Milton Street’s candidacy is perceived by some as the comic relief, but why?
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I have many influential friends and associates in Philadelphia, and a good number of them have told me they’re voting for Mr. Milton Street, a former State Senator and the brother of former Philadelphia Mayor, Mr. John Street.
A part of the reasoning behind their choice is that Mr. Street speaks their language, not the rehearsed rhetoric spoken by so many other polished politicos in Philadelphia.
From a Vietnam veteran who recently received a prestigious award from Congress, to a #BlackLivesMatter activist who’s been in the frontline fighting for transparency and justice for victims of police brutality, these individuals I’ve talked with all take Mr. Street’s candidacy seriously, so I’m left to question: What’s so funny about Milton Street? And why is it so hard for the mainstream media in particular to take his campaign seriously?
Yesterday, during a Mayoral debate at Temple University, Mr. Dave Davies, a WHYY/Newsworks journalist, said to Mr. Street:
“If we’re to take your campaign seriously, we have to ask you serious questions.”
This statement came directly after Mr. Davies pointed out that Mr. Street has provided many comical moments during the campaign.
While I’ve certainly laughed myself when hearing Mr. Street answer questions, particularly at the Moving Philadelphia Forward forum presented by the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, my chuckles were birthed from his realness and the response of others to his candor, not because he’s some sort of jester.
I wasn’t alone in taking offense to comments made by Mr. Davies, as several of my associates felt that it was a blatant and continuous effort to trivialize his candidacy.
And on the other side of trivialize is criminalize, which the media has also engaged in order to delegitimize Mr. Street’s candidacy.
On several occasions, once at the Moving Philadelphia Forward forum moderated by CBS 3 anchor, Mr. Ukee Washington, and again last weekend on NBC10 @Issue, Mr. Street has had to correct the interviewer on his criminal record. Mr. Street has spent time in prison for tax evasion, but there’s been a noticeable effort to dramatize his run-in with the law.
Trivializing and criminalizing black men is a common practice by mainstream society, and it doesn’t matter the color or ethnicity of the perpetrator, as the outcome is less confidence in the black man’s ability to lead.
Of course, Mr. Street isn’t the only black man in the race, which is why the effort to downplay his role in the race isn’t simply racist, or racially insensitive.
A big part of why Mr. Street has been the victim of broad-base triviality and criminality is because he represents and speaks un-apologetically for a certain class of people, which mainstream society, based on their actions, words and investments could certainly live without – or at the very least, could live without seeing.
This isn’t, by any measure, an endorsement of Milton Street for Mayor. It’s simply a Philadelphian acknowledging mainstream Philadelphia’s bullsh*t and calling them out on it.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™