More than once CNN has reported - or suggested - that this mayoral race is, in fact, about black and white voters. Moreover, the anchors and reporters say, Philadelphia is considered one of the most racially divided cities in the country.

Is this true? ... Or is this a situation where the national media has a certain view of this city based on shallow research, or poor communications coming from the city?

We've had similar discussions on this board before, so I'd be interested in what everyone thinks of this relative to the curent FBI probe, mayoral race, etc.

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* Name: Jennifer Kronstain
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It's about party affiliation, not race. Too many dems would never vote for a Rep.

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Jason
Lynn Swann 06'

"Individualism is absent when other peoples' standards, not reality and reason, are ones primary guide."

I tend to agree, and have written in to CNN many times in recent days and weeks, since its been covering the FBI investigation, saying that I thought they were mis-representing the city's mores and composition becuase they never substantiated those claims with numbers or quotes from people on the street even. They interviewed an Inquirer reporter today, intro-ing with the same notion again - that race is the motivating factor behind people's voting behavior -and that prompted me to post this.

Would be interested to know others' thoughts.

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Jennifer,

If recent polls, such as the one in Sunday's edition of The Inquirer (http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/7045933.htm), are accurate, it would certainly appear that in Philadelphia politics, race is a divisive issue.

I believe this is a sad commentary on our region, yet I suspect that the racial/cultural rift is one that extends far beyond our region and across our nation. While the insidious evil of racism (of any variety) seems to have gone underground in many ways, it is a real concern, around which we need to seek healing and reconciliation. Race relations and cultural understanding (or lack thereof) would seem to be a very important deciding factor for many voters.

I hope that we can all unite around common issues and goals such as improving the quality of life for all people in our city. We need to stop seeing cultural and ethnic differences as a barrier, and instead celebrate our diversity and commitment to making our region a better place to live, work, and visit.

Peace,

John

I tend to think that black people are more likely to vote for a candidate because of his color. How many white people do you hear saying Street hasn't done anything for the white community? People dislike Street because he's a bad mayor, person, leader. Some people dislike Katz because he hasn't done anything for the black community. That attitude is divisive. Like many people here have said, what's good for Philadelphia is good for ALL Philadelphians.

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Jason
Lynn Swann 06'

"Individualism is absent when other peoples' standards, not reality and reason, are ones primary guide."

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy: Now that the Democrats and the media are screaming on a daily basis about how it's about race, guess what? It's about race.

Katz is still taking the high road on this, trying to make it clear that these are just divisive tactics. But I don't know if anybody is listening. Man, am I sick of newspaper columnists & reporters acting as though there was never any substance to this campaign. These are people who clearly never once went to hear Katz actually speak somewhere. They're basing all their reporting on assumptions of how the election was supposed to happen. And, if you repeat something enough, people start to believe it, so now the campaign is unfolding in the sordid, sensationalist way the media obviously wanted it to. It just goes to show that their interest in this is NOT the public good.

This campaign is about race, or at least it has become about race. Especially now with the likes of Fattah and White up there dealing out race cards like they were going out of style. It's another divisive trick by the Democratic party to sway away from the issues. They're doing it on the national level with their Bush bashing. Why wouldn't they do it here on the local level with the race card? It's called trash politics. It's an easy way to stay away from the issues at hand. On the national level it will help the Republicans. I pray it doesn't, but I know it will. Here in this city, it will help the Democrats. Again, I pray it doesn't, but I know it will. It's a shame it's come down to this, cause I believe in the Katz vision for Philadelphia. But unless something drastic happens, we'll see another 4 years of John F. Street as our mayor.

You can try to get the word out, but you'd be preaching to the choir. Those who stand behind Street are not budging. The only way is to pick up undecided voters and steal some Hispanic, Asian and white (and everything in-between) votes.

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CafeParents.com

Race is a demographic and cultural factor that both Democrats AND Republicans amplify and use to try to sway and influence voters. I have voted for both Democrats and Republicans in previous elections- based hopefully on substantive issues like quality of life concerns, education, and a good balance of fiscal solvency and provision of needed services.

I would like to respond from my perspective to a couple of your comments IMPAQ:

...

