Posted on 03/19/2013 6:19:50 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
Philadelphia Magazine editor Tom McGrath and Robert Huber, author of the controversial "Being White in Philly" cover story, faced their critics at a forum Monday night at the National Constitution Center.
McGrath opened by saying he was sorry to anybody who was hurt by the article, because that was not his intent, but adding that he did not regret publishing the story in the March issue.
Huber told the packed auditorium of about 200 people that the purpose of the article was to explore "how white people relate to black people in the inner city, or don't relate to them."
In his piece, Huber wrote: "We need to bridge the conversational divide so that there are no longer two private dialogues in Philadelphia - white people talking to other whites, and black people to blacks - but a city in which it is OK to speak openly about race."
The story, however, was criticized as dwelling on negative experiences that whites had with blacks that often fit into racial stereotypes.
In a scathing letter, Mayor Nutter last week requested that the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission consider whether the magazine and Huber deserved to be rebuked for the article.
Nutter said Huber ignored positive anecdotes "to feed his own misguided perception" that African Americans are "lazy, shiftless, irresponsible, and largely criminal."
McGrath served as moderator for a panel that included Huber; journalists Solomon Jones and Christopher Norris; People's Emergency Center president Farah Jimenez; and University of Pennsylvania lecturer Walter Palmer, who teaches about racism and social change.
Jones ripped Philadelphia Magazine for what he said was the publication's history of racial insensitivity - a contention Nutter also raised in his letter.
"This is the most infuriating thing about it," Jones said. "I was not surprised."
Jimenez said Philadelphia Magazine, which has an all-white editorial staff, was not the right "messenger" for a story encouraging racial dialogue.
She also repeatedly said the magazine and its critics were confusing issues of race with problems associated with being poor.
Norris said that he understood the outrage over the article, but simply viewed the piece as the work of an older white man writing about his experience. Huber is 58.
When McGrath was questioned about his staff's lack of diversity, he replied, "I'm committed to having a more diverse staff," and, "I am committed to do something."
He also was asked why the magazine had a different cover for copies distributed to hotels and tourists. McGrath said it was a long-standing practice to use alternate covers when the main cover was controversial. He cited a cover that depicted a gun, saying a different cover was used for hotel copies.
The article was criticized for quoting people only by their first names, and one audience member questioned whether they were actual people.
McGrath said the magazine contacted everyone quoted in the story as part of its fact-checking process. "We are confident Bob did not make any of this up," McGrath said.
Several participants noted that Monday was the fifth anniversary of President Obama's famous Constitution Center speech on race, after his 2008 campaign was rocked by the Jeremiah Wright controversy.
While anger was directed at McGrath and Huber, there were several heated exchanges between some black audience members and black panelists about crime and personal responsibility in African American communities.
McGrath said the process of guiding the story to publication and the subsequent reaction was "enlightening to me."
I read a good part of the article and thought it was fair and honest.
The mayor is quick to launch an investigation into this article but does little when Black Panthers intimidate voters outside of one of his polling places.
The article wasn’t anywhere near controversial. In fact it did everything it could to balance out the realists with the “we can all get along” fools.
The furore over this very mild -- even timid -- article is illuminating.
The last thing the black leadership wants is a "dialogue on race". The "conversation" is to be one-sided only.
Blacks are disproportionally violent, racial and criminal.
There is NO 'misguided perception' on that.
Eric Holder said he wanted a national dialog on race.
Face the pc mindset, white people are not allowed to write about racial experiences that in any way reflect reality.
The development where I live is seeing similar problems as found in his article. The builder apparently marketed very heavily to blacks because the percentage is higher than surrounding communities. Some very nice families but there are also gang problems starting to appear.
“Face the pc mindset, white people are not allowed to write about racial experiences that in any way reflect reality.”
That’s right, so rather than have a “discussion” that is just a “reprimand”, they withdraw further (and are probably safer for doing so). I know white supervisors who won’t hire blacks because of the current legal environment; they take on Hispanics as their “quota” and don’t deal with “the grudge”.
Of course, if you just leave the word "frank" out of it, you can have the kind of "discussion" on the issue that the PC mindset demands.
Why would anybody in their right minds want to deal with inner city blacks?
That is what suburbs are for, right?
"In a scathing letter, Mayor Nutter last week requested that the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission consider whether the magazine and Huber deserved to be rebuked for the article."
This is what Nutter is trying to do: he is trying to encase anything said on behalf of what his adversaries say as being "hate speech," and therefore "unlawful" -- not just un-politically correct.
What Nutter and his New Black Panther Party cohorts need to start thinking about is the legitimate criticisms that have been placed before the public by Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Dr. Ben Carson, and Bill Cosby (to name a few) before he starts up the pure racism of his own opinions.
Nutter's attempt is to inject and escalate ebonicity above true mastery of the citizenship of a magistrate.
That is, he forgets his place, duties, and limitations as a mayor of all Philadelphians, not just those for whom melanin abundance is a stock in trade.
And you are right:
Here come those tears again, just as I was getting over them.
Someday, that news may just penetrate the collective thick skull of the Congressional Black Caucus, who are an "open borders" crowd.
Unlimited Hispanic "immigration" has resulted in 40% unemployment in many "inner cities." In addition to "jobs," the Hispanics are demanding and getting a growing piece of the welfare pie.
One wonders what it will take to open the eyes of the "plantation voters."
I recently moved down south, and I love the the black folk down here. They are respectful, cool and they’re fun to talk to.
I can sit on my lilly white honkey porch, and black people walk past and wave, stop in and pet my cat.
If people in Philadelphia have racist problems, I suggest you people find a porch and start a discussion. Maybe get yourself a cat, too.
I thought in my neck of the woods it would have been the brutal Newark schoolyard shootings a few years back (in which one of the Hispanic perps was illegal, and the black victims were blameless).
Hispanics are displacing blacks here in NJ demographically, politically, and economically. There is no resistance at all.
“If people in Philadelphia have racist problems, I suggest you people find a porch and start a discussion. Maybe get yourself a cat, too.”
That works up here until you touch on the topic of freebies (jobs and college seats for which they are unqualified, for example); that is where the discussion ends. I’ve had some deep conversations on race, with people from West Africa and the Caribbean; they are much more “American” in their outlook than the permanent welfare recipients we’ve been feeding for generations (and detest them as much as any other taxpayer would).
This really isn't totally about "race." It's about votes, too. Nutter isn't addressing white people, except perhaps to frighten them a bit more than they already are. He is firing up the Black base. Philadelphia (and other PA urban) Negroes + fraud carry the state every time.
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