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The inevitable fight: Who will host the South Boston St. Patrick's Day breakfast?
By adamg on Fri, 09/06/2013 - 12:10am
The host has long been the state senator from South Boston, but now the state senator for South Boston isn't from South Boston and so the gloves are off and City Councilor Bill Linehan, who took over hosting when Jack Hart quit as senator, vows not to let some upstart from, gawd, Dorchester, host the breakfast.
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Comments
Ok this really blows. I feel
Ok this really blows. I feel sad that the state senator is being put through this.
Shame on the SB politicians, including Hart, haven't we moved past this?
Not sure that I would want Gypo Collins endorsement.
At least Walsh has stated that he won't march in the parade.
Let's all go to the Black Rose for a wee pint!
Let's *ALL* go to the Black Rose for a wee pint and by all I mean first, second, third and definitely fourth generation Irish whose parents BOTH had good Irish names, such as Linehan, Connolly, Conley, Kelly, O'Malley and O'Bama. The rest of you can go f*ck yourselves.
identity politics
While we may have come a long way from stoning schoolbuses, there is still an undercurrent of provincialism and pernicious ethnic identity politics in Boston.
Let's not forget
That there is sexism at work here too, not just racism.
You know who should host the St. Patrick's Day breakfast?
Dublin. And anybody who usually goes to it here in Boston should attend it in Dublin and then never come back.
Ya and people who celebrate
Black History month should move back to Africa. Racist!
Yeah, because everybody at the breakfast is Irish
I knew one of you anon douches would take the bait, and you didn't let me down. Maybe you're the racist.
Not Dublin, Will
Actual Irish people from Ireland, a country with one of the most literate, best educated populations on Earth, have no use for the ignorant, provincial, chip-on-the-shoulder, politics-of-identity culture that is called "Irish" in South Boston.
Try NYC or Chicago
St. Patrick's day is a primarily Irish AMERICAN holiday. People in Dublin? They just go to mass.
That was true at one time,
That was true at one time, but not so much any more.
you are clearly out of touch!
When was the last time you were in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day? You clearly are totally out of touch with modern Ireland. Have you not heard of the St. Patrick's Festival which nowadays extends the overall event. Dublin is alive and hopping every St. Patricks day and almost no one goes to mass anymore.
And you
Can you back to France!
(See what I did there)
Funny how Collins seems to
Funny how Collins seems to think that he'd be the "dean" of the South Bodton delegation - if Linehan loses his seat this fall. Wouldn't that title go to the highest ranking South Boston politician?? That would be Congressman Steve Lynch of course. And Lynch - who hosted this event quite ably for several years- is unequivocal in this Globe article: It's the senator who should host it, meaning Sen. Forry. Before we paint all these Southie pols with one broad brush, please remember that Lynch has said the he thinks Linda should host it and that he will be happy to help her.
Collins was lookig pretty
Collins was lookig pretty butch in the Herald today
It's never been the "ranking
It's never been the "ranking south boston politician." Otherwise Moakley would have hosted it.
Maybe we're being too quick
Maybe we're being too quick to assume that Bill Linehan will be reelected this year.
hopefully not
My personal experience, and experiences I've heard from friends with Linehan is that he says he will help you at first, but then seemingly can't be bothered. I often wonder if "campaign donations" need to be made to get anything done with him.
Collins might be a "for the neighborhood" guy, but he follows through. In favor or not, I've always gotten a quick resolution from him, for even the most trivial of matters.
Linehan is one of those old school Southie types
that still think Southie is only populated with Howie Carr listeners.
Linehan or O'Malley?
I think you just described Matt O'Malley. A nice fellow but ineffectual. Or maybe you just described much of the City Council? Nice folks but basically symbolic place holders. Except for when they gouge property owners for more property taxes to pay for generating noise, trash, paying useless details, non-improvements and other means that city agencies manage to compromise the quality of city neighborhoods.
Since the city is run by a mayor and his independent agencies perhaps disbanding the City Council and requiring biannual mayoral elections would provide less intrusive and disruptive government as well as end a money pit of a City Council.
who?
Meant Linehan, but I've never even heard of O'Malley, so perhaps you're still right.
I always thought..
Collins was immature and now he's proved it.
NO GAYS AND NO BLACKS on St Patrick's Day in Southie!
Let's cut the crap, shall we?
God forbid a black woman who is married to an Irish man host this ode to a time where the blacks in this town knew their fucking place and stayed the fuck out of Southie. Plain and simple.
Well
Maybe a White person can be elected to the head of the NAACP.
Clever!
Did your Mom help you with the spelling?
What did they say about people who ignore history?
You might want to read up on the history of the NAACP.
The committee?
I would think that the organization actually running the breakfast, the St. Patrick's Day Breakfast Committee, would pick the host.
re: St Patrick's Day Breakfast
FYI, there is no St Patrick's Day Committee that oversees the Breakfast, rather it is traditionally run by the state senator that represents South Boston. In this case that is Senator Dorcey-Forrey.
