South Boston, or Southie as it's known, is about to get more of the kind of exposure it could do without.
According to the Boston Herald, a new TV series by Robert De Niro and the Showtime network presents the predominantly Irish neighborhood as a hotbed of the Neo-Nazi movement.
Unsurprisingly, local politicians are in an uproar.
'I am offended on behalf of all the good residents of South Boston that this project in any way will be filmed and thereby reflect poorly on the town. Enough!!!' State Senator Jack Hart told the Herald.
State Representative Nick Collins agreed: 'I am tired of Hollywood writing and rewriting scripts and making movies that characterize people from Boston and South Boston in such a grotesque and unflattering light. If this is all De Niro has left in the tank, he should just retire.'
Hart said in his 51 years in Southie, 'I have never encountered anything resembling a Neo-Nazi group.'
'In fact,' he continued, 'many years ago an out-of-town supremacist group descended on the town and the residents effectively told them they were not welcome.'
Hart was referring to a controversy involving gay groups and officials of the South End of Boston's annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade in 1994. Parade officials had previously canceled the parade to keep gay groups from marching, which inspired members of the allegedly Neo-Nazi Nationalist Movement to come to Boston to celebrate their expulsion by holding a 'pro-majority parade' through the South End, a racially divided section of Boston.
Nationalist Movement leader Richard Barrett and fourteen followers marched on the Southie sidewalks on May 7, 1994, while thousands of angry spectators jeered them. The city hired 800 police in riot gear to protect the Nationalists and the cost to taxpayers was reportedly $800,000.
The parade committee’s refusal to allow gays to march should not be confused with racial or ethnic intolerance, officials had insisted.
This week Southie City Councilor Bill Linehan echoed Hart’s anger, saying the premise of the planned show is 'ludicrous' and 'absurd.'
Produced by Robert De Niro, The 4th Reich will follow a former leader of the Boston Neo-Nazi movement who agrees to become an FBI informant in exchange for getting out of jail. He returns to his old Southie haunts to find his estranged 15-year-old son has been recruited by his former best friend and current leader of the far right Brotherhood.
According to Deadline, the series — developed by De Niro’s Tribeca Productions — will complement the company’s work with Against Violent Extremism, a network for reformed extremists and their victims. Because of that association, some Southie residents are willing to give the show a chance.
Jeffrey Robbins, chairman of the Anti-Defamation League’s New England Board, told the Herald the show could serve a useful purpose if it’s done right.
'Work that exposes Neo-Nazis and other extremists for what they are can play a valuable role in shrinking the troubling phenomenon of hate in the United States. By contrast, of course, anything that romanticizes extremism obviously would be harmful, but there’s every reason based on the apparent background of the people involved in this project to think this will fall in former category.'
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Silling | Jan 28, 2013, 03:17 AM EST
Why can't we Irish start a campaign to remove Jesus from the cross. I find it offensive as an Irish Catholic. At least remove it from the crosses in Ireland, if the rest of the world want to continue with this blatant insult to the Jews, then let them. Robinson's Jams were forced to remove the Golliwog and Fruitfield removed the black cat from the Olde Time Irish Marmalade. Would blacks like to see a Gilliwog on the crucifix or Peta a black cat, doubt it. So go on Ireland, show the world that you care and follow my lead and demand, insist on the removal of Jesus the Jew from our churches.
OffalyNice | Jan 26, 2013, 11:59 PM EST
Racist crimes were first introduced by Bolsheviks in Russia, after what was really a coup by a foreign group. Same deal here - they own the media, politics, the banks - and they want to maintain control.
mayoman | Jan 26, 2013, 02:04 PM EST
Robert De Niro is half Irish, but has publicly sytated that he identifies with his Italianancestry. Okay, that fine. But is he so self-hating of his Irishness that he has to produce slanderous trash
dublinshea | Jan 25, 2013, 10:47 PM EST
Seanmor your cousin would fit in brilliantly in Ireland, that attitude is an art form in this country. send her back. maybe if people wait to see the show before they dismiss it as a slur. if it is go to town on it, if its not so what.
Seanmor | Jan 25, 2013, 10:01 PM EST
Rebel: Your comment reminds me that a few of my cousins, one in particular, persieves herself to be 'racially' superior to all of us who came here from Ireland, including her own parents.She believes that we are products of poverty, drudgery, misery, starvatiobn, disease, ignorance and superstition, that we have faulty genes and inferior DNA. However, when I move in WASP circles, where my wife belobgs, no one ever indicates any feelings of superiority over me.
olovely | Jan 25, 2013, 08:50 PM EST
Rebleforce I don't think you can start to play the oppression Olympics now that you have been forced to acknowledge you share this nation with every ethnic heritage. South Boston is famous for discrimination. First it was against African Americans, then gays. No one made them do that. They can't whine if they're called out for it.
