Philadelphia Mag: This is what's it's like to be White in Philly!

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Philadelphia Magazine wants you to know about being WHITE in Philly!

I came across this gem of an article. Thanks to my sweeties over at Clutch! Philadelphia Magazine published a story called “Being White in Philly,” in which writer Robert Huber attempts to capture the angst of race relations in the city from the perspective of whites. He claims that the objective of his article is to invite an honest conversation about race, writing:

“What gets examined publicly about race is generally one-dimensional, looked at almost exclusively from the perspective of people of color. Of course, it is Black people who have faced generations of discrimination and who deal with it still. But our public discourse ignores the fact that race—particularly in a place like Philadelphia—is also an issue for White people. Though White people never talk about it.

Everyone might have a race story, but few Whites risk the third-rail danger of speaking publicly about race, given the long, troubled history of race relations in this country and even more so in this city. Race is only talked about in a sanitized form, when it’s talked about at all, with actual thoughts and feelings buried, which only ups the ante. Race remains the elephant in the room, even on the absurd level of who holds the door to enter a convenience store.”

According to Huber, today’s political correct culture discourages whites from speaking up about how hard it is to mesh with people of color. He paints himself as courageous for publishing the “things that never get said.”

But those things are deplorably racist.

Huber’s interviews with anonymous sources paint blacks as criminals, thieves and drug dealers who are predisposed to violence and general bad behavior. The interviewees, who are all white, tell their sad tale of being victimized by the black people in their neighborhood. The only trait connecting the criminals the interviewees describe is the fact that they’re all black, which suggests that race is the reason they behave as badly as they do.

And that’s not all. Huber points out that blacks disproportionately populate the prison system, drop out of school and live in poverty, but never addresses the systematic racism behind it.

He fails to consider factors like class; though he briefly mentions there’s a black middle class, the article only addresses the behavior of black people who “live below the poverty line.” He never even acknowledges the obvious truth that actions of one, or even a group of black people, don’t represent the entire race.

Instead, he interviews several people who recount unfavorable experiences with blacks. Some describe being robbed while others lament giving black kids candy on Halloween when they didn’t even have the decency to dress up. Huber’s anecdotes communicate one strong message: how very hard it is for good-natured whites to live among blacks in Philadelphia.

Huber even interviews a law school student “Anna,” who says:

“Blacks use skin color as an excuse. Discrimination is an excuse, instead of moving forward. … It’s a shame—you pay taxes, they’re 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?”

There is no rebuttal to her obviously racist and offensive statement, nothing to contest the egregious claim that melanin alone might cause someone to spend all day smoking pot, having babies and failing to become a contributing member of society.

In fact, Huber appears to tip his hat to her, saying that her international background and absence of a “historical filter” informs her honesty or “raw view,” as he puts it. To make it plain, Anna has the balls to say what white people think about lazy, entitled, drug-abusing blacks because she doesn’t have to grapple with the guilt of slavery, which was a really long time ago by the way.

Huber might not call black people the “N-word” or rally against them with KKK supporters in the deep South, but he is just as racist. What’s scary and unsettling about Huber’s kind of racism is that it isn’t overt. The black people who Huber so selflessly held the door for at Wawa have no idea how he truly feels about their kind. His is the type of racism that might cause a person to follow accomplished actor Forest Whitaker through a deli, frisk him and accuse him of shoplifting, the kind that might lead a neighborhood watch volunteer to shoot and kill a teenager in a hoodie who had nothing more than candy and tea in his pockets.

Instead of coming from a place of openness and understanding, Huber was driven by fear and ignorance. In “Being White in Philly,” he tried to force a discussion about race relations by blaming black people; he implied that we’re the reason why white people can’t talk about race and why they can’t even feel safe in their gentrified city neighborhoods. If Huber’s race conversation will only consist of white people pointing the finger at us, excuse me if I sit this one out.

Watch the editor of Philadelphia Magazine try to explain himself to 6abc's Tamala Edwards on the program "Lead Story"

Speaking of the gentrified neighbourhoods can you imagine just less than 20 years ago some folks would have NEVER wanted to live in some Washington DC, Harlem, Baltimore and Philadelphia areas amongst other majority minority city limits! Now they are and want you to move away? So much for racial Harmony…HUH? 

He also posted his article on the site American Renaissance and just take a look of some the comments

Katherine McChesney

What a pack of lies. Blacks have always been violent...even in their original country their history is one of violence. Whites have done all we to lift them out of their violent lifestyle. Their crime causes their poverty. They rob businesses in their community. Then when the businesses close down or move,blacks scream 'racism'. These people will never be positive social humans...it's not in them to be peaceful or productive. Money thrown at them goes into a black hole.

saxonsun

The best thing we did--for them--was enslave them. For us, total disaster.

Svigor

Your race is a hindrance to mankind's progress. The universe would be better off without it.

I won’t go no further on this one!

So what do you think of Robert Huber’s article “Being White in Philly,” Chroniclers? SPEAK ON IT!