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The below video shows Milan Loncar, a white man and recent Temple University graduate, shot & killed while walking his dog in Philadelphia.
Those circumstances are important to note because they recall 2013’s “Being White in Philly” controversy.
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Those circumstances are important to note because they recall 2013’s “Being White in Philly” controversy.
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2. In 2013, Philadelphia Magazine published an article entitled “Being White in Philly”. The article focused on black-and-white interactions in the city, particularly around Temple University. It included the line:
“Temple students are prime prey, the cop says.”
“Temple students are prime prey, the cop says.”
3. The article on the whole wasn’t incendiary. It was mainly white people sharing stories of how their intent was misconstrued, and how they then overcompensated to avoid that again.
It was the “honest conversation on race” we’re implored to have, but...
It was the “honest conversation on race” we’re implored to have, but...
4. The article set off outrage.
Then Philadelphia Mayor Nutter called for an investigation, not into the crimes mentioned in the article, but into the magazine and author for daring to print it.
The message: certain voices should not be heard in the “honest conversation”.
Then Philadelphia Mayor Nutter called for an investigation, not into the crimes mentioned in the article, but into the magazine and author for daring to print it.
The message: certain voices should not be heard in the “honest conversation”.
5. Why was “Being White in Philly” treated as hate speech to be suppressed by government when hundreds of comparable “Being Black in America” articles have been published before and since then and forwarded by politicians as a topic we must address?
6. The message to black people in “Being Black in America” articles is be cautious.
Perhaps Milan Loncar and others like him would still be alive if that message about his neighborhood was allowed to be published without being treated as hate speech.
Perhaps Milan Loncar and others like him would still be alive if that message about his neighborhood was allowed to be published without being treated as hate speech.
7. That stark difference in how politicians and media treat comparable situations leads to rightful resentment and a growing despair that there will never be that “honest conversation on race in America.”
RIP Milan. National media is too busy covering Miya Ponsetto to cover you.
RIP Milan. National media is too busy covering Miya Ponsetto to cover you.
