I think he's accurate - to a point. Regarding the wealth disparity in Boston - spot on. There is no black middle class to speak of. The majority of that population is tucked into the poorest sections of Boston and other cities. There certainly aren't many blacks in the suburbs, which are white dominant and always have been.
And that has to extend into the business community. The power brokers there are all white. Those doing the hiring tend to be white. And I think it is going to take another couple of generations (or longer) before that starts to change.
Just look at who's graduating from private colleges and universities - not to mention the private high schools around here. That's your next generation of business leaders and they're white as can be.
Being young, black and wealthy - for him, his money can open some doors. But there probably is a ceiling. It's probably the fault of no one alive today. It is what it is. And if Jaylen is really as smart as he sounds and has business savvy (no guarantee by the way - plenty of smart people are clueless when it comes to business) he could in fact be a real agent of change - should he choose to stay here. (play your whole career here, make a billion dollars plus, you'll be in a position to start changing some things).
He's also right that a portion of the fan base is racist and even more are toxic. Not all who are toxic are racist, I don't think. But I also believe that a sizeable chunk of white middle age sports fans are turned off by the NBA because it's so black. Those, by the way, are not Celtics fans.
But where I disagree with Jaylen is that Boston is also a very passionate sports town. We hate it when our teams lose - and when they do we have to point fingers and blame. Carl Yastrzemski got booed. The talk shows (back when they were relevant) crucified generations of Red Sox players and managers (most of them white). Not to mention Patriots QB's and coaches, and Celtic players and coaches.
So when the C's play like crap - just look at this forum as an example - we're going to blame, belittle, mock etc. And because the Celtics are mainly black - guess what, some black athletes and coaches are going to come under fire.
But now add in sports gambling...when fans are going to lose money betting on these guys...it's only going to get worse and more toxic.
Is racism at the heart of that? No way. But if you couple inbred sports passion with gambling - it can and will continue to get nasty when local teams and athletes don't perform up to expectations.
That's why they say not every athlete can play here. And I don't see that situation improving at all.