Mayor of Boston: Clean Your House Before Scolding Chick-Fil-A Because Discrimination In Your City Is Rampant

August 6th, 2012 - By Charing Ball

Source: eater.com

The fight over Chick-fil-A and discrimination has taken an interesting turn.

If you recall, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino issued a scathing public statement condemning the fast food chain for having “arrogant attitudes” after the CEO of Chick-fil-A publicly announced that the company was “guilty as charged,” for its non-profit arms financial support to traditional marriage/anti-same sex marriage organizations. In a letter released late last month, Merino vowed to block plans for the development of a new Chick-fil-A in the city. He also said:

“You called supporters of gay marriage ‘prideful.’ Here in Boston, to borrow your own words, we are ‘guilty as charged.’ We are indeed full of pride for our support of same-sex marriage and our work to expand freedom to all people. We are proud that our state and our city have led the way for the country on equal marriage rights…There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it.”

Mayor Menino has been heavily criticized for his statements, mainly from critics who charged that he was pandering, has overstepped his boundaries as mayor and has no legal recourse to bar any company from opening up shop.  Feeling the pressure, Menino has somewhat backed away from his statements, now saying that while he can’t “actively block the fast-food chain” from coming to the city, it would be “very difficult” for Chick-fil-A to obtain licenses for a restaurant in Boston.

However, Mayor Menino isn’t the only Bostonian issuing public statements/letters in regards to discrimination in the city. In a four-page letter, hand-delivered a week after Menino’s statement to the Mayor’s office, the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, or MAMLEO, applauded the mayor for his “strong statements” regarding Chick-fil-A’s alleged discrimination, but also said that he needed to step up in addressing “discriminatory practices,” which they claim Menino has “allowed to exist in the City during your reign.”

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  • Smara

    As a full supporter of same-sex marriage, I am absolutely, 100% SICK of the gay fight being compared to civil rights.

    Don’t you dare, for a second, try and tell me that circa 1930, walking down the street black was just as dangerous as walking down the street gay. Hell, Nobody has to know you’re gay if you don’t want them to. As for me, however, and the rest of us black folk, we never got to choose when we were good and ready to come outta the colored closet!

    Gay advocates need to stop latching on to the civil rights movement because I’m not having it anymore. Go through slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow, and then tell me how your struggle is similar.
    Spoiler: That’ll never happen.

    Oh & as for Chick-fIl-A; I think the mayors of Boston and Chicago need to sit down. Last time I checked, the constitution is still good and well, and freedom of speech is still legal (not for long). When the president of CFA starts committing hate crimes, then come holler at me.

  • Dom

    Bravo MAMLEO! I am also a young black woman from Boston, and I can say that although the racism is not blatant, it is absolutely undeniable that it does exist. Just look at the way the neighborhoods are segregated, look at the schooling our kid in Roxbury receive and how they’re consistently left out of going to the better schools in the community because they dont “test in,” look at the violence and the rate of unsolved murders in Mattapan vs places like West Roxbury where the Mayor lays his head. Anybody who says the City has changed for the better isn’t freaking looking around.
    I’m glad somebody took a stand and called the Mayor out for routinely ignoring the problems of the sizable minority community and pandering (cause that’s all it is) to the LGBT community. And THANK YOU to MadameNoir for posting this article. I moved out of Boston a year ago for many of the reasons I posted above and would have missed this side of the story otherwise!

  • Nikkita Michelle

    The gay community has insistantly compared their struggles to the civil rights movement, yet there is no comparison. I don’t know that you’re gay unless you tell me, and strictly who you choose to love is none of my business. In the Chick-fil-a situation, I believe the LGBT community is a tad bit confused. Someone believing in their religious views and supporting those who believe the same way is not discriminatory. When they start turning same sex couples away for entering their restaurants or refusing to let them use their restrooms that’s discrimination. Find a new soap box to stand on because I’m over this one.

  • colliz6

    Sounds about right. Equality and civil rights starts and ends with the gay community. It’s a hard pill to swallow but this country would rather defend the actions of two men/women choosing to sleep together than declare justice for those who are discriminated against because of the pigmentation of their skin. It’s a sad reality; i hope all the black gay advocates are aware that the tenancy and drive with which you support gay causes will never be reciprocated when it comes to issues facing blacks.

  • khaliyah_washington@yahoo.com

    White people place Gay Rights above Minority Civil Rights because so many of them are gay. They would rather fight for that cause than to advocate for equal rights.

  • Proud Bostonian

    I can only speak to my experience, but I am a young Black woman who was born and raised in the city of Boston. Relative to other cities that I’ve lived in, I actually find Boston to be the most open and I’ve only experienced a few racial incidents over the course of my (short) lifetime. I admit, the city is not perfect and has had its fair share of problems (White flight, school integration etc.) but I think we’ve made a lot of progress. As for the Walmart in Roxbury, I was glad to see that Menino blocked it. I really like that the city really supports local businesses (my mom is a proud owner of one). And let’s be real, no one can live off of $8/hr in Boston…

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