Sadly, I must agree that race has played a larger role in the mayoral campaign than it should. This is true from BOTH campaigns, however. Mr. Katz began the cries of ethnic discrimination by accusing the Street campaign of engaging in ethnic intimidation of Jewish business associates who support Katz.

Mr. Street has also suggested that ethnicity is a factor in the conveniently timed FBI investigation of alleged (although as of yet unsubstantiated) improprieties in Mr. Street's administration and financial dealings as mayor.

Thus, BOTH candidates have cried ethnic discrimination/intimidation, or whatever label you wish to use.

I am not entirely sure who you are referring to by "they" but my suspicion is that you are referring to the Democratic Party or certain Democrats. I would remind you, however, that Mr. Bush and his associates are doing a good bit of finger-pointing at their political opponents at every opportunity they get as well.

Engaging in dialogue and reponse around opposing points of view is what makes for a lively democracy.

If you are referring to race or ethnic baiting to sway votes, I agree, but unfortunately both candidates have resorted to this tactic during this campaign.

Isn't it also convenient that a federal investigation of Mr. Street pops up just weeks before a divisive mayoral election?? Where is the evidence? Where is Mr. Katz's accountability for his shady business dealings that have resulted in him being sued by his former partners?

I don't know the answers to either of these questions, but I think it shows that both candidates have a few skeletons in their closets. The question of the day for me is, who will do a better job of making Philadelphia a better place to live?

Mr. Katz does claim to have a vision for improving the city, but in order to cut the city budget by the amount he is proposing, he would have to cut vital services. He has not outlined to my satisfaction how he would accomplish this, while improving our city and addressing areas of concern such as supporting and improving education for all Philadelphia children and families- not just those who can afford private schools.

Street needs to also be more clear about his specific initiatives for improving Philadelphia, but I believe he also has a vision for change.
I would like to hear more from both campaigns about how their candidate will improve our city, instead of just pointing fingers and saying that other guy isn't the answer, I am.

Peace,

John

That's Street's favorite quote. :wink:

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Jason
Lynn Swann 06'

"Individualism is absent when other peoples' standards, not reality and reason, are ones primary guide."

This campaign, and the one before it, is partly about race. When polls show that the overwhelming majority of whites and blacks are voting for the white and black candidate, respectively, that is clear. What is not clear though is why. I don’t think the actual campaigns have generated this, but years of racial tensions and mistrust in the City. While in theory what is good for Philadelphia is good for all Philadelphians sounds real good, in practice people have a really hard time seeing it that way because it usually doesn’t end up that way. One groups gets more than another. It is the same argument made for (lack of)regional cooperation.

Is it wrong for the labor unions to vote against Street because he hasn’t done much for labor? Or women’s groups to endorse a candidate they believe will be more sympathetic towards women’s issues? We probably don’t think so because these are considered legitimate constituencies, with their own issues and challenges. Black people, as a group, also have our own issues and challenges that we believe are because of our race. We want a candidate that we believe will be most sympathetic to our issues. Black Philadelphians have different issues than white Philadelphians, considering we live in different neighborhoods, have different economic issues, send our kids to different schools. Voting based on your issues is not divisive – it’s common sense.

That being said, I think black people tend to be more conscious of our use of color (and gender) as an indicator of who is more sympathetic. White people do the same, but are often less conscious of their thought process. People in general tend to gravitate towards those who look like us as more likely to have more in common with us. You can look at any college campus to see that my previous two sentences are true. Take Penn, for example. Dorms are highly segregated, and white students often complain about the one college house on campus in which many black people (and other cultures) live. Very rarely do those same white students recognize that they also choose to self-segregate in the other dorms on campus historically known for being white. White students traditionally join white frats and sororities, and participate in white clubs. Blacks and whites do this equally, but blacks are much more aware that they are doing it than white people.

Given all this, studies have been done that show that black people in all professions are more likely to do specific acts that specifically help the black community (I can site to studies if you like), which, as I already stated, have different issues and concerns than white communities. All other things being equal, if I know that a black person, just by virtue of being black is more likely to do more for me than a white person, why should I not support that person? In addition, in this race all things are not equal, with Sam Katz being seen as a person who only cared about black people when he began to run for office, and who virtually ignored black people the first time around. If we are all voting in our own self interests as we see them , then it makes perfect sense that this race is turning out as it is.