Are Racist Remarks Illegal in Massachusetts?

[rangerrebew]

Are Racist Remarks Illegal in Massachusetts?
A Red Sox fan's bigoted comment about a singer's rendition of the national anthem prompts a police investigation.

Jacob Sullum|May. 5, 2017 9:15 am

On Tuesday a Red Sox fan who used a racial epithet to disparage the singer who performed the national anthem was expelled from Fenway Park. The next day, he was banished from the stadium for life.

The Red Sox, who are trying to improve the atmosphere at a stadium known for bigoted taunts, are well within their rights to make and enforce rules for audience behavior. Much more questionable was the reaction to the incident from the Boston Police Department, which said "the BPD's Civil Rights Unit is investigating the allegations and will make a determination as to whether further action is warranted."

[EasyAce]

I followed the Red Sox/Orioles series this week, after the crap that happened when they played a set in Camden
Yards two weekends previous. I hadn't been aware the Tuesday incident involved the singer of the National Anthem;
I knew only that a fan had been ejected and banned from Fenway for life for making a racist taunt---which, as the
author of the article says, the Red Sox were within all rights to do. (They own Fenway Park and can make their
own rules within it, just as you have the right to send someone packing out of your home if they act or speak in
ways you don't like.) I'm going to be very interested in what the police people Mr. Sullum contacted have to say,
because it seems to me that the Red Sox did what they felt proper (it was) and that's where it should end. A fan
riot would be different, of course, but this wasn't that.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Odd that a racist would like the Red Sox. Big Papi is probably the most famous player on the team. Plus there are loads of blacks in all the other Boston sports.

I find the whole thing curious.

[geronl]

No first amendment in Massachusetts?

[geronl]

I'm going to be very interested in what the police people Mr. Sullum contacted have to say,
because it seems to me that the Red Sox did what they felt proper (it was) and that's where it should end. A fan
riot would be different, of course, but this wasn't that.

The Red Sox have every right to do what they did. The Police should respect freedom of speech though

[EasyAce]

Odd that a racist would like the Red Sox. Big Papi is probably the most famous player on the team. Plus there are loads of blacks in all the other Boston sports.

I find the whole thing curious.

You have to keep in mind that Boston itself wasn't the most racially enlightened city for a very long time, and
such things as the forced busing controversies of the 1970s didn't help things, either.

The Red Sox were actually the last major league baseball team to admit blacks (they were fool enough to
reject Willie Mays when they actually had first crack at trying him out and signing him), and Bill Russell experienced
a lot of crap when the Celtics rolled the dice on him in the same period. And other baseball players today
have said they get hit with a few racial remarks when they play in Fenway Park. A couple of Red Sox today
have said they hear racial taunts---occasionally directed at them, usually hurled at black or foreign players
on opposing teams. Thank God those miscreants are very much in the small minority among the crowds
now, but they are there, and they are problematic enough.

Now, the Red Sox catching and banning one such miscreant for life from the ballpark won't change any
racist's attitudes, of course, it would take a lot more than just that to do so, but the team's management
did send a rather powerful message to the others by that one banning. And that's the way it should be.
Since the Red Sox own Fenway Park, it's not for the mayor or the police to take further measures. Being
a racist merely makes you a sleazebucket, not a criminal, unless you act your racism out by destroying
property or assaulting someone physically for no reason other than that your victim's race offends. If
the fan banned from Fenway Park had assaulted someone, then there'd have been a call for police
action. (And, yes, it should apply whether it's a white racist, a black racist, or another racist.)

[geronl]

Actually if the taxpayers own the stadium, I'd call the banning a gray area

[EasyAce]

Actually if the taxpayers own the stadium, I'd call the banning a gray area

The Red Sox have owned Fenway Park since the place was built in 1912. Today it's listed
under the ownership of the Fenway Sports Group---the organisational name for the Red
Sox.

[geronl]

The Red Sox have owned Fenway Park since the place was built in 1912. Today it's listed
under the ownership of the Fenway Sports Group---the organisational name for the Red
Sox.

thanks

[EasyAce]

thanks

Other MLB teams who own their parks outright:

* The Los Angeles Dodgers. (Dodger Stadium)
* The San Francisco Giants. (AT&T Park---the Giants built and paid for it entirely.)
* The Chicago Cubs. (They've owned Wrigley Field since Bill Wrigley bought the Cubs in 1915 and bought the
park from William Weeghman, who'd built it to house his Chicago Whales of the one-time third major league
attempt the Federal League.)
* The New York Yankees. (Yankee Stadium II---they also built and owned the original Yankee Stadium.)
* The New York Mets. (Citi Field.)

Note: The Mets paid $440 million to build Citi Field; they're paying off the rest of the cost by
paying back a bond issue floated to cover the rest of the cost, involving infrastructure around the park
but not the park itself.

[geronl]

Note: The Mets paid $440 million to build Citi Field; they're paying off the rest of the cost by
paying back a bond issue floated to cover the rest of the cost, involving infrastructure around the park
but not the park itself.

If it was paid for by bonds then it was really paid for by taxpayers, all these deals that pretend the team will pay for it when it's not are just like that. And then you have places like Arlington Texas where they will build a team a new stadium before the old one is even paid off.

[EasyAce]

If it was paid for by bonds then it was really paid for by taxpayers . . .

It would be if the Mets elected not to repay them. (I think they were given that option but
rejected it---they wanted to own the park and its surrounding infrastructure outright.) The bonds
paid for the immediate infrastructure; the Mets agreed to repay them. Just the way a bank buys
the car you agree to pay off.

. . . all these deals that pretend the team will pay for it when it's not are just like that. And then you have places like Arlington Texas where they will build a team a new stadium before the old one is even paid off.

Not to mention the Braves' new playpen in Atlanta---the Braves didn't pay a dime for it. And won't---not
even repaying any of the financing. (What really made no sense: Turner Field was barely two decades
old and still extremely sound.)

[Frank Cannon]

"the BPD's Civil Rights Unit is investigating the allegations and will make a determination as to whether further action is warranted."

Love to see that court case. If yelling the N word is an arrestable offense I want to see the paddy wagons circling the next rap concert.

[guitar4jesus]

If yelling the N word is an arrestable offense I want to see the paddy wagons circling the next rap concert.

Aye.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

"the BPD's Civil Rights Unit is investigating the allegations and will make a determination as to whether further action is warranted."

Love to see that court case. If yelling the N word is an arrestable offense I want to see the paddy wagons circling the next rap concert.

 

Of course it's ok if bruthas say it, if whitey says it then you're hateful.