Magazine editor admits 'Being White in Philly' article had 'flaws'
theGRIO REPORT - In an interview with theGrio's Todd Johnson, Philadelphia Magazine editor Tom McGrath admits this month's cover story had flaws and he understands whys reaction has been overwhelmingly negative...
Because McGrath and Huber did not make that clear, the criticism has come fast and furious.
Michael Coard, an African-American contributor to one of the magazine’s blogs, ‘The Philly Post’ who grew up near the neighborhood focused on in ‘Being White,’ writes:
“I was born and raised about four blocks from there. And I ain’t dangerous. And neither are the guys I grew up with. I’m a lawyer. They’re bus drivers, plumbers, teachers, cooks, factory workers, and city employees. All of us are law-abiding.”
Another point of contention? Philadelphia Magazine has zero people of color on its full-time editorial staff.
“It’s not something I’m proud of,” McGrath said of his staff’s makeup. “I understand the criticism…I’m committed to working on more diversity within our own staff.”
The article’s goal was to start a more open and honest conversation about race and how segregated Philadelphia remains. McGrath tells me perhaps more conversation can change attitudes and change people’s perceptions of one another.
Judging from the initial response to the story and our interview, it doesn’t appear this was accomplished in the intended way.
To his credit, McGrath has been very open to the criticism of his piece, even fielding questions on Twitter when the story was first posted online. Despite the enormously negative response, McGrath said he would not shy away from doing something like this again in the future.
“As a city, as a society, I think we need to be more honest about how people feel about race,” McGrath said. “A lot of those feelings are really, really ugly — we see that in [this] story — but I don’t think we do ourselves any favors if we pretend those views don’t exist.”
McGrath said there have been talks to continue the strong reaction to ‘Being White’ in some sort of public forum for city residents in the next few weeks. He admits he doesn’t really have any details on how that ‘event’ will take place.
Rest assured, the fallout from this article isn’t over.
Follow theGrio’s Todd Johnson on Twitter @rantoddj
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