Reddit reviews Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families

Definitely read Common Ground if you want to understand some of worst history of the city. It won a Pulitzer for following three families through the urban decay, racial violence and neglect of the 1970s. You get the perspectives of a white working class Charlestown family trying to stop integration, starry-eyed yuppie South Enders trying to save the city, and a black family trying to survive but falling apart in one of the South End housing projects.

If you want to learn more about the bussing crisis and the story behind the photo check out the book "Common Ground" by J. Anthony Lukas.

He follows three families; a black family from the South End who's kids are bussed to Charlestown, an Irish family in Charlestown who's daughter leads a lot of the student protests against bussing, and a young socially liberal couple who work in city government and are among the first people to start gentrifying the South End.

Lukas won a Pulitzer for the book and gives you amazing details. When he introduces characters he gives you the history of their family, typically from when the immigrated to the states up to the mid-70s. Amazing book and well worth reading if you're into Boston history.

Here's Lukas's account of what happened.

>At 10:00 a.m. on April 5, 1976 he [Landsmark] was scheduled to chair a community liaison meeting at the Boston Redevelopment Authority. When he couldn't find a parking space and had to leave his car a quarter mile away, he knew he was going to be late, so he steamed along, heading for a side entrance to City Hall. Passing the New England Merchants Bank and entering the plaza he saw a group of young whites rounding the corner of City Hall, moving toward the Federal Courthouse, brandishing banners and placards. Before he could reach the City Hall steps, someone yelled, "There's a nigger! Get him!"

>The first student hit him from the rear, knocking his glasses off. He tried to right himself, but a second blow from the front brought him to the ground. Other students moved in, kicking him in the ribs, the shoulders, the head. He struggled to his feet, but someone grabbed him around the neck and pulled him down again. Once more he got up. Then he saw a student carrying an American flag on a long staff. Advancing across the plaza, the kid leveled the staff like a spear, as if to impale him. It struck him a glancing blow on the face.

>Finally, Landsmark broke free, managing to reach the City Hall steps, where a policeman came to his aid. A moment later they were joined by Deputy Mayor Jeep Jones, who along with Kevin White, had watched the attack from an upstairs window.

from Common Ground, 324-225

I grew up in Boston in the 70's and 80's. I would point anyone who wants to know more about the racial problems in Boston to these two books:

Common Ground

The Death of an American Jewish Community

On the one hand, I feel defensive because I'm from Boston and I don't consider myself to be a racist. On the other hand, I can admit that yes, there was plenty of racism in Boston in the past and not nearly as much now. It's true, Boston has become a lot more diverse in the past 20 years or so. But, as someone who is white, I'll also add that I've been harassed (chased, spit on, jumped etc.) on numerous occasions by black people in Boston. Boston's racial problems (and really everyone else') are hardly a one way street. Also, economic class plays a huge role in the problem we typically and solely generalize as "racism".

For the record, South Boston was a dump way back in the day and not the kind of place you'd visit if you weren't from there, even if you were white. On that note, Southie, Charlestown and a few of Boston's other old neighborhoods have undergone massive transformations. They have become heavily gentrified and yuppified. One thing that doesn't get much media attention is that the yuppies and few remaining Townies don't mix too well either.

The thing that pisses me off is that I've lived in other parts of the country and had people say to me, "Oh you're from Boston, are you racist?" As if that's not a form of prejudice or stereotyping.

The writer of this piece is a FEE and Manhattan Institute/City Journal shill.

I can already tell he took almost all of this from https://www.amazon.com/Common-Ground-Turbulent-American-Families/dp/0394746163

It's hard not to take a shotgun approach to what you wrote, due to the sheer volume. Nonetheless, you wrote so much, and even included links to material to read out from your argument, so I feel like I owe you a response. Most of it will be a correction of your premises, because that is what I do.
 
Now then, I don't speak for conservatives, because I am not one. I'm a classic liberal, one who believes that all views have merit, and that most personal beliefs are built around a self-serving worldview. In other words, all of us, without exception, are full of shit. The difference between you and me and the New York Times, however, is that the Grey Lady has a much larger following (and the guts to feature Steve Bannon in an ad boldly stating "know they enemy"!!!)...so they have a claim to objective truth and are supposed to uphold standards of objectivity. So their arguments--including the one that goes "the black experience today is uniquely shaped by slavery"--gets special scrutiny.
 
I'll try to keep the rest of this short. You have a coherent tale that has explanatory power, but it's very one-sided in its line of argument. (How are we definition "whiteness," for example? This book says the Irish overcame discrimination through entree into the political realm; I like that argument better than "they joined forces with their white oppressors" but it's no more or less true...just convincing to me. If Jews are white, then why does anti-Semitism still exist? Moreover, Richard Spencer and the cast of degenerates that make up 4Chan's /pol/ message board not get the memo?)
 
Still, you are allowed to believe what you want and what is convincing to you, despite my objections. It is good and healthy to do so.

Dude, read Common Ground and tell me that there aren't some residual effects of some of the biggest efforts against desegregation busing in the country. Or just even just this WBUR article about the same thing.