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Philly Mag cover: Whites must criticize blacks more
Philly Mag cover about "white people have become afraid to say anything at all about race. Here's what's not being said." No, it is not a parody.
Philly Mag cover: Whites must criticize blacks more
Follow on Twitter @DanielDenvir
Philadelphia Magazine just published an article by Robert Huber titled "Being white in Philly: In a city that is largely poor and segregated white people have become afraid to say anything at all about race. Here's what's not being said."
No, it is not an Onion-esque parody of Philadelphia's most white-bread journalistic institution, a magazine that seemingly hired Gene Marks just because he wrote the jaw-droppingly offensive article “If I Were a Poor Black Kid” for Forbes.
But before I continue, I must first disable the story's booby trap, a defense built into its very DNA: the idea that "in so many quarters, simply discussing race is seen as racist."
Huber is not a brave man, and his premise is totally false. People will only think you "simply discussing race" is racist if you, like Huber, treat black people like inscrutable extraterrestrials whose moral shortcomings might be responsible for their own poverty.
The reality is that many black people frequently talk about race and racism. And really, white people do too--sometimes intelligently, sometimes not so much. To the extent that whites do not discuss race more it is because they do not want to address important pieces of context like, say, history (see Louis CK).
Indeed, I'm a white guy who writes about race and frequently talk to black Philadelphians--and often, gasp, about race. Black sources have never protested frank questions about race for articles I write about poverty and educational inequity, police brutality and mass incarceration, or neighborhood segregation and (yes, largely black) gun violence.
Huber's idea that white people are uniquely aggrieved because they are muzzled in discussions of race (why are they allowed to say the n-word and not me) is not a new one. It's more that Huber wants to have a particular sort of conversation about race. Namely, he "yearn[s] for....the freedom to speak to my African-American neighbors about...how the inner city needs to get its act together." Like, you know, an arguably racist conversation about race.
Yes, that's certainly not the sort of conversation about race most blacks or sensible whites (not to mention unmentioned Asians or Latinos) want to have.
Huber seems to feel that his holding the door for black people at Wawa and being "overly polite," an example he weirdly invokes a few times, is some sort of pathetic expression of white guilt. It's not clear how Huber convinced his editor that personal hangups better discussed with a psychotherapist were "journalism" about "race in Philadelphia" and so he conducted interviews with some white people. In Fairmount.
One source is a "tall, slim, dark-haired beauty from Moscow getting out of her BMW" who tells him that "Blacks use skin color as an excuse" and waste your tax dollars while "not doing anything except sitting on porches smoking pot...Why do you support them when they won't work, just make babies and smoking pot?" If this is "what's not being said" about race by whites then white people like Huber might indeed need to keep theirs mouths shut.
Not only does this Russian fail to suggest where Philadelphians of any race are supposed to smoke pot (only half-kidding here, and surely Huber is aware that young whites are ten percent more likely to smoke pot than their black counterparts?), Russia is infamous for virulent racism against Afro-descendant people. (And then there's the matter of some male journalists feeling compelled to point out the physical attractiveness of female sources.) That being the case, this woman's quote appears more like a sock puppet for Huber's own mindset than a meaningful representation of anything about Philadelphia. Other characters include some kind of hipster who once lived next to a violent (black) drug dealer and prides himself "on [being at] the outer limits of engagement--even at the expense of his own well-being."
Then there's a white lady named Jen who bravely went to a pool in Brewerytown even though she and her daughter were the only white people there. Jen, who Huber clearly thinks deserves some sort of race relations medal, gushed that "these kids were so happy and sweet." Anyhow, what really shocked Huber was that one who lived across the street from the pool said she was "the luckiest girl in the world"--even though her house is a "beaten-down row."
Jen warns Huber that "there's a certain arrogance" in his "judgement...I might not know what people are truly experiencing." Jen, of course, was right.
But Huber, who feels "profoundly sad and a blind desire to escape" while driving through North Philly, doesn't take her free advice.
There's also an n-word dropping old white guy named John who complains about "when blacks from the South with chips on their shoulders...moved North." Huber does not endeavor to explain where John's white neighbors went (to the suburbs) or why black people moved to Philly as part of the great migration (Jim Crow terrorism, the collapse of the Southern agricultural economy, and booming war-time industrial production).
