Philly’s Political Cultural Heritage

On July 15, 2009, I moved to Philadelphia. I’m a walker who has enjoyed discovering the city’s hidden history and cultural heritage. The once underrated City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection is now a magnet for millennials and empty-nesters.

I’m also a lifelong activist and citizen watchdog. The reactions to the conviction on all counts of Congressman Chaka Fattah showcase the underbelly of Philly’s political culture which more than 100 years ago was described as “corrupt and contented.” Fattah and his enablers boast about his “accomplishments.” Fact is, the poverty rate in the second congressional district is higher today than when Fattah was first elected in 1994.

With an overall poverty rate of 26.3 percent, Philadelphia is the poorest big city in America. Nearly 37 percent of the city’s children live in poverty. Philly has the highest rate of deep poverty (12.9 percent) of the nation’s 10 most populous cities. Roughly 200,000 residents have incomes below half of the poverty line.

There’s not enough money for the schools or affordable housing. Even with the new soda tax, Mayor Jim Kenney’s goal of universal pre-K remains elusive.

So my antennae went up when I read in Hidden City Philadelphia the City was on the hook to pay the $10,000 annual dues for Global Philadelphia Association’s membership in the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC):

There are no application forms for membership into the OWHC and no official guidelines, which perhaps has added to critics’ claims that Philadelphia was merely joining a private club.

[…]

“You need to get voted into the World Heritage City Club,” says brand strategist Alan Jacobson. “It’s kind of like getting into the baseball Hall of Fame. You don’t need a certain number of runs to get in. You just need to be accepted by the group.” Plus pay the annual membership dues–$10,000, a sum guaranteed by the City of Philadelphia (the U.S. government pays substantial annual dues to UNESCO, on account of U.S. World Heritage Sites, including Independence Hall).

Global Philadelphia Association (GPA) self-servingly conflates UNESCO’s designation of Independence Hall as a World Heritage Site and OWHC’s designation of Philadelphia as a World Heritage City. Fact is, OWHC and Global Philadelphia Association are private organizations. GPA’s board of directors includes the politically-connected one percent and a stunning lack of diversity.

Last year, the City got stuck with an $8 million bill for an event organized by a private organization, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Looking ahead, I’m concerned that taxpayers’ money will be used to pay for political insiders’ annual membership fee in a private club and junkets to the OWHC General Assembly.

World Heritage Philadelphia, the “brand,” has maintained a deafening silence as historic buildings, including the church where the legendary contralto Marian Anderson learned to sing, are demolished.

I want to know how much the City has shelled out for the World Heritage City “brand.” I also want to know what it will cost the poorest big city in the U.S. to remain a “member in good standing” in a private organization. Under OWHC bylaws, the City of Philadelphia may be obligated to pay the pro-rated expenses of a Canadian organization.

To get some answers, I filed a Right to Know request. Stay tuned.

St. Peter Claver, Gentrification and Black History

First it was #PopeInPhilly. Now this: The Archdiocese of Philadelphia plans to put on the auction block the Mother Church for black Catholics in Philadelphia. St. Peter Claver Union was named after the “Apostle of the Slave Trade,” a 16th century Spanish Jesuit priest who fought against slavery.

In 1942, St. Peter Claver’s Catholic Church, Fifty Golden Years, a self-published history, was released:

It was also toward the end of the 19th century that a sizable population of blacks developed their own Catholic congregation in Philadelphia. Prior to 1886, black Catholics had worshiped in the parishes of St. Joseph, St. Mary, and St. Augustine in the city. In 1886, Holy Trinity Church, a traditionally German Catholic Church at 6th and Spruce, began holding a mass for blacks. The pastor of Holy Trinity, Father Hilterman, encouraged his black congregants to form their own union, which adopted the name St. Peter Claver Union, after the native of Catalonia, Spain, whose efforts in behalf of emancipation earned him the title, “Apostle of the Slave Trade.”

In July 29, 1889, Rev. Patrick McDermott, arrived in Philadelphia to take charge of the burgeoning black Catholic congregation at the request of Mother Katherine Drexel, founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, after she visited Holy Ghost College (now Duquesne University) in Pittsburgh, PA. McDermott’s congregation began assembling in a small chapel in the second story of a home at 832 Pine Street in 1889, but it soon became too crowded, and the group began to look for a large church home.

When in 1890, the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia offered its building at 12th and Lombard for sale, the congregation began to pool its resources to purchase it. When Patrick Quinn, treasurer of the Beneficial Savings Fund Society, one of Philadelphia’s largest banks at the time, died the same year, his will stipulated that $5,000 of his fortune was to go to the “proposed Colored Catholic Church of Philadelphia.” With donations from other well-to-do Philadelphians and loan from a bank, the congregation managed to assemble the funds to purchase Fourth Presbyterian Church at 12th and Lombard, which was dedicated as St. Peter Claver’s Church, Philadelphia’s first black Catholic church, on January 3, 1892.

