An
issue in the 60s and 70s in
Boston. A
judge decided that because in
Boston more than any other
city in
America,
ethnic groups tend to live together, that this was
de facto segregation. To allieviate this, the
State Congress passed an
Unconstitutional law. It stated that any
school with over 80%
black was to
bus many of its students to other parts of the
city and those parts would
bus to the
black dominated
schools. It was
unconstitutional because it made a
law based on
race. It was passed because it wouldn't
affect the
suburban schools.
So a
plan was drawn up. While it was far from a
popular plan anywhere in the
city, it was most
reviled in
Southie.
South Boston is an
Irish -
Scot Catholic neighborhood. You aren't from
Southie unless you've lived all your life there, or at least been
born there.
Dorcester and
Charlestown boys are permitted, but anything farther out from that is an
outsider. Southie is and was also the
poorest white part of the
city. However, there was almost no
crime. More than half the city
cops came from
Southie or
Dorcester or
Charlestown, so
crime wasn't allowed. Start screwing up and you got sent to the
Marines.
Then some
Mastermind decided that
Southie would
bus to
Roxbury.
Roxbury was (and still is to some extent) one of the
worst neighborhoods crimewise in the country. It lead the
city in
murders,
drugs,
assault and almost every other serious
crime.
So some of the most
violent high schoolers in the
country are being shipped into this
xenophobic neighborhood and your
kids are being sent to one of the most
dangerous neighborhoods in the
country, especially for a
pasty mick. Mass
protests ensued. It made
national news and
Southie was labeled as
racist. Few realize how bad this almost was.
Boston was close to
burning. My
father ( a
bartender in
Southie) grabbed a
Captain he knew to stop 8
uniformed cops from joining the
protests. Since most of the
cops were pretty pissed, and most would've joined if someone had struck a
spark, the
city would've been screwed.
Busing has recently been stopped in
Boston. It wasn't before
Southie was destroyed. Most old time
families moved to the
suburbs to get good
schools. Within ten houses around mine we have 7 displaced
Southie clans.
Southie is held by
old men and
teens who are killing themselves(a lot) and shooting up
heroine as much as
Roxbury.
Just because something seems to be
good because its "equaling the playing field", doesn't mean its good.
White guys can be poor, too.