Is Massachusetts a "lily-white" state?

[Cobalt Violet]

According to a post on this thread it its.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1439142

To me it is not. I work and live with people of all colors.

[ExclamationPoint]

1. It is not!

Maybe vermont is, but not massachusetts.

[TaleWgnDg]

19. Indeed. Massachusetts like New York is one of the nation's

Indeed. Massachusetts like New York is one of the nation's most diverse States. The City of Boston is more non-white than white. Yup. It's right there in the official U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2000 that Boston is majority non-white. And when it comes to non-white, Boston and Massachusetts mean non-white not merely African-American. We have immigrants from all over the entire globe. Again, same as New York City.

Boston is open to immigration. Boston remains a cosmopolitan city as is the entire State, as such it is not an isolationist area or State. We outreach for diversity. We include not exclude.

However, Massachusetts goes one step farther. Massachusetts has passed laws that protect gays from job discrimination, housing discrimination, and Massachusetts is the sole State to not discriminate against gays in marriage and in all areas of family law including custody, adoption, foster parents, guardianships, inter alia.

*Massachusetts, also has the lowest divorce rate in the country.
*Massachusetts has one of the best educated workforces in the country.
*Massachusetts has the best colleges and universities on the planet, including Harvard and MIT.
*Massachusetts per capita income is one of the highest in the country.
*Massachusetts has one of the best educated populations in the country.
*Massachusetts has the strongest gun control legislation in the country, and we also have the lowest gun violence in the country.
*Massachusetts has the highest rate of criminal conviction of its rape offenders and other sexual offenders than any other state in the nation. Again, we mean what we say and say what we mean here in Massachusetts.
*Massachusetts has no death penalty and yet our crime rate remains relatively low.
*Recently, a national periodical awarded the City of Newton, Massachusetts (just 10 miles or less west of Boston) the safest city in the nation award. Newton is not rural. It's densely populated in its many villages and villes across its many areas and various zip codes . . . Newton has a diverse population as well.
*Massachusetts has a rich colonial history steeped in social causes from the landings at Plymouth Rock, the founding of the City of Boston in 1630, of Harvard University in 1636, the beginnings of the American Revolutionary War, the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, Bunker Hill ("don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes"), Concord and Lexington ("the shot heard 'round the world"), several Founding Fathers, abolition of slavery in America began in Massachusetts, the beginnings of a women's right to vote, and the beginnings of a woman's right to chose, and other individual rights, to the present.

Diverse? Inclusive? Indeed.

BTW, that DU thread that you posted re "lily-white" "I'm going to be blunt" comment is made by someone who doesn't know the northeast, Massachusetts, Boston, or blue-states, overall. The generalities and misinformation therein is of ignorance (not knowing). I'd mention some comparative statistics (horrific) about that particular region of the country (Mississippi) but not here, no.

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[Cobalt Violet]

22. Just to add another Massachusetts fact to be proud of.

Massachusets has the only state art school in the country.:bounce:

Massachusetts College of Art

[Longgrain]

23. Mass Art! YEH!

Big :thumbsup: !

[Cobalt Violet]

25. Culture is a bragging right too.

:kick:

[TaleWgnDg]

27. Oh, Wow . . . Massachusetts College of Art . . .

A much under-estimated local college. Damn, it's got pop and wow and great talent and great alums too. Hats off to Massachusetts' very own art college!

And thanks for adding this important information to the list.

http://www.massart.edu/ . . .


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[TaleWgnDg]

29. To further corroborate the 1st two paragraphs in my post #19 . . .

To further corroborate the 1st two paragraphs of my post #19 (above) in this DU thread, as follows:

"Indeed. Massachusetts like New York is
one of the nation's most diverse States.
The City of Boston is more non-white than
white. Yup. It's right there in the official
U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2000 that
Boston is majority non-white. And when it
comes to non-white, Boston and Massachusetts
mean non-white not merely African-American.
We have immigrants from all over the entire
globe. Again, same as New York City.

"Boston is open to immigration. Boston remains
a cosmopolitan city as is the entire State, as
such it is not an isolationist area or State.
We outreach for diversity. We include not exclude."

I submit this March 23, 2001 Boston Globe Newspaper graphic which was gleaned from the U.S. Census Bureau statistics of the 2000 national census as to Boston, Massachusetts:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


Massachusetts, overall, is a state that is multi-cultural, highly diversified, and cosmopolitan. It opens its doors to all. It is cognizant of its demographics and works toward inclusiveness. Our state laws and our people embrace diversity.

