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- <text id=89TT2367>
- <title>
- Sep. 11, 1989: Tale Of Two Cities
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Sep. 11, 1989 The Lonely War:Drugs
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 28
- Tale of Two Cities
- </hdr><body>
- <p> For a lesson in how to deal with racial tensions, consider
- the difference between Boston and New York City. During the
- 1970s, when court-ordered busing for school integration enraged
- working-class whites, Boston had more than its share of
- neighborhoods that were off limits to blacks. Now, though a
- black visitor to Southie might still feel uneasy, there is
- little chance of violence.
- </p>
- <p> The passage of time has helped cool tempers, but most of
- the credit belongs to Mayor Raymond Flynn. Born in Southie,
- where he still lives, Flynn fought busing as a state legislator.
- But as mayor, after being nudged by threatened court action,
- Flynn has since 1988 arranged for eleven black families to move
- into two previously all-white public housing projects in
- Southie. He has also reinvigorated an eleven-member police
- community-disorders unit. It keeps close tabs on potential
- outbreaks and alerts Flynn as soon as it smells trouble.
- </p>
- <p> New York City's mayor has taken a less constructive
- approach. Last week, when marchers in Brooklyn protested the
- murder of Yusuf Hawkins, Edward Koch touched off a new round of
- anger by criticizing their action as counterproductive. As he
- has all too many times in his eleven-year reign as mayor, Koch
- seemed to be inflaming racial tensions rather than damping them.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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