Event organized to enlighten those behind Philly Mag's 'Being White in Philly' piece
Organizers hope Philadelphians of all races will turn out next week for an event at Love Park called "Being in Philly." The gathering, scheduled for 4 p.m. on March 20, is in response to a controversial Philadelphia magazine cover story called "Being White In Philly." In the piece, based on anonymous interviews, Ron Huber makes the claim that white people are afraid to talk about race for fear of being called racist.
Event organized to enlighten those behind Philly Mag's 'Being White in Philly' piece
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
UPDATE: The Being in Philly event has been postponed due to possibily inclement weather.
Organizers hope Philadelphians of all races will turn out next week for an event at Love Park called “Being in Philly.” The gathering, scheduled for 4 p.m. on March 20, is in response to a controversial Philadelphia magazine cover story called “Being White In Philly.” In the piece, based on anonymous interviews, Robert Huber makes the claim that white people are afraid to talk about race for fear of being called racist.
The article has a lot of problems, many of them well documented already. But the first-day-of-spring event isn’t so much to address the issue of bad journalism but to present another view of what’s happening in Philly.
“The goal is to have an intellectual dialogue and discourse that promotes a positive outcome and interactive cultural understanding,” Chris Norris, a lead organizer, told me last week.
Organizers also hope to bring Huber, the author of ‘Being White in Philly,’ to Love Park to introduce him around.
“To introduce him to organizations like Rising Sons and to introduce him to the Black Male Engagement Project that the Knight Foundation is spending millions and millions of dollars on to change the narrative in this city and Baltimore and Detroit. To introduce him to people like Gregory Walker (founder of the Brothers Network)…Gregory Corbin and Solomon Jones. That’s the goal. Not to make him feel scared, to make him feel like there’s going to be an angry black mob waiting for him. That there’s going to be intellectual black men waiting with open arms to embrace him because, hey, he needs a hug. “
Organizers hope Philly mag will respond by writing some sort of piece of follow up to Huber’s piece.
“We want to encourage Philly magazine to write a part 2 (called) being a Philadelphian. Not being white. Not being black. But being a Philadelphian. That’s really important,” pointed out Rashaun Williams, 18, a Temple University sociology and history major who's helping organize the gathering.
In addition to all that, organizers say there will be free musical performances and a water ice giveaway. Editors at Philly mag also have been invited.
- Haha!
— Doyoumissbushyet? - Is the basic premise of the article have a lot of validity? Sure it does. What it a really well-written article that relied upon facts and other stats along a really comprehensive series of detailed interviews of various whites living in Philly? No it was an article written to generate attention to a magazine that has been flailing badly and it did just that.
I'm white and moved back to Philly a few years ago and it amazes me how little has changed. Everyone is still in viewed through the prism of black-white relations which just isn't remotely the case in a lot of other parts of the country today due to demographic changes.— PhillyGuy77 - i didn't notice a single thing untrue in that article. blacks are so much more racist than whites its become laughable, especially in philly. I've never met a more hostile or unwelcoming group of people in my life. but hey, at least they contribute to society right?— thomas21
- Liberal: "We need to have an open, honest discussion about race." White person: "Ok, here are some things I've been thinking about." Liberal: "Shut up."— b,ill a,tkins
- If the bad journalists are complaining about "bad journalism", Huber hit the mark.— rudytbone
- The problem with liberals is that they want to feel that they are good people without doing anything good. The facts are that so many hardworking and honorable African Americans are being held hostage by a culturally deprived underclass of irresponsible criminals who produce children but don't raise them. I remember when Bill Cosby began his TV show that portrayed a closeknit and loving African American family. Bill played the role of a physician, his wife was a lawyer and his children were all good kids who cared about school. The initial reviews by the white liberal critics criticized Cosby for acting in a white show and not being authentic. Fortunately, Cosby is an intelligent man who answered their attacks with wisdom and in effect, told them to shut up. He asked them why they thought it was wrong to portray a black family as loving, intelligent, and responsible and they had no answer.— Drumgoole
I've lived in Center City over 20 years, don't own a car so I've ridden the EL, taught at WPHS, and worked for the city. I've also lived in two other major US cities (E and W coast) and I'm white. There is something wrong with Philadelphia and it's attitude. Lot's of educated folks who move here from elsewhere say the same thing. It's not really ethnicity that's the problem. Many YOkels are obsessed by class and this morphs into a kind of bigotry -- it's stunning and like something from an earlier era. Some of the dumbest, scariest people I've ever met in my life are white Philadelphians. I found Mummer's day scarier than walking through the Greek picnic traffic jams.