Massachusetts was never a slave state as was the South; thus, Massachusetts has hardly any descendants of Massachusetts slaves as does the South to this day. However, Massachusetts did attract many slaves and ex-slaves before, during and after the Civil War, as well as other African-descendants from the Caribbean Islands and other areas. Therefore, our base of African-descendants is not as great as the South but has grown to a great number due to the attractiveness of Massachusetts, both in our laws of inclusiveness, our education base, and in industry to attract workers, overall.

For someone to suggest that Massachusetts is a "lily-white" state is ignorant of history, both American history and regional histories, from the earliest arrivals back in 1619 (first slave to arrive in Virginia) to present events and circumstances throughout our nation.


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[TaleWgnDg]

20. Vermont remains mostly white for a reason and it's not by

Vermont remains mostly white for a reason and it's not by design or intent. Instead, Vermont, throughout its history, lacks industry and other workplace areas that attract immigration within its borders. Vermont was never a slave-state, per se, thus never had a base of African-Americans. Vermont was one of the first, if not the first state, to ban slavery from its borders.

It's that simple.

On the other hand, Vermont as a State has excellent non-discriminatory laws on its books which says what kind of State it is and what kind of ppl populate Vermont. It's an inclusive State. It's a non-discriminatory State, period.

Vermont is also one of America's most rich environmental law States. Vermont intends to remain at the forefront of environmental law. It's one of Vermont's attractions -- the environment. Within it's borders is a small private law school, too, which remains as one of the nation's primost environmental law schools.

However, again, none of this attracts high wages or immigration. It does, however, attract folks (sometimes wealthy, sometimes not) who want to change their life style to the "laid-back" Vermont-life. Or who are wealthy retirees.

Vermont's main "industry" is tourism and it's wide and expansive artist colonies who, in turn, attract more tourism.


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[ExclamationPoint]

30. Didn't mean to offend Vermont

It's a great state and I honor it's values, especially the environmental ones.

[TaleWgnDg]

32. No offense taken . . . np . . . n/t

[JI7]

2. nope, especially place like Boston is almost half minority

[Sporadicus]

3. Stats for Springfield

Springfield
Count %
Pop. 2000 152,082

White 74,291 48.85

Black 29,831 19.62

Asian 2,857 1.88

Hispanic 41,343 27.18

Other 3,760 2.47


And Springfield is generally considered the hinterlands to Bostonians. Actually, it's quite diverse.

[mdhunter]

4. MA 84.5% White-non hispanic, Boston 49.5%, according to 2000 census

[ET Awful]

5. Not even close.

Not in Boston, not in Lowell, not in Somerville, etc.

I guess you could say that about some of the teensy towns that aren't anywhere close to the larger population centers, but not about the state as a whole.

[candy]

7. What about Newton? Hardly a "teensy" town and very close----

to Boston.Not many minorities in Newton and the largest minority is Asian.

[ET Awful]

8. Newton is a much wealthier area.

That's like saying that Los Angeles is lily white because Beverly Hills is predominantly white.

[candy]

12. I was just referring to the points you were making in your---

earlier post, "teensy" and not close to population centers.

[ET Awful]

13. point taken :)

[flyingfysh]

9. there are a lot of Russians in Newton

a lot of refugees from Russia went to Newton, some to Brookline. There is a Russian-language bookstore on Beacon Street in Brookline.

[candy]

10. Russians aren't minorities. n/t

[Kathy in Cambridge]

18. Cambridge is a little bigger than Newton and way more diverse

it always has been. But if lily-white means White Anglo Saxon Protestant, Newton and Massachusetts could hardly qualify. Newton is mostly Jewish and has a ton of first-generation immigrants. Cambridge has a very old African American community dating back to the Abolitionist Movement.

[ExclamationPoint]

31. Newton is very jewish

I know because I live near Newton and work at a liberal arts camp in dover in the summer, lots of kids there are from Newton and lots are jewish. If you see a post above, someone explains that it's the safest town in the nation.

