By RE Vanella
I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my own failure in everyday life.
–George Orwell, ‘Why I Write’
….
I never thought much of Carron Phillips’ work at the News Journal during his tenure as Engagement Editor. I didn’t feel he was engaged. The whole gambit breaks down from there. We didn’t get much from him in the commentary department and actual News Journal editorial board positions on local issues were sporadic and bland.
Phillips did write a very memorable piece of commentary though and credit should be given when due. Last year he wrote a scathing criticism of our new mayor Michael S Purzycki. Phillips charged him with aloof arrogance and condescension. Defenses of the mayor were sharp and aggressive. I got the impression that most readers believed Phillips was out of line. My friends, he wasn’t.
So here’s what happened. My wife and I attended the Forty Acres Civic Association meeting the evening of Wednesday 27 September. I’d guess there were three-dozen people in the banquet room in Kid Shelleen’s. Notable attendees included councilman Bud Freel, State Representative Gerald Brady and a Chris Coons Wilmington staffer Andrew Dinsmore. The meeting was coordinated and run by our neighborhood chairwoman Tracey Schofield. After a brief review of the redevelopment of the shop and property at Delaware Av and Scott St (old Déjà vu shop will be a ladies boutique, FYI) Mayor Purzycki began his remarks.
The mayor proceeded to tout the success of corporate real estate in the city, praise his own decision in tapping a police chief from “up in New York”, complimented the police in general, lauded the fact that “he’s never seen so many black and whites out there” doing what they do, advocated for an increase to police wages, and made clear new taxes will not be raised. The rationale for this last bit was an aversion to scaring people into relocated away from the city. Growing increasingly bored I walked out to use the men’s room.
When I returned Mayor Purzycki was still playing the hits. Then he raised the issue of “the rough neighborhoods”. For me this was a glimmer of hope. I honestly thought that perhaps such a skilled politician could sketch out some vague and circuitous route from Buccini Pollin millions through gentrification into “jobs” and arriving at some opaque theory of success for those suffering so terribly. Against my nature and good judgment I was looking for anything positive. But I think you can sense by now my pending disappointment.
Mayor Purzycki used some construction of “those people” and “over there” at minimum five times. My wife says this is an extremely conservative estimate. I interrupted the meeting with appropriate bluntness. I was finding his comments divisive, worse yet appalling, and said so. Several fellow meeting attendees confronted me. I was “disrespectful” and I should “let him finish”. It was tense. Words were exchanged. I should not have let him finish, but I humored the group and sat. Within sixty seconds Purzycki ran his hull across an iceberg.
This is my recollection and it’s passed muster with my wife. “Those people over there can’t help themselves,” he said. I erupted and stated angrily that I was leaving but I wanted everyone present to “remember what he said!” As I marched out I repeated it. “Remember what he said! Remember what he said!”
As I made my way through a small crowd standing at the door and before I walked back into the bar I turned back toward the mayor. (Brief aside, I saw Mr Freel seated behind Purzycki in my line of sight. He looked exceptionally uncomfortable. Sorry, Bud, but it’s a big highlight for me.) I turned and I yelled, “That’s fucked up… that’s really fucked up!”
Here’s the thing. Mike Purzycki probably bears no ill will toward black people. But he, and most of the affluent white bread set in neighborhood, don’t understand that the personal is irrelevant here. Adopting a biracial or minority child doesn’t exempt you. Being affable doesn’t exempt you. The political, economic and social principles espoused are racist. Relying almost exclusively on corporate real estate and maintaining a tax haven to keep the people “over here” satiated while using the police to keep the people “over there” sequestered is racist. Ignoring this any longer is a cancer on us. If our neighbors are separate from us and pose a problem outside of us, it’s close to the end of this.
Perhaps Purzycki was the posturing politician simply signaling to a particular audience. The audience was the mayor’s people. He lives a five-minute walk from Kid’s.
Does this excuse it? Is this acceptable rhetoric in context? It does not and is not.
I am very sure that the majority of the attendees at that meeting disagree with my take on the mayor’s remarks or with me taking on this issue at all. That’s fair enough. But I stand by my summary of his words and the ideas he conveyed. The positions are heinous and counter-productive. Many people surely believe it’s just fine and maybe will accuse me of hypersensitivity or of being a radical too quick with a personal epithet. It’s not a personal epithet. It’s not personal at all. It’s what it is. I understand it’s harsh to come to terms with unpleasant facts. We’re perpetuating a racist society and we seem petrified in the face of it. It seems far too much time is wasted devising new excuses and apologies and defenses when it could be much better spent elsewhere. This must change.
REV