We get our own level of hate mail flooding our inbox, but it’s rare when we get someone else’s.
That was the case this week when we received a part of rants — from the same reader — but addressed to a completely different publication. Not sure why we were tagged on these jawns and perhaps the reader, and writer, one Mark Polito can oblige in telling us, but these letters are truly something else.
But quickly before I get into both, I need to clarify a few things. First of all, shoutout to @TrophyBikes on Instagram for calling our asses out (and me personally) for referring to biking in Philadelphia as a “hobby.” We did so in a small calendar post hyping the upcoming Philly Bike Expo and the riders of Philadelphia didn’t let us live it down.
Please accept this as a mea culpa on behalf of myself and PW — in print.
Second, yes this is week No. 2 of being sued by a photographer named R. Bradley Maule to the tune of $150,000. Mind you, this is for a rights-free photo we used in 2016 that Maule had copyrighted only last month and is currently trying to wrest monies for in the aftermath. I penned a column breaking down the whole shebang in last week’s Fall Guide issue.
That invite for coffee to understand why you’re doing this is still open, Brad.
OK, here’s those letters. The first pertains to the loss of Hahnemann Hospital before going off the rails with a rant regarding teen Michael White in the unfortunate death of Sean Schellenger in Rittenhouse. The second is a rant over a t-shirt that surfaced at Temple last weekend asserting the university is “HBCU-ish,” on the count of it’s sizable black and brown student body.
These jawns have been edited for brevity, tone — and jargon. Enjoy.
Re: Homicides and the loss of Hahnemann by Abraham Gutman
The loss is the [accelerated] training workers receive due to the violent clientele they serve. This is the real tragedy. The medical staff are under war-like conditions and the miracles they perform help them for the rest of their careers and probably the rest of their lives.
I worked in these areas as a first responder and I learned more in two years [than] a first responder in Springfield although Darby is stepping up to the plate and their hospitals will be under the financial gun due to the increase of the clientele. Nothing can be done except by law enforcement and their hands are tied. How about the non-violent clientele that work hard and are not involved in this war? I feel they deserve the best, and as long as the hospitals cater to the wrong people, than the system needs to be changed.
Here’s where it goes off the rails…
Maybe Krasner can patronize the criminals and send Michael White to jail for the murder charge he deserves. The African American people deserve to pay for the high percentage of crime in these areas. Mr. Schellenger’s death is just one of many examples of the racial climate in Philadelphia. Mr. Schellenger was an economic plus and a tragic loss for this city. White hopefully will spend the rest of his pathetic life in jail where he belongs and Mr. Schellenger’s business friend’s will express their anger by halting the only progress the city is making.
His friends are much more powerful than White and his ilk. The violence is perpetuated by a large percentage of African-Americans, not Blacks from Africa, Asia or for that matter most immigrants. The police will be more aggressive and they will be welcomed with opened arms from the productive citizens of this great city to perform their duty and pursue and lock them up.
— Mark Polito | Philadelphia
‘You girls don’t have a glue’
Hello [Inquirer writers] Ms. [Valerie] Russ and [Elizabeth] Wellington, I went to Temple 45 years ago and it was a state-funded college. It was not AN HBCU SCHOOL. Please look up article written by college professor John J. DiLulio about the state of race in America.
Mr. DiLulio went to temple and grew up in South Philly and experienced racism right here at home. I experienced it also. I also came from a leftist liberal mom and Jewish [grandma] who raised me. Were it not for my maternal grandparents I would have grown up in the projects at 3rd and Christian with a single mom and sister.
I attended Bishop Neumann H.S. at 27th and Mifflin and the black youths would pull the cable wires off and try to break the windows and we would hold up our school bags to protect ourselves. The driver would then go out and get us to safety. As South Philly boys, we understood about territory and so did they.
Growing up in a mixed neighborhood with no race riots, attending a Catholic grade school with academic standards and nuns who care, with Black, Irish, Polish, Puerto Rican kids, we all got along. You girls don’t have a glue. Go out and get some experience.
— Mark Polito | Philadelphia
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