August 09, 2011
Plain talk in the City of Brotherly Love
How bad are things in tourism-dependent Philadelphia? Bad enough that Mayor Michael Nutter made sense, and ended up in substantial agreement with your humble correspondent -- at least when it comes to the appearance and behavior of our nation's misbegotten and entitled youth.
The Washington Times reports:
Mayor Michael A. Nutter, telling marauding black youths “you have damaged your own race,” imposed a tougher curfew Monday in response to the latest “flash mob” — spontaneous groups of teens who attack people at random on the streets of the city’s tourist and fashionable shopping districts.
“Take those God-darn hoodies down, especially in the summer,” Mr. Nutter, the city’s second 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.”
Mr. Nutter announced that he was beefing up police patrols in certain neighborhoods, enlisting volunteers to monitor the streets and moving up the weekend curfew for minors to 9 p.m.
Parents will face increased fines for each time their child is caught violating the curfew.
As if that's not shocking enough, the NAACP and the ACLU chime in, supporting the mayor's tough talk and backing the curfews.
I applaud the unexpected common-sense response from the mayor. Beyond the crime -- which is appalling enough -- the sartorial advice is terrific. The self-obsession that leads some people today to dress like derelicts and mutilate, mark and scar themselves for the rest of us to see, and then demand acceptance for the pathologies on view is beyond astonishing.
"They don't hire you 'cause you look like you're crazy" is about the truest thing I've heard a politician say in ages.
Bravo, Nutter!
Posted by Mike Lief at August 9, 2011 07:04 AM
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