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aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

The New York Times [nytimes.com] is reporting on preparations to receive right-wing demonstrators on Boston Commons.

BOSTON — This city was bracing for a rally on Saturday that was expected to draw thousands of demonstrators, some of them advocating free speech, while many others, fearing that the rally would attract white nationalists, were promising a major counterdemonstration.

Of course, one does not simple walk into Boston Commons, the permit bans weapons, but there will still be vehicles on the streets.

Officials cleared the Common of vendors and their carts, and they were shutting down the Swan Boats, a major tourist attraction in the nearby Public Garden. Marchers were banned from bringing weapons, bats, sticks, flagpoles or anything that might be used as a weapon or a projectile, and backpacks will be subject to search.

But will any white supremacists even show up, unarmed, to argue for free speech? It is Boston, not some small liberal arts college town.

And with the national spotlight on the debate over Confederate monuments in the South, John W. Henry, principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, said he was “haunted” by the racist legacy of his predecessor, Tom Yawkey, who resisted integrating the ball club long after every other club in Major League Baseball had hired black players. Mr. Henry said he wanted to lead an effort to rename Yawkey Way, a public street outside Fenway Park, “in light of the country’s current leadership stance with regard to intolerance.”

Everyone stay safe.

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