Comments for Philadelphia Negro

Comment on You Can’t Come Home Again by bars window

bars window — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:56:52 +0000

bars window…

Great post!…

Comment on The Last Liberal by Grayson Morris

Grayson Morris — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:43:40 +0000

Darryl, I found your blog link on your FB profile and have enjoyed reading your last six or so posts. You have a gift for writing! And I like your broad swath of topics. I’ll be back!

Comment on The Last Liberal by Marybeth Gasman

Marybeth Gasman — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:06:44 +0000

Sounds familiar (smile) but I love it anyway!

Comment on The Last Liberal by Chap

Chap — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:39:06 +0000

High expectations yield high results. They’re good enough; we need people to push us. Ignoring a canon because it doesn’t fit an identity group is a source of stupidity; people used to read books in Greek not because they were from Athens, but because Thucydides said stuff thousands of years ago about the human condition that still hold true.

Push on, and I’ll do the same in my field of work.

Comment on Morehouse Man In The Mirror by historiann

historiann — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:46:59 +0000

Philadelphia Negro–good post. Thanks for working through some of these issues for us. Did Morehouse include the no-cross-dressing clause in their new policy as a strategy to target gay men or trans women on campus? There are a LOT of men who like women who engage in transvestism, and many American fraternities have traditions of transvesting in performances and to elicit laughs and/or engage in misogyny. Without understanding more about the Morehouse environment, it’s hard to understand completely what this policy was aimed at and what its effects will be.

This dress code certainly draws attention to shifting definitions of the “Morehouse Man,” which as you suggest carries a powerful mystique. Must one be a straight, cis-gendered man to be a “Morehouse Man?” Can one be simultaneously a Morehouse Man and a trans woman? (I would say why not, but it’s interesting to think about how a trans woman would explain her resume to future employers!) Does the presence of trans students destabilize the concept of single-sex education? (I ask this as a Bryn Mawr grad myself!)

Comment on Morehouse Man In The Mirror by Cobb

Cobb — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:20:20 +0000

Morehouse should not submit to the shallow temptation which associates character with style. Nor should the students in question. With the emphasis on character and education any dress code should be nothing more or less than the conventions of society, which in fact they are.

The only real controversy here is that Morehouse ha declared itself out of step with the shallow Progressive and multicultural dicta that ‘the personal is political’. By establishing convention as their standard theyhave not made themselves conservative but anti-radical and that is a prescription radicals find distasteful.

Comment on Little Barry Gets A Gold Star by Marybeth Gasman

Marybeth Gasman — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:16:09 +0000

“Hard work, sacrifice, and determination are dismissed as unnecessary or even foolish.”

I think that Obama has demonstrated all of these traits more than most human beings. I wonder how many of the rest of us have? Hmmmmm….

Good post nonetheless — I just don’t agree with you friend.

Comment on Little Barry Gets A Gold Star by Hubert

Hubert — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:35:33 +0000

Very good, Darryl !

Comment on You Can’t Come Home Again by Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:15:38 +0000

I find it disheartening that you chose only one side of this. You are both black and law abiding. This was hardly the “stereotypical” black man-whatever you define him to be-this was a rich jackass of a professor who should NOT have been arrested. But I, as a law abiding citizen, must ask why the hell wouldn’t you just obey the officers’ commands? If you approach waving about and yelling you will be defused in whatever manner necessary. End of story. The officers were called there by his neighbor. The officers didn’t just happen by. What does his race have to do with this? The officer overreacted. But officers must unfortunately carry this chip on their shoulder. Their lives depend on it. This gentleman’s ego was the only thing he has to depend on.

Black is the same old Black?? That is disheartening to say the least. Don’t fall on your sword and say its societies fault. I know you can do better than that. You’re smarter than that. And people of color are all that America is-there is no more “White Majority”. We as a nation are blessed to be transformed into multi colored by our neighbors. Even the ones that want to unlock their doors.

Comment on Land of the Lost by Janice Foss

Janice Foss — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:22:24 +0000

….”However, they have also exhibited some of the less favorable traits of the Pakuni: a profound reluctance to defy group (or parental) expectations, a suspicion of new ideas that challenge established systems of belief, and a selfishness that is too often promoted and rewarded by society”

First, I would like to say – how sad. How sad that a different analogy than “Pakuni” could not have been used. Taken in the most positive, open vein, this statement still reeks. Had a white person stated this, even the author of this article would have been up in arms. My question is, when will people like the author of this article get out of the racist stronghold thinking that has perpetuated in America? When will we evolve?

I know you needed to fit the students into your “Land of the Lost” analogy, but please, – stop. Stop for the sake of my son and all of his peers who are doing GREAT things at his HBCU. Take a look at the 2008-2009 Howard University “Whos Who” section and read the “out of the box” tremendous endeavors that these students have engaged in and will continue to engage in. Are they “Pakuni?” This can be stated for all the HBCUs.

Your article seeks to stir up people, but it is generalized and can be applied to any institution of any color. My question to you is “what are you doing to make a difference in the institutions that you are criticizing?” If you are not part of the solution, you are DEFINITELY part of the problem.

Readers, don’t believe the hype. Critical dialogue is always welcome and engagement to improve institutions is always needed; but when we have derogatory generalized statements about our kids coming out of an educated man’s mind, we have to stop and certainly not drink the kool-aid in any shape, form, or fashion. These kids are in college, would we prefer that they stay in the hood or seek quick money? Calibrate your criticism author.