Death of Vietnamese Youth Bang Mai Recalls History of Boston Racial Attacks

On July 11, Bang Mai, a 16 year old Vietnamese youth from Medford, Mass. died in front of the Mary Ellen McCormack housing development in South Boston of as a result of “ a one-on-one fistfight [which] quickly degenerated into a bloody free-for-all" , according to the Boston Globe’s recounting of witness accounts. He was stabbed as he was walking away from another 16 year old, who had brought a knife to the fight. Initial official reports say Mai died from trauma and a stab wound.
The Boston newspapers reported the death as stemming from tensions between white and Asian teenagers in South Boston that had been building for two weeks prior to Mai’s death. The Boston Herald reported that witnesses said that two weeks prior to Mai’s murder, “a white teenage girl called several Asians visting Veterans Park to play basketball ‘chinks’ ” which led to an Asian boy hitting the girl, sparking a series of confrontations.

Facts about the incident, especially concerning the racial tensions between the two groups of teens, have been slow in coming. While no one wants to fan racial prejudice or conflicts, ignoring race will not make these issues go away. Initial media reports of the murder did not even mention that the victim was Vietnamese, and both city officials and the mainstream media have downplayed the racial implications of Mai's murder and the circumstances surrounding it. Initial mainstream news reports have also included subtle racist stereotypes, such as the Globe’s initial account, which quotes a youth worker as saying “the Asian teenagers, who he said were probably primarily from Dorchester, are not part of an organized gang”. The article did not entertain the possibility that the white youths were part of a gang. Despite the obvious racial element to the conflict, police have been reluctant to call the attack a hate crime.

Mai's murder belies the notion that the city is a "New Boston", free of it's history of white racist attacks on people of color and immigrants. Images of racist Boston etched in the city’s history have included a white man's attack of black businessman Ted Landsmark with the pointed end of an American flag and the mob intimidation of white Boston racists attacking bused Black schoolchildren. The Boston area has seen attacks on Southeast Asians throughout the 80's and 90's and more recently, attacks on Muslim-appearing South Asians post-911. South Boston or "Southie" has long been one of the districts in Boston associated with white racism, from the days when City Councillor Louise Day Hicks from Southie led the charge against desegregation and the intimidation of Black school kids.

The Vietnamese American community has been publicly silent in the death of one of its young. While Bang Mai's mother has grieved openly, the local community groups, which mobilized hundreds over homeland politics, have not spoken out.

Boston’s mayor, Thomas Menino, has blamed federal budget cuts in city services for the tensions that led to Mai’s death. Some residents indicate that progress has been made in the McCormack development to reduce racial tensions, and some of that has been based on government-funded human services that have been reduced. However, City officials want it both ways. They have routed resources not to critical resident services, but to window dressing for visiting Democrats. Throughout the year, in preparation for the Democratic National convention, Boston officials have tried to pretty up the image of Boston by pouring thousands of dollars into neighborhood cleanups, touchy feely diversity discussions, and public relations neighborhoods meetings by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which is the agency that has facilitated gentrification and displacement of minorities and other longtime residents. Such efforts are like a bad dye job - superficially cosmetic, but not getting at any of the nasty roots of the problems.