Tues, Feb. 15
The Image of Black Boston

Atinuke commented on The Callie Crossley Show on 02.21.11
Really interesting conversation. Recently I had a friend in town who asked me flat out "Okay, so where are all the black people? I havent seen not a one." A couple of thoughts 1 While Boston is a "majority minority" city and ethnically diverse I rarely hear English spoken while riding the T I find some neighborhoods to still be somewhat racially segregated and I have had conversations where people make assumptions about where I live because of my race and they usually "place" me in Dorcheseter, Roxbury, or Mattapan. 2 I do think Boston has an outwardfacing public image problem. Many people outside of New England form their perception of Boston from massmedia, particularly films that are "about the area." So if all you know of Boston and Massachusetts comes from The Departed, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island, The Social Network, Conviction, Mystic River, The Fighter, etc. and no, B.E.T. playing "Blue Hill Ave" every once in a while does not count movies which lack depicitions of CONTEMPORARY, POSITIVE, racial and ethnic diversity, then people draw the conclusion as another friend recently stated that "there are no black people in Boston" which couldnt be any farther from the truth.

G commented on The Callie Crossley Show on 02.17.11
Boston is going to have to do much more than use recruiters and conferences to attract quality talent of color. All things being equal if one had to choose between Atlanta, DC, RaleighDurham and Boston, "get over it" really isnt what one wants to hear when making this kind of decision. Its interesting to see that when it comes to issues of race, "get over it" is always offered up as a solution, but when we talk about issues of globalization and attracting international markets, its always "what can we do as a city" to seem more appealing.