Honestly so much has changed in South Boston through the years, so why would Councilor Bill Linehan feel that he should m.c. next yrs breakfast?
Like it or not Senator Dorcey-Forrey is the senator that represents South Boston. I agree with Congressman Lynch, and by the way happy to read that he is more than happy to help Senator Forrey. I find that refreshinng. A lot goes into putting this event together and it is my understanding that the Senator picks up the tab for the whole event, as they should.
Bill Linehan has a heck of a nerve stating he should run the breakfast next yr. There is a very real possibility that he is NOT going to be re-elected to the city council. Suzanne Lee his opponent only lost by less than 100 votes two yrs ago.
Good Luck with the breakfast Senator Forrey, and this is coming from someone who was born,raised and continues to live in South Boston.
There is a committee
From the Globe on 9/6:
Yes, there is a tradition, but I would think the organizing committee would have some say over who speaks at their event.
Maybe
the whole thing is getting too political.
Ok, who let this joker in?
Ok, who let this joker in?
Maybe...
The whole thing itself is just a joke and based on some of what comes out of that breakfast is past its time anyway. At best some of the routines are cute - at worst offensive.
Some traditions die. Some need to be killed off. Maybe the fact that an Irish pol from southie is not the ranking official is a sign that the event's time is ovah.
Can't we save the Irish
Can't we save the Irish bashing till March please?
3/17
I'm a Linehan supporter. But I think he should just take a step back and let the sitting state senator host the event. He filled in and did a fairly good job. Now there is an elected senator in office. For a long time it's been the senator. It should stay that way (I voted for Nick Collins).
Something I noticed (and expected) was the usual South Boston haters coming out with the standard vitriol. Get over yourselves. Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
It's too easy when your
It's too easy when your neighborhood provides so much fodder.
Did Linehan leak the story?
David Bernstein ponders the possibility it all came out now because Linehan wants to rally the Kelly-era voters behind him as he tries to fend off a non-white, non-South Boston challenger more successfully than Nick Collins did.
none of these tools are
none of these tools are fucking irish. They're all americans. The only irish people at that breakfast are carrying plates
I don't care who hosts it
My vote goes to the one who can keep Billy Bulger and Bill Weld from singing!
Why would someone from
Why would someone from Dorchester want to interject themselve into a tradition in South Boston? Its not the 1st Suffolk Senate St. Patricks Day Breakfast. it seems that Linda wants her face on the big screen and doesn't care much for neighborhood tradition...she's never cared about the breakfast before.
If the first non-Irish person elected there had been, say,
an Italian-American or Polish-American guy, I wonder if he would have hosted the event? I don't know the answer to this, but I am fairly certain that if the committee asked someone else to do it (that is, someone who identifies as Irish-American 365 days a year) it would probably not be a very controversial decision. Also, as this is still essentially an "ethnic holiday" and an "ethnic parade", not a neighborhood holiday or parade (after all, it's not called the "Evacuation Day Breakfast"), would people be upset if members of another American ethnic group insisted on having "one of their own" preside at the celebration of an ethnic holiday?
Is this not an Irish function?
Such efforts to turn ethnic festivals, parades, dinners, etc. into all-inclusive diversity events are disheartening. It's getting to the point that we can no longer enjoy celebrations of our heritage unless we include every conceivable variety of human being into the mix. Of course, this would be excluding the Congressional Black Caucus which is extremely restrictive to its membership.
And no one is ever allowed to marry into the group?
Yeah, she's black and from Dorchester, but she's also married to an Irish guy.
To whom does the privilege of hosting accrue: SOUTHERN STRATEGY!
Isn't the issue being questioned whether the "privilege" of hosting the roast -- St Patties Day B'fast -- accrues to the state senator from the district not just the Irish state senator from the district?
Anyway, the point is that John Connolly and Nick Collins (both champions of public school privatization btw) and others have raised the issue now as a campaign tactic to appeal to white Irish (and typically) catholic folks who are feeling racially disenfranchised by "the blacks" and other folks not as white as "us". I'm disgusted by Connolly and Collins, and glad David Bernstein called them out. They are disgusting.
"Marry into the group"
Is Bill Forry an African-American because he's married to the senator?
I guess the whole
I guess the whole 'everyone-is-Irish-on-St.-Patricks-Day' thing is just B.S. then.
What
These Southie groups do not represent the Irish/Irish-American population. They represent an outdated, closed-minded fraternity.
None of the other cultural parades in Boston exclude LGBT folks or veterans groups. None of the others have had court cases to affirm their supposed right to exclude people.
Southie groups
And it's not clear how well they represent the Southie population either anymore.
South Boston Breakfast
Not a soul in Ireland would give a tinker's curse about this event. More silly ethnic wannabe's thinking about the old sod, aran sweaters, thatched cottages and such.
For it to be be a political turf war between some yanks makes it even sillier.