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"The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it!"

Philadelphia Inquirer (philly.com) | 17 April 02 | Cynthia Burton

Posted on by Lancey Howard

Philadelphia Mayor John Street Again Apologizes

By Cynthia Burton

Inquirer Staff Writer

Mayor Street stirred up debate with comments to the NAACP on Saturday.

A subdued Mayor Street apologized again today for his remark that "the brothers and sisters are running this city" but stuck to his pride about having helped African Americans attain important city jobs.

Speaking at the much-awaited swearing in of Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson at the Convention Center, Street softened his rhetoric, saying, "I am proud that the leadership of our administration represents the diversity of our great city."

That statement was delivered in a monotone, compared with his rousing, bring-the-crowd-to-its feet declaration Saturday at an NAACP convention here.

At that training conference before 700 people from up and down the East Coast, he had declared:

"The brothers and sisters are running the city. Oh, yes. The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it! Don't let nobody fool you, we are in charge of the City of Brotherly Love . . . We have lifted the glass ceiling . . . It never ceased to amaze me that there seemed not to be the opportunity in certain strategic places for people of color. You can't say that anymore."

But today, after two days in which many criticized those remarks as racially divisive, Street appeared somewhat chastened.

Asked if he thought his comments Saturday were a mistake, he said, "I don't know whether I made a mistake. All I know is if people are offended, I regret anybody being offended and I don't intentionally offend people."

He added that "anytime you say anything about race in this city, people's attention is gathered and sometimes in an unprecedented kind of way."

Contact Cynthia Burton at 215-854-5778 or

cburton@phillynews.com.



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Just imagine for a moment a white mayor proclaiming that, "The white folks are in charge here!"



To: Lancey Howard

Funny thing is, Mayor Street is a very smart man who has matured greatly over the past 25 years or so. He is way, way better than Wilson Goode ever was, and he should know better than to say this crazy stuff.



To: mrustow

fya (for your amusement)



To: nopardons

What do you think about this?



To: Lancey Howard

These are the types of politicians and political-speak we have to rid our country of. This Mayor knows better. It's an embarassment.



To: Lancey Howard

"The brothers and sisters are running the city. Will they still be running the city when the heat comes down for mis-management, corruption, etc?



To: Lancey Howard

Not much of a recommendation.......the schools have been taken over by the state, the city is fighting to keep the wage tax, crime is rampant, corruption is in every corner, including the police force...... but the brothers and sisters are running the city..........



To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA

LOL!!

You only need to change that first ' n ' in 'running' to an ' i '.....



To: Lancey Howard

He and others like him, do other blacks no good at all, with this kind of behavior. You claim that he has " matured in the past 25 years " and is a good man. You can't prove it by his original statement. He's a fool and dnagerous. This kind of mentality is what destroys good will amongst all people. It's not as thugh Philly is the FIRST black run city, in this nation. What is he SO proud of ? What milestone / glass ceiling was breached ? People and statements , such as this, turn nonracists into racists.



To: Lancey Howard

Good point......."ruining the city"....lol



To: Mo1

Come over here and tell us what you think.........



To: Lancey Howard

The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it! Don't let nobody fool you, we are in charge of the City of Brotherly Love . Funny, being from the West Coast I use to think of Philadelphia as a place of much history and where our great founders walked and worked. Now when I think of Philadelphia, I think of riots and racist black Mayors.



To: Joe Hadenuf

Now when I think of Philadelphia, I think of riots and racist black Mayors. We don't have to many riots .. but there was that time they burned down a whole block of homes



To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA

Come over here and tell us what you think......... What do I think .. lol As I have mentioned on another thread .. these comments come to noooo surprise to me Do a little history check on Mayor Street and it will explain it all ..



To: Lancey Howard



'The white folks are in charge here!'" "Just imagine for a moment a white mayor proclaiming that,'The white folks are in charge here!'" Yes, I remember when Al Haig said he was in charge,

"Yo, Bro Al-You're the MAN"



To: Mo1

That's right, the currents riots were in Cincinatti. And I remember when they dropped the bomb or something on the roof of that home in Philly, and it burned down the entire block down. Not a great move on the tactics of the Police.



To: Mo1

We moved here during his campaign for Mayor......I remember seeing the ads showing a little of his "interesting" background.......



To: Lancey Howard

Another major U.S. city where white flight is becoming the trend. Then we'll see how well the "brothers and sisters" are running things.



To: Mo1

.. but there was that time they burned down a whole block of homes.. Ummm...didn't Mayor Goode do that :)

Every time I see Street on the local news, I wonder, Does this man not have anyone to help him "spruce himself up" a bit ?...he always looks like he spent the night on a park bench Go Flyers !!



To: Lancey Howard

Would that be "government of the brothers, by the brothers, and for the brothers"? On the bright side, they can now officially be called racists, because they now have power. All those years that we have been told that blacks can't be racist because they have no power are over.



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