Philadephia Mayor Michael A. Nutter (left) had some tough words recently for black youth involved in the new “flash mob” craze, and he offered some advice for black youth in general:
“Take those God-darn hoodies down, especially in the summer,” Mr. Nutter, the city’s third black mayor, said in an angry lecture aimed at black teens. “Pull your pants up and buy a belt ‘cause no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt.”
“If you walk into somebody’s office with your hair uncombed and a pick in the back, and your shoes untied, and your pants half down, tattoos up and down your arms and on your neck, and you wonder why somebody won’t hire you? They don’t hire you ‘cause you look like you’re crazy,” the mayor said. “You have damaged your own race.”
It’s about time a black political leader had the guts to say what everyone has felt should be said for 20 or so years. This is a considerable risk for Nutter, telling the truth, that is. Remember what happened to the beloved Bill Cosby when he had the temerity a few years ago to express similar feelings.
I had a lunch conversation with a well-known black leader in Durham some years ago (I’ll leave him unnamed). I expressed something similar to Nutter at that lunch. He agreed with me, and then said, “But, Jon, I can say something like that, you can’t.”
“The problem is that you won’t,” I responded.
This falls under the category of what several black leaders over the years have told me is a no-no in the black community, namely, “airing our dirty laundry in public.” It will be interesting to see what reaction there is to Nutter’s comments.
