If you don’t know, I currently live in Boston. I know, I know. It was supposed to be temporary, but it’s now been a few years so that’s a long temporary.
ANYWAY-I wanted to share a personal experience I’ve had here. I have experienced racism in my life. I’ve gotten into fights as a child-not too many since I’ve been older, but I definitely had more than one instance of racism here as an adult.
It’s surprising because where I came from, I hadn’t experienced it in a good number of years. I moved around a lot when I was a kid, so I got a good feel for America then. I realized that people are simultaneously different all over and then quite the same. I was an outsider to them because of my skin color or my haircut. One of my (white) grandmother’s favorite stories was a friend of hers commenting on me. “He can’t wear that haircut. What does that kid think he is, Indian?” Her response was, “Well yes, he IS Indian”.
I thought I was done with the racism when I moved back to the reservation in NY. When I came back to my small “hometown” for high school, I got another taste of racism almost immediately from a gym teacher who regarded me as “just another trouble making Indian”. The irony being that I had pretty much grown up away from the “trouble making Indians” and yet here I was-an outsider to those same trouble making Indians and still an outsider to the white world.
But after the initial shock wore off and that small incident, my hometown ended up being the normal for me. (that could be a whole ‘nother article)
When I moved, I forgot about the racism in people, and seeing it up close and personal once again just reminded me of those events in my childhood. My wife, who grew up in the same hometown was surprised at the amount of racist events in Boston. She had never experienced life through that lens, and was shocked to see it still existed, and it’s alive and well here. It’s too bad I didn’t have a no move clause. I’ll make sure there’s one in my next contract.
Do better Boston. We all know you can. Even if I move away.