Written with support from ONEin3 Dorchester Chair Jackney Prioly
By now, you’ve most likely heard about how a group of black Harvard and Yale alumni had their party shut down because the club, Cure, was afraid that “gangbangers” might sneak in among the patrons and cause trouble.
This incident has rightly touched a nerve in Boston, where tolerance and inclusion are much emphasized virtues. At ONEin3, we feel that, as young people, we have an obligation to grapple with the causes and effects of such an incident. We realize we’re treading on some risky terrain here, so please tell us what you think (positive, negative and in between) in the comments bearing in mind that ONEin3 Boston does not tolerate racism or segregation and we take these issues seriously.
Here is how I see it:
While Cure and the party’s organizers had an obligation to be prepared for potential security concerns, it’s impossible for me to believe that a group of mostly white alumni would be held to the same standard by the club.
At the very least, the proprietors of Cure were guilty of lazy thinking on the issue of race. They perceived a risk in allowing the alumni group to proceed with their party because they could not distinguish between black Ivy alumni and “gangbangers.”
For starters, there is no more pernicious stereotype than the one that paints black men as “gangbangers.” And let me remind you that these men were in all likelihood studying economics or biology at Harvard or Yale a couple years ago.
But more importantly, they have the right to go to any establishment they choose. No one deserves to have a door shut in their face because they might present a problem. That’s unfair, discriminatory and un-American.
Socializing with friends is a necessary feature of human life and, as a cosmopolitan City, our biggest advantage is the relative ease with which residents and visitors can access this outlet. If we allow an environment to exist in which any group is assumed to be a safety risk, we prejudicially deny people a basic benefit that city-living offers.
This is short-sighted and self-defeating. Boston loses talented, committed people when simply socializing with friends is difficult.
A friend of mine, a very successful young African-American doctor, once told me that Boston is professional heaven and social suicide for African-Americans. She came here after medical school despite warnings about our social climate and racial problems and found tremendous professional satisfaction. She worked at a great hospital, managed a strong team, found exceptional mentorship. Her employer invested time and money in her development and gave her opportunities to take on responsibility.
However, she found it difficult to make new friends and felt isolated. Let me repeat: a beautiful, talented doctor with a great personality, tons of interests and an openness to the world felt isolated in Boston because she could not find a social life in which she could express her fullest identity. And man, her dating stories were either comic or tragic. I’m still not sure.
In her future, I feel sure that she will run a hospital, sit on Presidential committees, teach the best and the brightest, but she will do it in Atlanta where she moved this fall in search of personal fulfillment.
In my friend’s case, the same dynamics that led Cure to close the Harvard/Yale alumni event diminished her social options and caused her to leave. Her case is not unique.
Boston is an exceptional place. It has the potential to be the best city in the world for anyone to live. It will never reach that potential when groups of people are shut out.
This city belongs to us young people now. We may not sit in power positions, but don’t let that fool you. We own this place and we can shape it if we want to. For Boston’s survival, we need to face the fact that we are segregated in order to change the perception of Boston as a bastion of quiet, institutional racism.
At ONEin3, we’re ready to go all in. We keep talking about it but we need partners, supporters and organizers. Most of all, we need ideas about how to make Boston’s social sphere more integrated and welcoming.
This past summer, ONEin3 Boston co-hosted a Community Dialogues group with the YWCA. It was a worthwhile experience, although there is significant room for improvement. Our group had some ideas, including Friendly Takeovers of bars with racially diverse groups of friends, book and discussion groups and a plan to use this blog as a platform to continue the conversation.
Are these good ideas? Would you be willing to help with any of them? What other actions can we take immediately and over the long-term?
Please weigh in in the comments!