Which brings me to: Huber incorrectly dates "white flight" to the 1964 North Philly riots, rendering a city that was just 20-percent black in 1950 44-percent black today.
I know this article is not about "journalism" or, really, "facts," but if Huber had consulted a history book he might well have learned that most well-paying blue and white collar jobs were long denied to blacks here and elsewhere. And he would have understood that white people and good-paying jobs began leaving Philadelphia well before the riots thanks to the federal government subsidizing, through new roads and whites-only mortgages, their relocation to suburbs like Levittown. Levittown construction began in 1952, and blacks were explicitly denied entry.
Blacks finally got a foothold into American industry right as it began to move elsewhere. Black unemployment, concentrated in a segregated ghetto that expanded as whites took their federally-funded middle class welfare in the suburbs, skyrocketed.
The article, in fact, is not really about "white people" at all. It is, save for n-word dropping John, about rich and middle class white people. Philadelphia Magazine in 2011 declared Mummers "10 Things We Need To Get Rid Of" not so much, I think, because some mummers do or say racist shit. And I'm guessing Huber would probably be just as flummoxed by working class or poor whites on the other side of Front Street. These are whites that might say horrible things about blacks but who, unlike middle and upper class whites, felt they had to compete for evermore scarce resources in a declining city. Racial violence flared in Philadelphia's racial borderlands, from Kensington to Grays Ferry, through the 1990s. In 1985, whites in Southwest Philadelphia demonstrated against a black family moving in. The house was later burned.
In 2011, Mayor Michael Nutter grabbed national attention when he criticized black fathers for being mere "sperm donors" and chided young people for letting the "crack of your butt" show. He told black youth, "you've damaged your own race."
Such sermons, of course, appeal to a line of black self-help conservatism and nationalism that stretches from Booker T. Washington to Louis Farrakhan. But some white people have long met such intraracial put-downs and, especially those delivered by the far-more-palatable-to-whites-than-Farrakhan Bill Cosby, with undisguised glee.
As Inquirer columnist Annette John-Hall wrote: Nutter "said it. In a way that his white constituents would hear him loud and clear. At that point, he wasn't talking to black people anymore. Nutter expressed in no uncertain terms the sentiment that so often shackles black people - that the unlawful actions of a few smear everyone else. Something whites never have to fear. Just as they never have to live up to the expectation of being a credit to their race. Whatever that means."
Indeed, a post titled "You’ve Damaged Your Own Race’: Philly Mayor Blasts Teens, Flash Mobs" went viral on Glenn Beck's website.
Philadelphia Magazine has reporters who do fantastic city magazine journalism, and I've heard that people close to the publication are not happy about this particular trolling expedition. Philadelphia Magazine can sometimes not help but to brazenly stroke the fragile if well-resourced egos of its elite readership--and, and on its worst days, stoke their pathetic prejudices and insecurities too.
(Their article is not online yet. But if it were I'm not sure I would assist in driving traffic their way by linking.)
[Thanks to @laurencetom for the image above.]
- Im surprised that you could write that much all while saying nothing.
— hipdaddy - I am more than happy to discuss "how the inner city needs to get its act together" when white people are willing to discuss the reality of "white privilege". There seems to be this unwillingness to except systemic racism as a reality. NOT an excuse - but a reality. And there continues to be an ongoing narrative about 'what black people are, and what black people stand for' that is steeped in negative stereotypes, while downright refusing to accept and acknowledge that African Americans continue to make impacts in the industries of technology, public health, mathematics, government, energy, media, and the list goes on. There is an outright refusal to acknowledge that the young man sitting on this porch smoking weed does NOT represent an entire culture of individuals. Why is that so hard for white people to accept? Daniel, this article is appreciated. And this battle continues.— BrownstonePR
- OK lets discuss. First off I can see you point of view. You feel as though youre more classified as that guy on the porch smoking weed and not the educated one that leads advances in your field. My contention isnt with guys like you. I see guys like you everyday and youre one and the same as us all. You are self-respecting and responsible.
As a white, I dont feel a privilege but I can see how in your eyes its there. I can tell you for certain that Ive earned everything that I have. Ive even been passed up in my career to elevate blacks to fill quotas. Having the experience and connections and yet being told to "wait it out" isnt much of a privilege in my eyes.
