ethnically Hispanic--Hispanic is not a racial category), whites will retain a 74 percent majority of the U.S. population, even in 2050. more ›

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.) more ›

As the summer tourism season begins, the blog Armagideon Time reminds us that Boston has long been a choice destination for the eccentric and the little. , Winsor McCay's masterpiece of proto-surrealist storytelling, landed in Boston once, for the duration of one 1911 page. Little Nemo and crew checked out the sights, got acquainted with the "Pee Tree," and mistreated their racist caricature of a friend. more ›

MBTA employees are not endearing themselves to the public this week. First there was the driver on the C Line who injured a passenger by hitting the brakes at a bad time. She expressed her concern by going out for a smoke. Then there's the creep who made fake passes for the blind, which he sold to people who could see. Now there's the bonehead who wore a noose to the MBTA office for Halloween.... more ›

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a... more ›

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the... more ›

When the lease is up and you've got no intention of leaving what's the next course of action? The landlord changes the locks on the door. That's precisely what happened to James Sherley, a stem-cell biologist at MIT, over the weekend. Sherley, who had embarked upon a hunger strike only to end it 12 days later, was locked out of his MIT laboratory as his appointment ended on June 30. He had planned on continuing... more ›

MIT Professor James Sherley ended his 12 day hunger strike in mid-February, hoping that the attention he'd gained in the effort would bring some resolution to his quest to expose and eliminate systemic racism at the university. His faculty appointment ends on June 30 (the end of the fiscal year) and he's said that even though he doesn't have tenure he doesn't have any plans to leave. It's a different story for Frank Douglas, executive... more ›

The Boston Babydolls will perform "Burlesque: By Women, For Women" on Tuesday, May 15, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $12, and no men will be admitted. OK, men can read this to whet their appetite for burlesque, but they're not invited to the Boston Babydolls Ladies Only burlesque show at Coolidge Corner. The Babydolls are recreating the heyday of burlesque, when shows "for ladies without escorts" sold out. Bostonist asked Miss Mina some questions... more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it's sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal... more ›

You can't say the man doesn't deliver on a promise. MIT's Associate Professor of Biological Engineering James Sherley has started the hunger strike he announced before Christmas. He stated February 5 as the start date, and the Herald reports that he's begun his quest today. A hunger strike is an unhealthy way to take off some of the holiday pounds, soon we'll find out if it will be the fast way to tenure track at... more ›

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into... more ›

There's an unsettled feeling in Boston at the end of the semester. The undergrads start pouring out of the city when they turn in that last paper assignment or take the last test until they have to do it all again the next year. Professors and TA's are busy grading, trying to get their own work complete so they can find a break in the winter recess. Associate Professor of Biological Engineering James Sherley is looking to stir things up and dominate an otherwise quiet time in academia. He's vowed to avenge the injustice done to him when MIT denied him tenure, he'll protest using a tried and true method of non-violent protest: the hunger strike. more ›

Let's look back at a week in which no site in the -ist network adopted anyone from Africa... -Austinist reveled in the dumb antics of some U.T. law students and posted some great audio from former New Orleans natives who've decided to stay in Austin. But the best news for Austinist? They were voted Best Local Entertainment Web Site by the local Austin alt-weekly. Congrats, Austinist. -DCist gloried in being told their musical tastes made... more ›

A couple weeks ago we found this “alternative tour” video of Harvard. Well, ok, it was only a clip. We wondered how long his version of the tour could have possibly continued. We were decidedly wrong when we thought the Harvard “branding police” would have him tackled before he got across the quad. This “part 2” video of the tour, the lighting has changed so it may be a little bit later, or just in a shadow – the real surprise is that he has seemingly commandeered a group of prospective students of his very own (part 1 seemed only to have his own band of merry men). No chants of racism, he's turned down the audacity a notch. This second clip doesn’t end well for the intrepid guide; there is a funny ha-ha and a funny mean. more ›

A little bit of comedy, mixed with political commentary, some pop culture, and interesting interviews. This is exactly what Baratunde delivers on his podcast, the Front Porch Podcast. more ›

We’re almost positive that most days we can get from Harvard Station to Central Square faster than the Red Line can make it. We’re not even going to talk about where and how often you can beat the Green Line at its own game, inbound or outbound. We’ve proven on more than one occasion that we can travel faster than the 39 Bus between James’ Gate and Sweet Finnish in JP (it usually overtakes us... more ›

. . . OK, that part about the steel cage match isn't true . . . yet. But Secretary of State William Galvin, whose heart never really seemed in the race, is now officially out of contention for the governor's job, which will be open in 2006 assuming Mitt Romney decides to make a run for the White House (and who knows, really? Yesterday, after all, he weighed in on a matter of pressing concern... more ›

Yesterday, a story hit the wire about the location of the Commonwealth’s most hazardous communities. The 59 page report was authored by Northeastern University sociology professor Daniel R. Faber and Eric J. Krieg, a professor at Johnson State College in Vermont and showed that 24 of the 30 most environmentally hazardous sites in the Bay State also had communities that were 25 percent or more non white. Bostonist can’t help but think about a memo we once read that had reportedly come from the desk of Larry Summers when he was chief economist at the World Bank in 1992. The World Bank memo, which was leaked to the press and published in The Economist might not have been written by Summers and it may have been doctored up before it was released to make the assertions more outreageous. The form we saw it the was certainly outragous. more ›

While Bostonist loves our fair city (and its accompanying metropolitan area), we must confess that racial segregation and low-level tension among races are a frustrating reality. Lately, that reality has lead to some interesting legal battles, especially in the Federal District Court, where bold steps may be taken to make juries in criminal trials more racially diverse. Or maybe these steps won't be taken. Read on. more ›

Having once worked for a labor union, Bostonist knows that relations between workers and management can get more than a little tense. But we were impressed with the audacity of Harborside Healthcare: The Boston company is challenging the results of a union election, saying that the voting was not fair because a union organizer threatened to use voodoo on healthcare workers (most of whom are Haitian) if they didn't vote for the union. more ›