In particular, Yawkey is a horrible example of racism as it pertains to Boston. Born in Michigan, schooled in Yale, and spending half of each year in South Carolina…. Yawkey was about as Bostonian as Chevy cars, George W. Bush, or grits. It’s sort of like saying that Los Angelinos are profiteers because of Frank McCourt.

Much better examples would be the Boston PD track record (see: bad), the busing riots, etc. However, these are unfortunately not even close to being unique among cities with baseball teams. Racial bias in the PD’s of NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, LA, and a hundred other cities have been as bad or worse depending on what decade you choose. (If you actually ponder the lack of accountability for police brutality across the country, it’s downright chilling.) And one would be hard pressed to say that Boston ever reached the level of hardcore segregation, voter disenfranchisement , or overt assaults seen in the south. The bus riot backlash was pretty disgusting though, possibly the ugliest moment of race relations in the Boston in the 20th century.

While Boston was indeed quite bad and still has serious issues, I’ve yet to see an evidence-based argument that legitimately ranks it as the most racist city in the US. The usual argument is all hinges on Yawkey, whose choice to exclude black players was not overly popular at the time (and obviously is quite a bit less popular now, what with how an outfield of Ted Williams, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson would have looked, see: no Boston curse). Ultimately, assigning Boston the “most racist” label seems to be a convenient way to push race issues off on some other city.

Sometimes, ridiculous laws stay on the books for a long time because they’re never enforced, which means they’re never challenged in court, which makes it harder to strike them down. Back during King Philip’s War, Boston faced a real threat from the native neighbors, and the legislature acted to protect its people. When the war ended, the legislature had moved on to other issues and didn’t bother repealing every defensive law it had passed before the war (though it did repeal the aggressive internment law that could have been a real issue). Further, this particular statute pretty much immediately stopped being enforced. As soon as it was brought to the modern Legislature’s attention, that body struck it down. I’d be stunned if any elected official in Massachusetts even knew about this particular ancient and defunct law long prior to repealing it.

While Boston as a city has a reputation for racism, it’s inaccurate to connect that to its sports teams. The Celtics were the first team to draft a black player (Chuck Cooper in 1950), the first with five black starters (in 1964), and the first to hire a black coach. The Bruins were the first NHL team to hire a black player, Willie O’Ree in 1957-58. The (baseball) Braves were the third team in the NL and the fifth MLB team overall to integrate, fielding Sam Jethro in 1950. The Boston Patriots were the first AFL team to hire a black coach- Rommie Loudd was hired as the linebacker coach in 1966– and were integrated in their 1960 inaugural season. It’s true that the football Braves, later the Redskins, famously refused to integrate, but they didn’t last in Boston for very long. The Red Sox were the holdout, the worst of the lot, and even their own players (not to mention the fans frustrated at the team’s inferiority– my Alabama-born father lived in Boston for a few decades and railed, until the day he died, against the Red Sox’ refusal to integrate as causing their persistent failure– objected to their segregation, but the scouts and front office had the reins, and so it went. But that’s on Yawkey’s Red Sox, not Boston as a city.

Tom Shaer