Fast forward to today. The Archdiocese is in Orphans’ Court petitioning for the removal of racial language in the deeds that would rewrite history.

Arlene Edmonds, community historian and author of the African American Catholic Youth Bible, told Sabrina Vourvoulias of Philadelphia Magazine:

I feel a special connection because I’ve always been interested in historical sites, particularly the Underground Railroad and the sites that were built from by those enslaved Africans who creatively masterminded their escapes. Setting foot in St. Peter Claver one can feel it is part of that lineage. As a Catholic, so many of the earliest African connections to the faith have been overpowered by Western traditions after the faith was embraced by Europeans. Most American Catholic churches are centered around a Eurocentric interpretation of the faith.

Then you have a St. Peter Claver Church that was donated to the Black community for the purpose of evangelizing to African Americans. They lived in Philadelphia during the antebellum era, were among those who escaped along the Underground Railroad, or who migrated here later from the south as well as the Caribbean and Latin America. This was their church before there was an Archdiocese of Philadelphia [emphasis added]. It housed their history in photographs and artifacts. To have that taken from us is very sad. That is why many feel as I do, that others are trying to erase our history even those who say they share our faith.

I don’t share Edmonds’ faith, but I share her concern that gentrification is erasing African American history from public memory.

Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church, is host of “Urban Insight” on 900amWURD. In an interview with Edmonds, Rev. Tyler observed:

St. Peter Claver is sandwiched between Big Wesley and Mother Bethel. The neighborhood is awash with great history of founding events in the black community. It’s an American story. We must help the Archdiocese find a different way to deal with this property.

Given the givens, I put my faith in Orphans’ Court.

Francisville

Pope Francis’ historic visit to Philadelphia is over. As I watched the Papal Mass on TV, I was struck by Archbishop Chaput’s call:

This is a city that would change its name to Francisville today.

Philly already has a Francisville.

The historically black neighborhood is located a short walk from the Cathedral Basilica of SS Peter and Paul. On my way to the Festival of Families, I walked through Francisville. If the People’s Pope had visited his namesake, he would have seen how gentrification is unfolding in Philadelphia. Long-time black and Latino residents are being displaced.

As expected in the fourth most segregated city in the country, those moving in don’t look like those being pushed out.

In his homily at the private mass, the Holy Father asked:

What about you? What are you going to do?

That is indeed the question. What are city leaders going to do about the displacement of longtime residents by new residents who may not stick around when their ten-year tax abatement expires? By the way, the tax abatement only applies to new construction. So there’s a perverse incentive to demolish historic and cultural resources, including churches, murals and burial grounds.

***

Now that Pope Francis has left town, Mayor Michael Nutter should check himself. Rather than bask in the afterglow, he should do an after action report and explain why Philadelphia was transformed into a police state.

Days before Pope Francis even set foot in Philadelphia, the city was on lock down. City Hall, schools, libraries, courts, banks, stores, roads and bridges, train stations and Greyhound were closed.

Nutter talked a good game about showcasing the city while the world was watching. What the world saw was a ghost town patrolled by Philly police, the National Guard and other security forces. Rem Rieder of USA TODAY wrote:

It was still dark, of course, and it had the look of a war zone. There were barricades everywhere. There were security checkpoints. There were fences making some streets completely inaccessible. And everywhere there were police, and TSA agents, and all other flavors of law enforcement personnel.

Heckuva job, Mayor Nutter.

#PopeinPhilly

Pope Francis will be in Philadelphia this weekend. Vast areas of Center City already are on lockdown. Schools and colleges will be closed for the papal visit. Given the givens, this is the closest I will get to the People’s Pope.

It’s maddening that Philly can find money to host large events, e.g., World Meeting of Families and the 2016 Democratic National Convention, or make a down payment on the school to prison pipeline. But there’s no money to fund programs that will lift its citizens out of persistent poverty.

Sure, visitors will love Center City, which sparkles day and night. Fact is, Philadelphia is the poorest big city in the nation. According to the 2013 Census Bureau American Community Survey, the city’s poverty rate is 26.5 percent; over 400,000 of the city’s 1,560,000 residents are living in poverty. More than 190,000 live in deep poverty, meaning their incomes are less than half the federal poverty level.

As of this writing, the city still hasn’t signed a contract with the World Meeting of Families. It’s safe to assume that taxpayers will be stuck with the bill for the Pope in Philly. Meanwhile, many public schools are without nurses, librarians, guidance counselors, substitute teachers or arts education.

I grew up in the Baptist church but right now, I’m unchurched. That said, I pray that city leaders heed the Papal Mass and “rescue the poor, the weak, and the abandoned from their distress and provide with generosity for their needs.”