No ethnic group has an exclusive on bad behavior, but you white residents are way off base to think that your black counterparts are any worse.
phunnyphilly.wordpress.com— InNane- Hello. What world do you live in?
Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder,
and eight times more likely to commit robbery.
• When blacks commit crimes of violence, they are nearly three times more likely
than non-blacks to use a gun, and more than twice as likely to use a knife.
• Hispanics commit violent crimes at roughly three times the white rate, and
Asians commit violent crimes at about one quarter the white rate.
• The single best indicator of violent crime levels in an area is the percentage of
the population that is black and Hispanic.— Gone Sovereign - Hello. What world do you live in? Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder,and eight times more likely to commit robbery.• When blacks commit crimes of violence, they are nearly three times more likelythan non-blacks to use a gun, and more than twice as likely to use a knife.• Hispanics commit violent crimes at roughly three times the white rate, andAsians commit violent crimes at about one quarter the white rate.• The single best indicator of violent crime levels in an area is the percentage ofthe population that is black and Hispanic. (HTML deleted) — Gone Sovereign
- You are spot-on InNane. There are two groups of whites in Philadelphia--those who are educated, open minded and are moving to Philadelphia in droves, and the somewhat bitter and openly racist ones who are best represented by the Mummers. Everything is viewed in their perspective from a black-white spectrum. Although you can read post after post complaining about black crime, few of them have been affected by it--far more are affected by the regular alcoholic murders which occur in their own neighborhoods--remember poor Kimberly Ernest? The vast majority of black crime is committed against blacks--a terrible thing, but is nothing that affects the complainers here. Yet since the fall of Frank Rizzo and what he represented (not a good thing), these people do nothing but complain, usually in the refrain that the "bruthas and sistas" are now in charge. Those who live in the many mixed racial areas of Philadelphia such as Northwest and University City see things much differently. Again, demographics speak for themselves and whites are moving into Philadelphia at an increasing rate---they are not moving out. — Palestra Jon
- Of the nearly 770,000 violent interracial crimes committed every year involving
blacks and whites, blacks commit 85 percent and whites commit 15 percent.
• Blacks commit more violent crime against whites than against blacks. Fortyfive
percent of their victims are white, 43 percent are black, and 10 percent are
Hispanic. When whites commit violent crime, only three percent of their victims are
black.
• Blacks are an estimated 39 times more likely to commit a violent crime against
a white than vice versa, and 136 times more likely to commit robbery.
• Blacks are 2.25 times more likely to commit officially-designated hate crimes
against whites than vice versa.
Nice try Jon dont let the facts get in the way.— Gone Sovereign - Nothing like printing verbatim without attribution a quote from a right wing blog that has nothing to do with Philadelphia. (here's where this is from: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2871054/posts) Let's simply make up facts, in other words. The FACTS are that in Philadelphia, 90% of murders are black on black. It's all drug related and those whites who participate in the drug trade get their share. Non-drug related murder and personal crime is pretty low in Philadelphia, believe it or not. I would venture to guess that few if any of the posters have been the victim of violent crime. If they have, the overwhelming likelihood is that they knew their attacker. It wasn't crime that caused virtually all the whites in the lower Northeast, and Elmwood and the Southwest to move out---it was racist fears and redlining by corrupt real estate brokers. Contrast that with the white in-movement to formerly minority areas such as Northern Liberties, Fairmount/Girard, Point Breeze, as well as the continued in-migration to Center City, South Philly, University City and Mount Airy and what becomes apparent is that all whites are not the same. Those terrified of living with black people will leave, but the City is better off for it. — Palestra Jon
- And what Fact was'nt correct? Thats what I thought. You are right 90% of the murders in Philly are black on black. You cant dispute the fact that blacks target whites way more then whites target blacks yet the media will have you believe that most interracial crimes are white on black. — Gone Sovereign
- You're right. It's a class thing. I was raised in an upper middle class suburb. There were black families, but they were like us - educated, employed, comfortable. When I moved into the city 25 years ago, it was a major culture shock. It took me a long time to reconcile that I'm intolerant of low-class behavior not racist. — PotteryPete
- That Miss. Janice got a fivehead.— Lil Tyreese Biggums
Read more from Jenice Armstrong at Earth to Philly, the Daily News blog on anything and everything "Green."
Reach Jenice at armstrj@phillynews.com.
