It opened up with the bussing riots. I'm not sure if the timeline is right,...if Costello was woo'ing young Colin during the riots timeframe (that appears to be what they're going for),

With the OBVIOUS footage of the riots at the beginning of the movie (something I understood as "This is what this area of Boston is known for"), it seemed that Nicholson was coming off LESS 'racist', and more matter-of-factly.

They showed footage of these racist riots, and Nicholson came in to say "I don't have a problem with'em, personally...yadda yadda" (yes, I have the movie, I'm just paraphrasing to make a point). He said the N-word 'cause that's how ALOT of people talk...especially in the 70's...especially in Boston...

I also thought the footage of the white Southie people running around and throwing punches...along with a black man saying "It puts hate in your heart"....showed the opposite. The guy seemed real calm, and civilized...taking into consideration what was going on. If you ask me, it made the Irish Southie people look more like assholes than Costello using the N-word could ever do. Showing the young black girls smiling on the bus with painted "NO"'s on mailboxes and people hooping and hollaring made Southie look even worse.

This is what Southie was known for.

I think it was important for the movie to start there. Especially if it was in this timeframe that Costello was getting into Colin's head. This was the enviroment both of them spawned from.

Costello said what he said @ the beginning because it went with what they were showing. He also brought up "guineas" because they were making the segueway into organized crime. He was bringing up how the Irish had to control their part of the city.

Sean Costigan said Puerto Ricans are stupid, when it was made known NUMEROUS times that Sean himself was a grade-A dumbass. Especially when they were bumping Nas. Alot of books about Southie pointed this types of contradictions out...which is one of the main points being made. Alot of the Irish kids living in the projects hated talked shit about the Black kids living in THEIR projects. The Irish junkies called the Black people junkies, etc...

The kids in Old Colony projects said don't associate with the kids in the D-Street projects 'cause they were "white niggers"...but the D-Street kids were saying the exact same thing about the Old Colony kids.

Not making excuses, but there is a method to the madness. People act like Marty makes great movies and throws in the N-word a few times just to be a prick lol