Naming of Roxbury clubhouse criticized
As the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston put the finishing touches on a $7-million renovation at a Roxbury facility, several elected officials are in an uproar over the building's new name, to be unveiled today at a grand reopening ceremony.
Organizers say it only makes sense for the facility to be named after Tom and Jean Yawkey, who once owned the Red Sox and created the foundation that donated $3 million to help renovate the ailing club.
That's a problem for some in this majority black neighborhood who say that Tom Yawkey's racial policies resulted in the Red Sox turning down Jackie Robinson and, more than a decade later, becoming the last Major League Baseball team to integrate.
``There won't be a Malcolm X center in South Boston; there can't be a monument to Tom Yawkey in Roxbury," said State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, one of seven cosigners of a two-page letter sent this week to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston and the Yawkey Foundation.
The letter -- also signed by state representatives Gloria Fox, Byron Rushing, and Liz Malia and City Council members Chuck Turner, Sam Yoon, and Felix Arroyo -- asks for a meeting to discuss ways to honor the Yawkeys' generosity while being sensitive to the pain associated with the Yawkey name in the neighborhood.
``We would most assuredly not have chosen such a racially divisive, polarizing and antagonizing figure to fly on the banner of our Roxbury Clubhouse," the letter says. ``Where was the thinking that this would make sense in a community home to the largest percentage of African-Americans in Boston?"
Boys and Girls Club officials said there are no plans to remove the name.
``I don't think that's the way most people in Roxbury feel," said Jerry Steimel, vice president of operations for the club. ``I understand that some people who do want to look back to what happened 40 to 50 years ago might have a reaction to that. But right now, going forward with what the kids in the community need, we think that this was a generous gift that ought to be recognized. ``
Yawkey, who owned the Red Sox from 1933 until his death in 1976, has been a controversial figure in Red Sox history. Several books have been written on Yawkey's Red Sox and race, a subject also documented in the Massachusetts Historical Review. Some have pointed to team policies and people he hired as examples of institutional racism.
The Red Sox, under pressure from a city councilor, reluctantly allowed Jackie Robinson to try out in 1945, according to the historical review, but the event was largely perceived as a farce.
By 1959, Boston was the only team in Major League Baseball that had no black players.
According to biographer Glenn Stout, a former Boston writer and author of several books on the Red Sox, Robinson years later called Yawkey ``probably one of the most bigoted guys in baseball."
``Clearly I think the Yawkey Foundation is trying to do some social penance by saying if we give money to this Boys and Girls Club in Roxbury, that will start to scrub the legacy of Tom Yawkey as a racist," said Stout, who lives in Vermont and edits the anthology ``The Best American Sports Writing." ``You can't scrub history."
Officials from the Yawkey Foundation did not respond to questions on perceptions of Tom Yawkey in Roxbury. In an e-mailed statement this week, the charity said it ``has been providing financial support to many inner-city organizations for more than 20 years, and the most recent gift to renovate the Roxbury Clubhouse is in keeping with that longstanding tradition."
Steimel said that parents in the community and a local advisory board signed off on the name.
``We could not have done this renovation without this gift," Steimel added. ``We felt the Yawkey Foundation should be investing in the Roxbury community. It's the kind of investment we want to encourage them to do."
Some parents whose children attend the club don't agree with all the fuss.
``As a child, I hated the Red Sox because of the racism that was going on," said Brad Howard, 50, an administrator at a local high school and a lifelong Bostonian whose two children use the center. ``Tom Yawkey may have been a racist, but his family has made strides in terms of trying to clear up their name. . . . I'm not saying things are great, just that times have changed and people are holding on to things they don't need to hold on to."
Tisha Murphy, 38, of Dorchester, said she has already explained the Yawkey history to her preteen daughter, who is looking forward to the center opening on Monday.
``I explained to her who Yawkey is, and she says it really doesn't matter, as long as the funding came through," Murphy said. ``We appreciate it just the same."
Some black leaders echoed those feelings.
``No one should ignore the history, but at some point we must move on and embrace the future," said Darnell Williams, president of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts.
Adrienne P. Samuels can be reached at asamuels@globe.com. 
