My friends, this one hurts. Boston’s reputation as a racist city has just been solidified following a recent incident far worse, though not as dangerous, as the crazy Rake kid’s attack on the black guy with an American flag during the busing crisis. And that was bad.
In case you missed it a chi chi club in the theater district named Cure Lounge booked a private event for a group of young black alumni from Harvard following the Harvard Yale football game. At or around 10:00 the club shut down and made everyone leave. The reason given was that the line of black people going into the lounge was attracting “gang bangers”.
So all these young Ivy League professionals and graduate students from everywhere around the globe were told to leave this upscale Boston club because of the color of their skin.
Jesus Chist!!
Now I am usually the apologist for the offending party on this stuff. Remember Dee Brown getting hassled by the Wellesley P.D.? What gets edited out of every story is the fact that the police received a call from the bank across from where Dee was parked saying a man that looks like the guy that robbed it the very day before was sitting in a car across the street. Only an incompetent cop would have not approached with gun drawn. (Of course we can have a discussion on what made the bank think it was the same guy)
This isn’t that. The club agreed to a settlement last week with the A.G.. An apology went up on it’s web site.
Well, what to do when your high-end Boston night club takes a dump in the black man’s living room? Why hire Boston’s best public relations guru Half-Man George Regan of Regan Communications of course. This guy is a double threat. He’s the half man of all half men when it comes to getting the name of any place with a liquor license in the Inside Track. And he was the press guy for Mayor Kevin White during those heated busing and post busing years. This guy can help calm things down. How could you go wrong hiring him? Right? Right?
When the story broke in November Half-Man went to work. Here’s how the Globe tells it
“There were a lot of people in line known to police and police and security circles as bad people, OK?” Regan said at the time. “They probably couldn’t spell the word ‘Harvard.’ ”
Early yesterday, the club initially placed blame for the statements on Regan.
“Those statements were uninformed and in no way reflect the values or beliefs of the owners, managers, and employees of Cure Lounge,” the club said in a release.
“Cure Lounge does not tolerate racism. Cure Lounge will abide with all the conditions requested by the attorney general and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Cure Lounge will do everything in its power to ensure that the events of November 20 will not be tolerated.”
Regan said yesterday that he had no reason to apologize, and that his statements were based on information relayed to him by the club.
“I personally don’t happen to frequent the Cure Lounge,” he said. “The facts that were related to the media I was told by the owners, who happened to be there.
“They’re obviously under a lot of pressure from the attorney general’s office. They have a [nightclub] license to protect. Good luck to them.”
This incident has long term consequences in Boston’s fight to escape its racist reputation and George Regan is partly to blame. He added the whip cream, nuts, and a cherry on top to Cure Lounge’s vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Completed it nicely.
Classic George. First, he proves he cannot talk to the press unless he speaking to someone in his clique about D-list celebrities and narcissists and the restaurants they attend.
Second, he had no problem throwing his client/former client under the bus after he poured gasoline on their fire.
The Half Man is not just a joke but a huge black mark on our lame city. His clients should know. Do you hear this Suffolk Construction and and and SBLI and Hotel Indigo and Mohegan Sun and Mintz Levin and Sullivan Tire and The Park Plaza and many others? (links are to contact pages)
Is it any wonder the black middle class in Boston stay to themselves?
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On another note, is it me or does Scott Brown remind you of Puddy of Seinfeld fame? A disconnect somewhere. Funny stuff.
jimc says
There’s a great scene in the movie Knocked Up, in which two women are not being allowed into a nightclub. The doorman, who is black, pulls one aside and explains why they can’t get in. He also makes some VERY interesting comments about who he can let in, and who he can’t.
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p>It’s just a movie, obviously, but the scene is so specific, and so perfectly in line with my own experience of Boston nightclubs, that I believe it.
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p>In short, the doorman says he is only allowed to let one black person out of 20 enter the club.
kirth says
That was Theodore Landsmark, a lawyer who is currently President of the Boston Architectural College. Here is the photo that shamed Boston in 1975:
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p>The guy with the flag was not the only one who beat Landsmark; it was a mob.
judy-meredith says
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p>Thanks Ebo — very funny indeed.