"The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it!"

Philadelphia Inquirer (philly.com) | 17 April 02 | Cynthia Burton

[Lancey Howard]

Philadelphia Mayor John Street Again Apologizes

By Cynthia Burton
Inquirer Staff Writer

Mayor Street stirred up debate with comments to the NAACP on Saturday.

A subdued Mayor Street apologized again today for his remark that "the brothers and sisters are running this city" but stuck to his pride about having helped African Americans attain important city jobs.

Speaking at the much-awaited swearing in of Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson at the Convention Center, Street softened his rhetoric, saying, "I am proud that the leadership of our administration represents the diversity of our great city."

That statement was delivered in a monotone, compared with his rousing, bring-the-crowd-to-its feet declaration Saturday at an NAACP convention here.

At that training conference before 700 people from up and down the East Coast, he had declared:

"The brothers and sisters are running the city. Oh, yes. The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it! Don't let nobody fool you, we are in charge of the City of Brotherly Love . . . We have lifted the glass ceiling . . . It never ceased to amaze me that there seemed not to be the opportunity in certain strategic places for people of color. You can't say that anymore."

But today, after two days in which many criticized those remarks as racially divisive, Street appeared somewhat chastened.

Asked if he thought his comments Saturday were a mistake, he said, "I don't know whether I made a mistake. All I know is if people are offended, I regret anybody being offended and I don't intentionally offend people."

He added that "anytime you say anything about race in this city, people's attention is gathered and sometimes in an unprecedented kind of way."

Contact Cynthia Burton at 215-854-5778 or
cburton@phillynews.com.

[Mo1]

Still a lot of yunkers there

LOL .. I haven't heard that term in a long time

[Mo1]

Check out post #98 .. he agrees with me .. SO THERE .. hehe

[Lancey Howard]

Yeah, Street started out as a hot dog vendor, with one of those carts. It was actually his brother Milton (whatever became of him?) who made all the headlines back then. Remember? The Street brothers orchestrated all kinds of hubub when city council sided with the storefront business who got tired of looking out their windows at the street vendors with their carts and so the city decided that since the vendors were using public sidewalks for their "business", they should be taxed just like the permanent businesses. The Street brothers went bananas.

[Lancey Howard]

Didn't Dougherty lose a whole lot of kids in 'Nam?

[TONEMAN]

I don't have numbers, and haven't been back there to see if there's any kind of a memorial, but a lot of my whitebread blue-collar running buddies didn't make it to be 21.

[Lancey Howard]

If I'm not mistaken, Dougherty lost more than any other single school in the country, and there is indeed a memorial.

[brat]

I was waiting for this! You've got to admit that for all its faults, Philly is the Food capitol of the USA! LOL You just made me hungry. I've lived all over the country and I'm a sucker for the advertized "Philly Cheese Steak". I've yet to taste one even close!

[mrustow]

Thanks for the heads-up.

[Calico Cat]

Was Street boasting, or was he issuing a warning to visitors? I'll take it as a warning.

[dougherty]

The brothers and sisters are now running South Africa too, lol. Look at the fine job they've done to that place.

[wardaddy]

Show me one majority "brothers and sisters" city in the country..or for that matter the world where "they" are "running it" whereby the city is prospering and doing better than before....I'll be waiting. "They" have run my hometown into the ground.

Save your Bermuda suggestions.

[usadave]

"The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it!"

Not too racist of a statement, is it?

[dougherty]

If you changed the name to "Lee P. Brown" and changed the city to "Houston".... the story would still be true. Virtually every department head in Houston City Govt. is a "brother or sister".... including the Metro board president, police chief, public works, etc

True. And remember when the Asian Councilwoman complained about it? The hysterics and charges of 'racist' against her were oh so typical.

[Lancey Howard]

Well, one great example would be South Africa.
Under white rule, the place was a third world sewer of rampant crime, corruption, poverty, and despair. But now, under black rule, South Africa is a growing, prosperous, civilized country.
No, wait......

[Lancey Howard]

"The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it!"

As was already pointed out, the funniest (and most ironic) thing about this statement is that it is apparently said with pride, LOFL, just as 42 schools in Philly are to be taken over by the state.
A head-shakingly bizarre statement indeed.

[TheGrimReaper]

Yes; the hypocrisy runs deep at Houston's City Hall.