[TaleWgnDg]

33. Newton was rated as the "safest city of more than 75,000 population"

Newton was rated as the "safest city (in America) of (75,000 or) more . . . population"

"by the Lawrence, Kansas-based Morgan
Quitno Press, are based on data in six
crime categories: murder, rape, robbery,
aggravated assault, burglary, and auto
theft. It uses the data on a weighted
scale to compare 354 cities with populations
of 75,000 or more that reported crime
data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This year's rankings used 2003 crime data,
which were released by the FBI in October
(2004)."
http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/communities/2004/1207_safecity.html

"Demographics
"As of the census of 2000, there are 83,829 people, 31,201 households, and 20,499 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,793.2/km² (4,643.6/mi²). There are 32,112 housing units at an average density of 686.9/km² (1,778.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 88.07% White, 7.68% Asian, 1.97% African American, 0.07% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.71% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races. 2.52% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

(Newton has no more "buildable land.")

"There are 31,201 households out of which 31.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.2% are married couples living together, 8.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% are non-families. 25.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.51 and the average family size is 3.04.

"In the city the population is spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 25.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 39 years. For every 100 females there are 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 82.7 males.

"The median income for a household in the city is $86,052, and the median income for a family is $125,289. Males have a median income of $65,565 versus $46,885 for females. The per capita income for the city is $45,708. 4.3% of the population and 2.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 4.8% of those under the age of 18 and 5.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton,_Massachusetts
(omitted wikipedia's hyperlinks to other sources)

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[Cobalt Violet]

11. Not in Framingham, Worcester, or Milford either.

Oh, and I forgot Waltham.

[thoughtanarchist]

6. Not pointing fingers...

but you have to wonder about a post that makes sweeping generalizations like:

"White Southerners live and work with black people, mostly without real problems, yet northern liberals from lily-white states like Massachusetts and Vermont have the temerity to lecture them on racism."

and

"Northern liberals regularly make the news for things like disallowing the Declaration of Independence in schools because it mentions God, a mayor who flouts the law to turn downtown into gay wedding central, and attempting to remove "under God" from the pledge."

Sounds like someone convinced this poster that the GOP talking points are valid...

[YankeyMCC]

14. Recently

I went to Charlotte on a business trip. One night out at a local bar a black colleague who works in the Charlotte office he said something that surprised and disapointed me.

He said he felt a lot more comfortable in the south and that he dreaded ever having to go to Boston. He said this was a common feeling among his family and black friends, that Boston is a more dangerous place than the places they know in the south.

Just passing on the message I make no claims about the validity or statements about why this feeling exists.

[denidem]

21. Busing caused problems

During the bad old days of busing, Boston had its share (more than its share, actually) of racially motivated incidents...too often African-Americans were the victims. Most of these incidents were perpetrated by Southie or Charlestown thugs (don't take offense Townies and Southie guys), and it was a dismal time (mid 1970s). Things are very different now, and have been for quite a while, but things were much better for all during Clinton-Gore.

[YankeyMCC]

26. That's pretty much

what I said in response, and I think it's pretty acurate that things are not bad now for minorities, at least no worse than the South. But this perception is still out there.

[rox63]

24. Had he actually been to Boston?

Boston is a pretty diverse place, as are most of the medium and large cities in MA. The small towns may qualify as "lily-white". But not where I grew up in Lowell, and not where I live in Haverhill.

[Longgrain]

15. Not where i come from

The small town where I grew up was mostly white when I was a kid, with one or two minorities, we still don't have a large black population, but there's been a lot of growth among Hispanic and Asian.

It depends on how you want to define "Lily White" there are many little ethnic neighborhoods in town. There's a large Polish population, as well as a French section of town (it's not uncommon to hear French spoken, especially among older folk), I my self am part Lithuanian and I've met several other's as well.

I think Mass has great diversity, and I'm proud to live here.

[curse10]

16. Not in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Roxbury, or Dorchester

that's for sure.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

17. Certainly not where I'm from

nor in large cities like Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Brockton, Worcester, Fall River or New Bedford. Cambridge has one of the oldest African-American communities in the Northeast.

[TaleWgnDg]

28. Here's more . . . to corroborate my post #19 . . .

Here's more . . . to corroborate my post #19 here in this DU thread . . .

please see this hyperlinked DU thread, post #10: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x1898
(Take a gander at the placement of Mississippi as compared to Massachusetts; as well as note the location of the abundance of red-states in the greatest number of teenage births, the "Bible Belt." Note where most of the New England states are statistically placed, the least number of teenaged pregnancies. Ponder, too, that it's this culture that the "Bible Belt" wants to proselytize upon the rest of us.)


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