Bobby Constantino makes the case why we saw Obama rallies in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan in 2008 but haven't seen anything similar for mayoral candidates this year:
... In Boston, young men go into the financial district at 9am on workdays and see nearly all white faces. They walk by restaurants and bars in Beacon Hill and the Back Bay and see the same. They return home to deeply segregated neighborhoods and wonder what is going on. They apply to 10, 20 and even 30 entry level jobs and can't get hired. They wonder why African Americans, Cape Verdeans and Latinos are under-represented in the police and fire departments. They walk past construction sites in their own neighborhoods and wonder why people with out-of-state plates and no vested interest there have jobs and they don't.
People in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury are tired of hearing about how much racial progress has been made when realities like these speak otherwise. Residents here want and need to know whether the candidates plan to acknowledge these realities, which is a huge step in this city, and secondly, how they plan to address them going forward. ...
Ed. note: Yoon, Flaherty and McCrea have all said one of their first priorities would be to get more minorities into the management ranks in the police department. McCrea has said he would eliminate police details and hire people from economically hard hit neighborhoods as flaggers. Flaherty and McCrea say they would actually enforce city guidelines mandating a certain number of city residents be hired on city-funded construction projects.