My questions to you, and answer truthfully, are what can be done to change the culture of inner city blacks to one that has a self respect for advancing themselves beyond the ghetto? One that wants to clean their neighborhoods and look out for each other? Are your community leaders really leaders? You see from my point of view, black criminals control and dictate the current generation. This attitude that America will not allow us to succeed so must fight the fight, when all I see are programs, funding, college assistance that give the youth the tools that they need.
Im interested in your response.— hipdaddy - So an example of your white privilege and prejudice is that you assume you have worked for everything you have, but the Blacks in your company only advanced through a quota. Did you ever think they possess skills that you do not? Also why is there so much focus on inner city Blacks and not their poor White counterparts in Kensington and South Philly — BLKMD
- BLKMD - Good question to ask. I fully acknowledge blacks in my field that are more skilled and educated then I. Have more passion and make more sacrifices. But Heres the answer to my example of reverse racism quotas: a 22 year old man with no experience or education in the field they advanced him in, was put through the managerial program and as I got to know him even he acknowledged the quota. He told me how uncomfortable he was advancing with those around him more qualified but he did whats best for him. As would I. Meanwhile my income and career was put on hold for 10 months to make it so. Hes an example of how whites are made to take a backseat towards black advancement when there isnt enough black applicants who are skilled for the position but a quota must be meet. Thats business i'm told. — hipdaddy
- But once again you (and even more concerning the Black applicant) dismiss the added skills that he has. Promoting diversity is not just about making the company feel good. There are economic gains that come from a workforce with different cultural and social backgrounds. A company is in the business of making money not of making people feel good. — BLKMD
- BLK - He had no skills for the job. He applied for upward mobility with no field experience. He went into an 18 week "assistant" program to learn the field that he was entering. Meanwhile as I stated, I was told on the side by the man in charge, with an eye roll, to "wait it out". Now does that sound like a white privilege to anyone? — hipdaddy
- Gee, hipdaddy, do you think we could have a discussion about how many highly experienced and educated WOMEN were told to train some wet-behind-the-ears, just-graduated-from-college and-related-to-the-boss white kid to be their better-paid supervisor? This is indeed white male privilege. — Susie from Philly
- Aside from the American Indian, the one ethnic group that since the onslaught of the Industrial Revolution, has had it worse (in every way almost) than the American Black...aside from that, the discrimination of women offers a fair perspective on all discrimination....When I was a child there were no women SEPTA (PTC) bus drivers. — Cuddles
- Susie...Get over yourself...This isn't 1972. More females now attend college than males. Besides are white men supposed to flog themselves from here to eternity simply because they were born of a particular race and gender? — denphil0503
- To this day there is a palatable resentment from Suburban high school educated males against Urban college educated females. This is a huge factor in the attack on Urban Public Education.
Sadly another insight into this phenomenon is Anne Frank. Of course the argument would be that it isn't 1945...But then that's what they said in 1985.— Cuddles - hipdaddy mr law enforcement man, get some prescription glasses because although your individual comments have truth and validity, especially with respect to your leadership observation ( look at how Bill Cosby was so criticized for making the very same public observations ), the underlying problems and defective thinking processing and behavioral choices are not driven because of skin color.— zen
- Correct. Your skin color does not define who you are and what choices you make. Your upbringing and teachings do. And that comes from your home and your neighborhood.
In the Phillymag article, an interviewee describes a story of how little black kids come undressed at halloween to a better neighborhood for candy. I had the same experience at my home. Little black kids from the nearby projects with no costumes and they were using their pillowcases as bags. Its not their fault at all. Its the parents that dont instill in them self esteem and respect. They dont engage in their childs lives and direct them towards success. The only way these inner city kids see respect is from rappers like Lil Wayne and T.I. that demand respect. They just throw them out the door and into the world with no skills.— hipdaddy - Really, not wearing a costume for Halloween is an indication of self esteem and respect? Economics could explain this. Now if they were rude, barged into the house, called the candy giver names, and did not say thank you, that would indicate a problem of upbringing. — BLKMD
- Again you're not looking at the problem, just covering it with excuses. Thats the whole point of this article. These kids are not brought up with care and rules. They are neglected by their parent. No family structure and a me first attitude. Its a sad sight to watch white parents grab their kids at the Please Touch Museum when a bus load of inner city kids arrive. They all come running in pushing everyone out of the way. No respect or manners. Just me first. Id bust my kids up if they acted like these kids. But they dont know any better because nobody is teaching them. — hipdaddy
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