Racism and Bigotry

Latest Articles

Deval Patrick and the mosque

Letters to the Boston editor, July 2, 2010
I was extremely disappointed to read your close-minded, ignorant, and bigoted position on Governor Deval Patrick’s meeting with Muslims at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | June 30, 2010

Review: Harlan — In The Shadow Of 'Jud Süß'

How film became a murder weapon under the Third Reich
The story of Veit Harlan, the director of the Third Reich’s most notorious anti-Semitic film, still provokes and fascinates.
By PETER KEOUGH | May 26, 2010

Freedom Watch: Speak no evil

Why are African-American leaders silent about slavery in Sudan?
It wasn’t the first time members of the Congressional Black Caucus had heard – and done nothing about – Sudan’s dirty secret. Even before a recent House international-relations subcommittee hearing on human-rights violations in Sudan, they knew that kidnapping and slavery had become a barbarous byproduct of Sudan’s bloody holy war.
By TIM SANDLER | May 20, 2010

Review: The Girl on the Train

The truth gets sidetracked in Téchiné’s Train
Here in this country, we’re familiar with the practice of pinning a crime on a member or members of another race.
By PETER KEOUGH | April 29, 2010

Make yourself uncomfortable

Xiu Xiu bloom on Dear God
In the past month, Sandra Bullock’s husband betrayed her by screwing a white supremacist with a face tattoo, a Georgia teenager was granted the right to take his boyfriend to prom, and Ricky Martin declared himself a “fortunate homosexual man.”
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | April 06, 2010

UMass racial-confrontation case may finally come to a close

Is justice being served?
A racial incident that rocked Western Massachusetts two years ago may finally be laid to rest this week, as a black former UMass Amherst student charged with aggravated assault returns to court, apparently having reached an agreement with the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
By JEREMY C. FOX | March 31, 2010

A very long way to go

Diverse City
“You’ve come a long way, baby.”
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | April 02, 2010

The Soft Pack | The Soft Pack

Kemado (2010)
This Los Angeles foursome first emerged in 2008 as the Muslims, a name they elected to change after they grew disgusted with and exhausted by all the ignorant — and often racist — bullshit that came out of people's mouths during shows/interviews/conversations.
By MIKAEL WOOD | February 03, 2010

Ask a Black Woman: Harry Reid edition

Diverse City
Just in time for Black History Month, another installment of "Ask a Black Woman," thanks to JT in Portland who in early January asked me: What's your take on the Harry Reid thing?
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | February 03, 2010

Is there 'hope' in Hollywood?

Three controversial (and sure to be Oscar-nominated) films tackle race in the age of Obama
Buoyed by President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, many had hopes for change after his election.
By PETER KEOUGH | January 29, 2010

Rainbow Nation

The US isn't the only country exploring its complex racial history. South Africa prepares for its moment in the sun.
After a torturous history of being treated like second-class citizens, the black population in this country stunned the world by pulling off the unimaginable: voting a black man in as president.
By LANCE GOULD | January 28, 2010

Finally, a GOP gubernatorial contender!

Robitaille gives it a go. Plus, voter unrest, Reid puts his foot in it, and more.
Speaking of the GOP, it appears the party has a candidate — at last! — for the gubernatorial race, provided he doesn't wimp out like Rory Smith did when he realized he was in a no-win, not-ever situation.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | January 13, 2010

Review: Defamation

Documentary takes on anti-Semitism
Yoav Shamir, a young Israeli documentarian, goes off to America and Eastern Europe with a camera and a question: is anti-Semitism an important concern today for Jews, or are those anxious about it being unduly paranoid?
By GERALD PEARY | December 02, 2009

Critical Mass

Over the years, UMass Amherst has proven to be a reliable hotbed for political hypocrisy and squelching of free speech
If free speech is what gives value to the campus "marketplace of ideas," UMass Amherst would long ago have gone bankrupt.
By KYLE SMEALLIE AND HARVEY SILVERGLATE | November 18, 2009

