"...But what is also true is that the response could've been different if it were a black man in a working class uniform. Or what about a black woman in a three-piece suit? To those Southies, it is quite possible that they were reacting to a black man that they presumed was richer than they, that he was offensive on two different levels. At any rate, how the attacked man's gender, race and class works in concert bears scrutiny...."

You've an interesting perspective, trenee; so, let's take a look, once again. The picture, which has haunted me since I saw it on the desk of a fellow student at the professional school I was attending, at the time, in NYC, and the underlying story shows a black man as the victim of an unprovoked assault by Boston southies who were teed off about Garrity's decision to integrate Boston's schools. If a guy in a three piece suit walking in an area where three piece suits were, it could be argued, the uniform of the day and he were white would he have been assaulted? My answer: unless it were Garrity, himself, no.

What if he were a white guy in a "working man's" coveralls? My answer? No, again.

Now, if a black guy, in "working man's" coveralls, were happening along in the exact same time-space continuum as Landsmark found himself on that fateful day in 1976 what do you think his fate would have been?

Ps: if you think a black woman in a three piece suit would have been insulated from an attack, considering the heat generated by Garrity's decision and the nature of South Boston in the sixties and seventies, you'd be advised to think again.

You have failed to inform of us of the vast POLITICAL/SOCIOLOGICAL struggles going on in BOSTON at this time. In point of fact LOUISE DAY HICKES was elected 'councilperson' beecause of her outspoken IRISH roots in SOUTHIE and extreme defiance to JUDGE GARRITY's order for 'forced busing'. Also either you are ignorant of or unaware of representaive 'SONNY' McDONAUGH's sentiments and subsequent illness and death in a scene that could have been taken directly from EDWIN O'CONNOR's 'THE LAST HURRAH' where the dying SONNY[at St. Elizabeth's Hospital] begs his friends gathered round his bed being: BILLY BULGER state political honcho, DAN MAHONEY future head lawyer in one of the nation's & BOSTON's premier law firms, EDWARD MARKEY future U.S. Representaive --- SONNY implored all those in attendance "To take care of my son 'Sonny' PLEASE TAKE CARE OF MY SON 'SONNY'"[As 'Sonny' Jr. was quite a few cards short of a full deck - but still all in all a good if not bright Irish boy + SONNY's son afterall] So 'SOONY' JR. was made CLERK-OF-COURT for the BOSTON HOUSING COURT by SONNY McDONAUGH's friends - the very court where the infamous JUDGE GARRITY[author of the busing decree and traditional 'stepping-stone to a FED JUDGESHIP!]hailed from. ROBERT LEWIS the first BLACK to serve as a Clerk-of-Court has also been appointed as Clerk of the Boston Housing Court. Imagine JUDGE E. GEORGE DAHRE's expression when not 1 but 2 clerks showed up that day! NEEDLESS TO SAY BILLY BULGER WITH-HELD ALL FUNDS FOR THE HOUSING COURT TO TEACH GARRITY, THE NEGROES, AND DAHRE A LESSON AND TO KEEP HIS PROMISE TO THE DEAD SONNY McDONAUGH. This is oart of the internecine IRISH politics you should habe informed us of!!!

but just this once, STFU!!!

And what about the video of Reginald Denney getting assaulted? Oops. The cheering of blacks to OJ Simpson's aquittal? Oops. I don't give a rip about how the flag is interpreted. Black america does not have clean hands. If they feel a grievance deserves a violent response, they lose the arguement.

"...So, in addition to witnessing racial violence, we are watching a white man come to the rescue of a black man. We may also be looking at something more complex: the moment in American history where class begins to supersede race. What sets Landsmark apart from the crowd, after all, is not just his color but his dress. Take away the fact of his race, and he still represents everything Southies would despise: a Yale-educated lawyer in a three-piece suit, sticking his nose into workingmen's business. (Although his attackers didn't know it, Landsmark was heading to City Hall to lobby for minority hiring in construction jobs.) For the first time, perhaps, we are seeing the flag transformed into a weapon of class warfare..."

Louis, are you insane? Could you honestly posit that that flag would have been wielded at a white man in a three piece suit after he had been set upon and pummeled by Marky-Mark like South Boston toughs?

This is why I get so exasperated when I read stuff like the paragraph you cited above. I've written this here before, but I thinks it bears repeating: Race, gender and class are inextricably linked. When you write something like the above and tried to single out the ism at work, you can be misled.

You're right Rocky57 when you contend that the response would have been different if it was a white man in a three-piece suit. But what is also true is that the response could've been different if it were a black man in a working class uniform. Or what about a black woman in a three-piece suit? To those Southies, it is quite possible that they were reacting to a black man that they presumed was richer than they, that he was offensive on two different levels. At any rate, how the attacked man's gender, race and class works in concert bears scrutiny.

I wonder if this article is meant to explain or excuse Joan Walsh's continuing 'discomfort' with Obama. Maybe a bit of both?

I guess it could be kind of useful who are trying to bridge the generation gap and understand her perspective. Having grown up in working class catholic neighborhoods I'm all too familiar with all of the anger and all of the euphimisms used to cover it up and make it sound polite.

I would still say it is something to get past and that we have to stop excusing it. It would seem obvious but apparently it it isn't.