I was in Kenmore Square after the Red Sox won the American League pennant in 1967.
I saw what should have been a happy gathering turn ugly. Cars burned. People driving into the square overwhelmed by drunken young people climbing all over their vehicles. A cop car overturned. A news van on fire. Store windows broken. I didn’t notice large scale looting, but I just may have missed it. I helped a man who had a heart attack and was lying in the gutter. I saw one angry driver chase a crowd down the street with a screwdriver.
There was work being done on the MBTA station at the time and many materials were gathered to use as barricades a la the Paris Commune. Screams of “Fuck the Cops” rang throughout the Square. I checked every Boston paper for the next two days and there was not one mention of the “CIVIL UNREST” in Kenmore Square.
It wasn’t the only time I was present when a good thing turned into a bad thing. In that case, excessive drinking was to blame and it seemed as though the largest percentage of the crowd was out of control compared to the small segment we see in recent “riots.”
OH…and by the way…you couldn’t find a black face in that crowd without WALDO’S help.
TQ WORD 