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April 28, 2005

Jeremy Schwab

Researchers discovered widespread perceptions of racial and ethnic discrimination in the Boston area when they polled blacks and Latinos about the attitudes they encounter in the workplace, in restaurants and other public venues and when looking for housing.

The authors of the new report from Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project wanted to do more than just document the problem, however.

So, one evening last week, they invited Christian, Muslim and Jewish spiritual leaders to Boston College to discuss racism and its effects. The goal was to increase dialogue about race among members of different racial, ethnic and religious groups.

Participants denounced the evils of racism and suggested remedies ranging from more dialogues between racial groups to increased political activism to fight racial disparities.

“We have to begin to look at how in certain religious sectors there is racism that exists,” said Rev. William Dickerson of Greater Love Tabernacle Church in Dorchester. “A lot of black churches are asked to sing at white congregations. Black clergy are not asked to preach. We can sing and tap dance, but somehow we are not intelligent enough to [preach].”

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino sent a letter last week to the authors strongly disputing the study’s implications that Boston is not a welcoming place for blacks and Latinos. The study did not specify whether incidents of perceived discrimination occurred in Boston or surrounding communities.

Menino touted the city’s acceptance of diversity as part of his public relations efforts surrounding the Democratic National Convention last summer.

Before last week’s discussion, study author Josephine Louie of the Civil Rights Project gave the crowd of nearly 100 people, including many African Americans, whites and Muslims, an overview of the study’s findings.

“It appears the more overt forms of racial discrimination are less common than the more subtle forms,” she said.

Louie noted that 22 percent of African Americans and 23 percent of Latinos said they had been called names or insulted a few times a year.

Meanwhile, 57 percent of African Americans and 38 percent of Latinos said that they were treated with less respect than others because of their race a few times a year.

The study, titled “We Don’t Feel Welcome Here: African Americans and Hispanics in Metro Boston,” found that 47 percent of African Americans and 26 percent of Latinos said they received poorer service at restaurants due to their race or ethnicity a few times a year.

The proportion of African Americans who felt unwelcome because of their race a few times a year in professional sports venues was 38 percent, in museums 27 percent and in shopping areas 44 percent. For Latinos, the proportions were 29, 14 and 38 percent, respectively.

Many of the over 400 African Americans and Latinos polled said they faced discrimination in housing and the workplace.

Forty-four percent of African Americans and 19 percent of Latinos said that very often white building owners do not sell or rent to members of the respondent’s racial or ethnic group. Twenty-one percent of African Americans reported a personal experience with racial discrimination at work within the last year, while 15 percent of African Americans reported a personal experience with discrimination in housing.

Among Latinos, these 17 percent reported experience with discrimination in employment, and 10 percent reported experience with discrimination in housing.

In most categories, African Americans were more likely to report instances of unequal treatment than were Latinos, but many in both groups reported such treatment.

Those of higher socioeconomic status were equally as likely, and in some cases more likely, to report personal experiences with some form of day-to-day discrimination.

The results of the study raised questions among panelists about the notion that residents of the Boston area have largely overcome their racial prejudices.

“The kind of moral outrage when looking at these statistics is not there,” said Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action Executive Director Sheila Decter. “A lot of people do not recognize that the job is not done.”

Audience members and panelists at last week’s discussion emphasized that religious leaders should use their pulpits and positions of influence to create more awareness of the ongoing problem of racism in society.

“There is a lot of Roman Catholic teaching that talks about the evil of racism, but we don’t talk about it that much,” said Roxbury resident Janice Jackson, who was raised Catholic.

Other speakers suggested that residents create forums for racial dialogue in their neighborhoods. Panelists included Dickerson, Decter, Imam Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society, Rev. George Welles of the Church of Our Saviour Episcopal in Milton and Catholic Archbishop of Boston Seán O’Malley.

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