Rebelforce | Jan 25, 2013, 07:57 PM EST
Well, we know that the Irish and Catholics are two groups that are NOT protected under the Laws of Political Correctness. You are not allowed to stereotype or portray blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians, Eskimos, American Indians, etc. in a negative light without being named and shamed in Hollywood. But the Irish, WASPS, Southern whites and Arabs are all fair game it seems.
dallas75216 | Jan 25, 2013, 06:58 PM EST
yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn and who is going to watch this garbage. If you need to read about racism google Haaretz and spitting or go to failed messiah dot com
Seanmor | Jan 25, 2013, 06:05 PM EST
Has it occurred to anyone that Boston's Irish and WASP communities should combine to jointly celebrate Lincoln's Birthday (Feb. 12)? Such an event should emphasize the Reunification of the once divided American nation and the hopes for future Reunification of Ireland. Verterans would play a significant role in this WASP-Irish celebration and Christian morality, especially as it applies to families, would be very evident on this occasion. How about it?
olovely | Jan 25, 2013, 04:51 PM EST
If some of the commentators here want to defend South Boston from charges of antisemitism, racism or homophobia they're doing a lousy job.
WoundedKnee | Jan 25, 2013, 03:00 PM EST
The Hollywood and Manhattan moguls are sloppy and uncreative. It's very easy for them to unthinkingly stereotype whole neighborhoods like South Boston or whole regions like the Old Confederacy. Beats creative effort. They know nothing of these places, because they spend their time flying First Class between NYC and LA.
falconflash | Jan 25, 2013, 01:16 PM EST
Only liberal groups like gays, blacks, latinos, jews are allowed to celebrate their cultural characteristics....when whites do so they are called fascists....good, I'm an Irish Catholic fascist....
falconflash | Jan 25, 2013, 01:07 PM EST
How dare whites maintain an ethnic identity.
Puppylove | Jan 25, 2013, 12:42 PM EST
Southie/South Boston and the South End are two completely different areas of Boston.
PhlutiePhan | Jan 25, 2013, 12:05 PM EST
@ZippidyDooDah: Dear Zippy: This is an orchestrated attack by the sophisticated media to "paint the Irish" as a Gestapo which is anti personal fulfillment. It is called morality and the Irish are family oriented. The current marxist government wants to destroy the Catholic Church. Look at the forced busing to South Boston. It destroyed the Catholic neighborhoods in the name of integration. The Catholic archdiocese was outmaneuvered and the end result was the destruction of the archdiocese of Boston with the sex abuse scandal and its pedophile priests such as Goeghan and Shanley. This was all about a complx plot orchestrated by the devil to infiltrate and destroy morality in the United States. The marxist in the White House is only a notion of its fulfillment and success. His "radical thespian" playmate in Libya is only one more indication of what is going on on the world stage.
slainte9 | Jan 25, 2013, 10:34 AM EST
I've met a man from the Boston area who had a swastika tatooed on his arm he definitely wasn't Irish and he wasn't from South Boston. The anti-defamation league if it is true to its calling ought to denounce DeNiro.
seagreen | Jan 25, 2013, 10:30 AM EST
Whatever your real name is...... You apparently know nothing about South Boston. The extent of your travel there probably has been a run through on Old Colony Ave on the way to Wollaston. You have gleaned a couple of incidents that occured over the years and have formed the opinion that you apparently want to have. Contrary general belief, Southie is not an Irish enclave. A large part is of Lithuanian and Italian decent. Yes you can mention the Bulger thing, and the busing years. I wonder how your town would have fared during forced busing. The property and value of the buildings from G st east have never been higher. I doubt if you could buy on Farragut Rd. Doctors, teachers, Mayors of Boston, musicians, and public service people ' were raised in Souyh Boston, including three players in the National Hockey League. It has been years since I grew up there and even now as I am on my way to So. Africa as part of my occupation, I will readily admit with pride that I grew up ' in South Boston
BippyBellito | Jan 25, 2013, 10:00 AM EST
Perhaps instead of engaging in a typical Boston politician's favorite pasttime....MENTAL MASTURBATION...they should look at the realities of South Boston. It is a dump, both in physical appearance and mental acuity.