Being white in Philly: A Discussion of the Philadelphia Magazine article (York: crimes, how much)

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by 2e1m5a

Whites in Fairmount are not exactly "middle class" and poor blacks in NP are not representative of all blacks in the city.

Yeah. I was trying to reconcile these two statements.

I went to the northern edge, close to Girard Avenue, generally considered the dividing line from North Philly, and began asking the mostly middle-class white people who live there, for whom race is an everyday issue, how it affects them.

On a warm Sunday in October, I buttonhole a woman I’ll call Anna, a tall, slim, dark-haired beauty from Moscow getting out of her BMW on an alley just south of Girard College. Anna goes to a local law school, works downtown at a law firm, and proceeds to let me have it when we start talking about race in her neighborhood.

Anyone driving a BMW in Philly and attending law school is not "middle class." Especially if she's a smoking hot Russian chick named "Anna" (who is more than likely getting an Ivy League education at Penn). What the hell was he smoking? And what is up with the emphasis on her physical appearance?

[rotodome]

"middle class" is the most nebulous term in america right now; and not coincidentally, the truth is that the actual middle class is getting scarce.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by rotodome

"middle class" is the most nebulous term in america right now; and not coincidentally, the truth is that the actual middle class is getting scarce.

I was reading something where it said that most people, irrespective of income, view themselves as being "middle class." If you talk to a lot of people in New York, the conversation often goes like, "So bonuses were waaaaay too low this year. You can't live comfortably in this city on less than $400,000 a year. It's clear that Bloomberg hates the middle class!" They evidently put themselves in this category of people that Bloomberg "hates" even though their $340,000 of combined income puts them in a completely different stratosphere than 98 percent of Americans.

In this guy's case, "middle class" apparently means people who drive BMWs and have law degrees. People like him, I suppose.

[2e1m5a]

Originally Posted by rotodome

"middle class" is the most nebulous term in america right now; and not coincidentally, the truth is that the actual middle class is getting scarce.

Very true. Jobs that actually produce things have been rapidly decreasing since Reagan. Nothing has been done to stop the loss of these jobs since it has mainly been minorities in deindustrialized inner cities that have been hurt the most and large transnational corporations that have benefited the most.

Now the effects of these continuous job losses are more far-reaching and quickly eating away at the Middle Class. I guess shouting "Middle Class Middle Class" over and over and everyone claiming to belong to this "Middle Class" distracts people from the fact that maybe it doesn't even exist anymore.


"You know it is a topsy-turvy World where jobs are represented as the effect, not the cause, of wealth"
-Alain Supiot

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

I was reading something where it said that most people, irrespective of income, view themselves as being "middle class." If you talk to a lot of people in New York, the conversation often goes like, "So bonuses were waaaaay too low this year. You can't live comfortably in this city on less than $400,000 a year. It's clear that Bloomberg hates the middle class!" They evidently put themselves in this category of people that Bloomberg "hates" even though their $340,000 of combined income puts them in a completely different stratosphere than 98 percent of Americans.

In this guy's case, "middle class" apparently means people who drive BMWs and have law degrees. People like him, I suppose.

To be fair, that's a different stratosphere than 98% of New Yorkers as well.

(In NYC:
Top 1% = 1/3 of all income, 35,000 tax filers making an average of $2 million each.
Bottom 99% = 2/3 of all income = 3.5 million filers making an average of $47K. )

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

Being White in Philly | Philadelphia magazine


Interesting.. And there are those who say that Temple is safe..


Basically.. The whites are moving to the burbs.. The city is turning into a black city..

Frank why are you acting like "White Flight" is some new phenomenon. Almost all major cities across the country are becoming more racially diverse. As for being a black city I will agree that the black percentage of the city did increase but they are not one monolithic group. You can't forget that there are African and Black Caribbean immigrants that are moving into Philadelphia as well.

A lot of the Philly suburbs are becoming more racially diverse as well. The days of having very populated suburban towns with over a 95% white population are not as common as they used to be. Do you have some sort of issue with diversity Frank? Is there something you really want to tell us?

[frankgn87]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

Frank why are you acting like "White Flight" is some new phenomenon. Almost all major cities across the country are becoming more racially diverse. As for being a black city I will agree that the black percentage of the city did increase but they are not one monolithic group. You can't forget that there are African and Black Caribbean immigrants that are moving into Philadelphia as well.

A lot of the Philly suburbs are becoming more racially diverse as well. The days of having very populated suburban towns with over a 95% white population are not as common as they used to be. Do you have some sort of issue with diversity Frank? Is there something you really want to tell us?

huh. Im not acting like anything.. I was giving ya a gist of the story in one line

Don't ASSume anything about me..

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

huh. Im not acting like anything.. I was giving ya a gist of the story in one line

Don't ASSume anything about me..

Just asking that's all. I know people sometimes have hidden agendas when they do topics like this.

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

The whites are moving to the burbs.. The city is turning into a black city..

I don't get the point. Is this bad Frank?

Philly is far from unique in the aspect of becoming more diverse: "Many cities in the United States became majority-minority by 2010. Out of the cities that had a peak population of 500,000 or more before 1990, the cities that fit into this category include Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Washington D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo, New York City, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, and San Antonio." Majority minority - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Looks like all the Top 10 are listed. It would seem very odd if this Philly were not experiencing the same phenomenon. The fact that Philly mag is just discovering this would indicate they are not exactly a good source for "breaking news."

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

huh. Im not acting like anything.. I was giving ya a gist of the story in one line

Don't ASSume anything about me..

Your gist of the story, with all due respect, is not altogether accurate. As I said earlier, while the overall white population continues to decline, the black population is stable while other racial/ethnic groups have increased. Philadelphia is not becoming a "black city" but rather a more multicultural city. This is typical of most major cities.*



*Washington DC is an exception to this "rule" but that's a story for another thread and forum.