Intentions gone south

Letters to the Boston editor, November 6, 2009
Erica Corsano’s bigotry overrides some of the interesting things one might actually take away from reading her article about South Boston.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | November 04, 2009

Photos: Halloween costumes not fit for public

From lame, totally un-pc, and just plain wrong, our list helps make sure you're not dressed like an asshole this Halloween
Stay away from these costume choices this Halloween.
By LISA SPINELLI | October 25, 2011

Walk on the wild side

Inner beasts are unleashed in Avenue Q
With Douglas Adams dead, where have we to turn for quirkily unconventional questions about life, the universe, and everything?
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 21, 2009

The battle for our city schools

Boston Phoenix letters, October 23, 2009
In your recent story “ Boston Public-School Apartheid? ”, charter public schools are faulted for taking disadvantaged Boston students and sending them on to excellent high schools and, eventually, college. Why shouldn’t low-income students of color have access to such life-changing opportunities?
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | October 21, 2009

How gay is Southie?

Once unthinkable, Boston’s most notorious neighborhood now sports a welcoming face. How the hell did that happen?
Welcome to the gayborhood.
By ERICA CORSANO | October 19, 2009

A child shall lead them

Balls, Pucks, and Monster Trucks
There's good news from Sanford: my hometown is experiencing a surfeit of leadership, and it's manifesting itself in a couple of areas.
By RICK WORMWOOD | October 07, 2009

Prison ‘troublemaker’ confronts racism, medical abuse

Exiled
Vacillating between grit and despair — between aggressive lawsuits and suicide attempts — Deane Brown, the prisoner who in 2005 blew the whistle on the torture of mentally ill inmates at the Maine State Prison’s solitary-confinement “Supermax” unit, is struggling against prison conditions in Maryland, where he was exiled by the Baldacci administration.
By LANCE TAPLEY | September 09, 2009

Review: The Final Destination

Can-we-cheat-death exercise takes a fourth go-round
David R. Ellis, who helmed Final Destination 2 , pretty much reworks the exact same shebang here.
By TOM MEEK | September 02, 2009

Review: The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

Idiotic, but not a total lemon
Cash for clunkers? Not completely.
By SHAULA CLARK | August 19, 2009

White-supremacist code printed nationwide

One man's death spread the numeric code for "Heil Hitler" across the world.
While von Brunn survived to face federal criminal charges and may yet die slowly in federal prison, he did manage to get newspapers around the globe to print a white-supremacist code praising Adolf Hitler right next to his name.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 17, 2009

Right wing done wrong

Letters to the Boston editor, June 19, 2009
As someone who is Republican by party and conservative by inclination, I must take issue with your editorial “Right Wing Terror” on several fronts.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | June 17, 2009

Bridge to nowhere

What's in a name? Plus, a curious consultant, and bashing Obama.
The Department of Transportation has taken quite a few knocks in this space over the years. So to try to offset that, spurred by the story in the June 8 Urinal about the Pawtucket River Bridge, let us throw them a compliment: they do a hell of an artist's rendering.
By PHILLIPE and JORGE | June 10, 2009

Sotomayor's mixed message on free speech

Freedom Watch
Minutes after President Barack Obama announced that he was nominating appellate judge Sonia Sotomayor for the vacant seat on the Supreme Court, battle lines were drawn on the pre-scripted questions of "post-racial" America.
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | June 03, 2009

Right-wing terror

The murder of Dr. George Tiller
Conservatives scoffed in April when the Department of Homeland Security warned that the United States could face another wave of homegrown attacks.
By EDITORIAL | June 03, 2009

As white as they come

Maine: The other white state
It seems to be Maine's turn again to be the least racially diverse state in the nation.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | May 27, 2009

Racism in real estate

Keeping the neighborhoods white
After more than a decade in the business, the real-estate agent knew that many landlords had very narrow ideas about whom they did and didn't want living in their apartments and houses. Most of them were fairly subtle about it. "I want the right people," they might say, being careful to couch their instructions in innocuous-sounding terms.
By SEAN FLYNN | May 13, 2009