Posted on 06/29/2004 12:22:31 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Page 1 of the Boston Herald had a headline that was politically explosive for the forthcoming Democratic National Convention:
N.Y. SLAMS SOUTHIE
"Southie" is South Boston. And in April, one of New York City's top political leaders, state Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell Jr., decided to demonstrate, once again, that black militant Democrat leaders can be one of that party's heaviest burdens.
He wrote to Democratic National Convention officials objecting to a convention party being held in South Boston, contending that neighborhood had "a history of racial turmoil and tension … specifically I, along with many members of our very diverse delegation, was actively involved in the Civil Rights movement. For those of us who were on the front lines of that struggle, the prospect of celebration in a neighborhood that so fiercely opposed integration is very troubling."
This came after Assemblyman Farrell learned that Boston was to play host to the New York delegation at the Curley Recreation Center in South Boston. Here in 1976, he noted, students bused into South Boston "were greeted by the crowds of furious whites hurling stones and racial epithets," as the New York Times reported, adding:
"To many blacks, opposition to the busing was seen as opposition to integration of the schools; to many whites, it was a reaction to what they viewed as the unfairness of having their children sent out of their own neighborhoods to go to school.
"It is a topic that Democrats would have preferred not to have to address now, especially as Mr. Kerry is struggling to excite black voters behind his candidacy."
When both the Boston Herald and the liberal Boston Globe reported Farrell's incendiary letter, city Councilman James Kelly of South Boston told the media covering Farrell:
"I don't know this guy; we've got some racial agitators in the city of Boston as well and obviously you have one in New York. That's what he sounds like to us.
"The fact of the matter is, I am not sure because you oppose forced busing of your children out of your neighborhood school that that makes you a racist.
"There are a lot of people that agree with my position that opposed forced busing where kids, for no reason other than to obtain racial balance, are put on buses and taken out of the neighborhood."
The New York Times reported that Farrell, who is chairman of the New York state Democratic Party, immediately tried to reduce the chance of a racial flare-up, saying he "was satisfied that Boston had changed since 1974, when some white residents of South Boston stoned school buses carrying black children into their neighborhood. Mr. Farrell, who is black, said that he was happy for the New York delegation to have its welcoming reception in South Boston. But it was too late."
For into this racial brawl, which the tardily repentant Assemblyman Farrell tried quite desperately to quell, leaped the Rev. Al Sharpton!
Big Al, who fully expects the Democratic Convention to give him prime time for another of his self-serving harangues, declared: "I agree with Mr. Farrell's initial concerns. I also salute him for being gracious enough to try to let us see that Boston may have changed.
"But the kind of statements Councilman Kelly makes gives us the feeling Boston may not have changed. It's one thing to say we had problems and we've done better. It's another thing to rewrite history and say we didn't have a problem."
Ladies and gentlemen, if there is any problem, it is the initial foolishness of this head Democrat of New York – which was leaped upon by Big Al!
If the Democratic Convention gives Sharpton, the infamous hustler, more than five minutes at anytime before midnight, they can count the increase in registered Democrat votes for Bush.
If they wanted to see racism, they should have tried living in the Fenway/Mission hill neighborhoods during the seventies.
But that was their constituents rioting, burning and assaulting so it doesn't count.
Hasn't Southie turned yuppie and gay? I hear Carson Beach on a summer day is full of what they used to call "physical culture" types in g-strings.
"Hasn't Southie turned yuppie and gay? I hear Carson Beach on a summer day is full of what they used to call "physical culture" types in g-strings."
I think you are thinking of the Back Bay. And I definitely would not want to be wandering around the Fenway at night.
I always enjoy watching liberals eat their own....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.