SC+2016+Rabbit+Inn+Incident

Deliah Shellhouse - Audience The Rabbit Inn Incident revolved around many citizens in Southern Boston. During the event of the Rabbit Inn, quite a few citizens came in protest of the brutality given off from police officers. Citizens of all races came in opposition of the police brutality towards Southern Boston citizens, trying to fend off what was happening. "The following day, a thousand South Boston residents turned out for a demonstration against the TPF brutality and TPF presence in their community" (Saba). Some people did nothing in respect towards those affected by the police brutality, despite the police officers unjust system of law enforcement. In accordance with the Rabbit Inn Incident, not only were black citizens beaten then, but police officers would actually beat them while they worked as well. With this in mind, it changed many citizens viewpoints on the TPF’s system of law enforcement, it changed citizens eyes to realize a stand must be made, it all became pretty brutal. South Boston citizens were all scarred by the brutality and blatant racism from the TPF, while others chose to take a stand. Persecution was spread through many individuals and it was a hard time.

Saba, Paul. "Boston Busing Struggle Sharpens". // Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism //, Vol. 2, No. 10 November 1974. 5 January 2016. Print.

Historical - Brittany



The Rabbit Inn Incident was only a part of a series of racial conflicts that had been around before Boston schools opened in September, 1974. Being an almost all-white community, school busses transporting colored children, “... were met with demonstrations of hundreds of white parents and youths who opposed the busing plan” (Saba). Police brutality had begun to grow, and there had been reports of police actually encouraging stone throwing. Black and Latin residents in Columbia Point were harassed by the Ku Klux Klan, and six of those members fired shots into the project and were met with returning shots. Columbia Point residents felt that they could not depend on the cops to protect them, and they organized response groups to protect themselves. The brutality went to the extreme when police equipped with assault rifles entered the project, attacking and looting tenants claiming to look for weapons (Saba). While focused primarily on the Black and Latin community, police attacks also came down on South Boston, allegedly in response to a phone call from the Rabbit Inn (a bar in the area) reporting a cop in trouble. The Tactical Police Force attacked and wrecked the bar, beating up and arresting people in and around it. “People in South Boston say that it was really a retaliatory raid because several of the patrons had beat up a member of the TPF” (Saba).

Saba, Paul. "Boston Busing Struggle Sharpens". //Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism//, Vol. 2, No. 10 November 1974. 5 January 2016. Print.

Rabbit Inn Incident

AIM: Mae



The Rabbit Inn Incident was caused by the tension between the Irish residents of “Southie” and the Police Force.

When the school buses transporting Black children first started rolling into South Boston, an almost all-white working class community, they were met with demonstrations of hundreds of white parents and youths who opposed the busing plan… Mayor White sent large numbers of police out to South Boston, allegedly to protect Black children. But bystanders reported that in many cases, police actually encouraged rock throwing and allowed groups of assailants through their lines, while also using the opportunity to come down hard on some of the white teenagers and bystanders (Saba).

Because of the tension many things happened such as rocks being thrown at the buses and officers. At one point a brick was thrown through the window of a police cruiser. When the police tried to arrest the person they suspected did it a crowd tried to stop the police and the suspect got away. The next night the police raided the Rabbit Inn. Many people thought that the raid was due to events on the previous night. When asked police stated the raid was “allegedly in response to a phone call from the Rabbit Inn (a bar in the area) reporting a cop in trouble” (Saba). Although the police denied it there was still a lot of controversy that the raid was caused by the Police Force’s want for revenge on Southie. Whatever the aim, the result was innumerable injuries and higher tension between the police and the civilians in the area.

__Citation__:

Saba, Paul. "Boston Busing Struggle Sharpens". // Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism //, Vol. 2, No. 10 November 1974. 5 January 2016. Print.

Jordan- Cultural In 1974 the Rabbit Inn Incident further emphasized the growing divide that was occurring in Boston. In the article remembering busing in South Boston it states “ I witnessed a lot of police beatings. The police were the enemy, and the people here were the enemy of the police”(Martin). This was during the time that people were struggling with desegregation and on top of that they had almost no faith in the police force. In the article Uncommon ground it talks about the effect desegregation had “ It exposed the raw residue of Yankee guilt, black anger, and Irish immigrant antipathy—the churning clash of cultures that defines America”(Lukas). Now the police enforced laws like this which only further fueled their resistance to the idea, So the Rabbit inn incident caused long-lasting effects in the community.

Martin, Patrick. “Remembering Busing in South Boston.” //WGBH//.17 December 2014,Web. 4 January 2016

Hancock, LynNell. “Uncommon Ground.” //Columbia Journalism Review//. Web. 5 January 2016