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The People's Republic of Cambridge: Bastion of Liberalism or Fortress of Prejudice?
Q: What do you call a black man with a PhD?
A: Nigger.
Q: Where do liberal white people go to socially die?
A: Cambridge
These two jokes come to mind when contemplating the horrific Skip Gates arrest. The Harvard scholar was handcuffed on his own property, having been accused as a thief.
The first joke reveals an age-old truism: All the credentials in the world do not protect black men from the actions of certain racists.
The second joke, well - that's the New York take on Cambridge. My friend Chester, a hip, white architect who had a cushy professorship at Harvard's graduate school, nevertheless fled Cambridge, since he feared he would die of either boredom or conformity. Chester complained that Cambridge's upscale, vanilla lifestyle would condemn him to a life-sentence of smug liberal orthodoxy. Chester noted that Cambridge is the most socially conservative politically liberal bastion in America: The town's p.c. doctrinaire ways of thinking and living - oh, the dull dinner parties discussing The Nation -- have a decidedly conservative and stifling effect.
"Cambridge is where fancy white people go to spiritually die," Chester likes to say.
Having lived in Cambridge for six months in the mid-1990s, and visited several times in later years, I have similar opinions of Cambridge.
Liberals in Cambridge, in my experience, like to make big statements about improving the status of black people. But they don't have much use for ordinary blacks themselves. Hands down, Cambridge is one of the most racially hostile places I've ever lived.
And I am not exactly imagining things.
Sudhir Venkatesh, the William B. Ransford Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, and bestselling author of Gang Leader for a Day, named Boston, in 2008, "America's Most Racist City":
A paradox reigns: Next to the racism of the Tom Yawkey Red Sox syndicate is the forward-thinking, inclusive racial legacy of Red Auerbach's Celtics.
Even sports expose the two faces of Boston.
Cambridge was ranked "The Most Liberal City in America" by a 2005 study. Residents even call it "The People's Republic of Cambridge."
Gates's arrest revives Cambridge's, and greater Boston's, two faces: the bastion of liberalism and the fortress of prejudice. After all, Cambridge's mayor, E. Denise Simmons, is a black woman who even grew up there. Before that, Cambridge was the first city to elect an openly gay black man as mayor, Kenneth Reeves. What gives?
Aggravating Boston's racial turmoil, of course, are class divides. The Cambridge police force that arrested Skip Gates is charged with keeping the upscale enclave "safe" from some decidedly downscale neighborhoods nearby. Wealthy communities abutting poor ones often produce a class anxiety that borders on paranoia. Gates' white neighbor who failed to recognize him works at Harvard magazine. This "neighbor" so evidently suffers from said class anxiety, at least as much as racism. Such community anxiety - every "outsider" is a suspect - often demands "tough" policing, which curdles into abusive policing.
Poor Skip Gates. He likely experienced some racial profiling.
But the less discussed problem: how poor people, and perceived outsiders like Gates, get abused in a mini Police State where the wealthy get to write and enforce all the rules.
A: Nigger.
Q: Where do liberal white people go to socially die?
A: Cambridge
These two jokes come to mind when contemplating the horrific Skip Gates arrest. The Harvard scholar was handcuffed on his own property, having been accused as a thief.
The first joke reveals an age-old truism: All the credentials in the world do not protect black men from the actions of certain racists.
The second joke, well - that's the New York take on Cambridge. My friend Chester, a hip, white architect who had a cushy professorship at Harvard's graduate school, nevertheless fled Cambridge, since he feared he would die of either boredom or conformity. Chester complained that Cambridge's upscale, vanilla lifestyle would condemn him to a life-sentence of smug liberal orthodoxy. Chester noted that Cambridge is the most socially conservative politically liberal bastion in America: The town's p.c. doctrinaire ways of thinking and living - oh, the dull dinner parties discussing The Nation -- have a decidedly conservative and stifling effect.
"Cambridge is where fancy white people go to spiritually die," Chester likes to say.
Having lived in Cambridge for six months in the mid-1990s, and visited several times in later years, I have similar opinions of Cambridge.
Liberals in Cambridge, in my experience, like to make big statements about improving the status of black people. But they don't have much use for ordinary blacks themselves. Hands down, Cambridge is one of the most racially hostile places I've ever lived.
And I am not exactly imagining things.
Sudhir Venkatesh, the William B. Ransford Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, and bestselling author of Gang Leader for a Day, named Boston, in 2008, "America's Most Racist City":
"The city puzzled me. I knew about the strong liberal sentiment among the populace, but I didn't have to look far to see that racism was part of its historical core. For example, school integration was violently resisted by many of its white ethnic residents. In sports, the city has been home to some of the most extreme forms of racism -- check out Howard Bryant's terrific book, Shut Out, in which he explores the longstanding bigotry in the Red Sox baseball organization."
A paradox reigns: Next to the racism of the Tom Yawkey Red Sox syndicate is the forward-thinking, inclusive racial legacy of Red Auerbach's Celtics.
Even sports expose the two faces of Boston.
Cambridge was ranked "The Most Liberal City in America" by a 2005 study. Residents even call it "The People's Republic of Cambridge."
Gates's arrest revives Cambridge's, and greater Boston's, two faces: the bastion of liberalism and the fortress of prejudice. After all, Cambridge's mayor, E. Denise Simmons, is a black woman who even grew up there. Before that, Cambridge was the first city to elect an openly gay black man as mayor, Kenneth Reeves. What gives?
Aggravating Boston's racial turmoil, of course, are class divides. The Cambridge police force that arrested Skip Gates is charged with keeping the upscale enclave "safe" from some decidedly downscale neighborhoods nearby. Wealthy communities abutting poor ones often produce a class anxiety that borders on paranoia. Gates' white neighbor who failed to recognize him works at Harvard magazine. This "neighbor" so evidently suffers from said class anxiety, at least as much as racism. Such community anxiety - every "outsider" is a suspect - often demands "tough" policing, which curdles into abusive policing.
Poor Skip Gates. He likely experienced some racial profiling.
But the less discussed problem: how poor people, and perceived outsiders like Gates, get abused in a mini Police State where the wealthy get to write and enforce all the rules.
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A review of the 'comments' sections of Boston media stories depressingly confirms your "two faces" observation.
On the other hand, I'm not convinced that paranoia about outsiders is the genesis of this particular case. Skip Gates' house is yards away from the city's only high school. The neighbors are more than used seeing large numbers of young black teenagers around a lot of the time. People forcing open doors, not so much. I believe Professor Gates himself mentioned in a recent interview that he though the women who called the police "meant well". Of course, this could be a tactical decision to focus outrage on the most pressing problem--still one could take him at his word.
Ironically, Gates is the "Cambridge Reads" author of the year.
Generally I've heard from friends who work both in Cambridge Public Housing, and in the school system that they are concerned that the kids they serve lack street smarts and are not wary enough of the police, having bought, at some level, all the "kumbaya" stories they have been told.
Regarding class, it's not been my observation that the black "gown" population which parachutes into Cambridge makes that many connections to the local black community, relative to the their "gown" counterparts of other backgrounds.
"Discussing the Nation"? Really?!? You all have not been going to the right parties!
It should be interesting to see how the nation's first black lesbian mayor addresses this challenge.
July 23, 2009 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink