Ernest Owens is a smart guy, very smart.
He’s probably smarter than I am.
I know he is better educated. He got a full ride to the University of Pennsylvania. I know that because he has written about it, about how Penn is racist, and Penn is homophobic.
Owens is Black, and gay, and ungrateful.
I don’t know how much hate there is at the progressive, Ivy League school.
I went to school at night at Brooklyn College, so I can’t judge. I find it hard to imagine trust fund-baby Penn as a refuge for the Klan and Proud Boys. Maybe I’m wrong.
Owens is positively genius with some of his story selections. He is the Herod of the hot button.
He actually got Justin Timberlake to apologize for cultural appropriation for singing a rap song. What an unimaginable wimp Timberlake is. (Using Owensian logic, I was going to write a column demanding that Black soprano Jessye Norman apologize for singing opera, which is “white music.” But I am not as smart as Owens.)
Now 29, Owens has been named editor at large at Philadelphia Magazine after a couple of years as writer at large where he frequently focused on LGBTQ issues.
Never one to commit modesty, after he posted his latest essay, he blasted this out on Twitter:
“WARNING Y’ALL IN ADVANCE: This week’s episode of #ErnestlySpeaking is fire. Like, burning fire with all the smoke.”
OK, he’s fire.
I’m water.
I think he was talking about his essay headlined, “Jim Kenney doesn’t care about Black people.”
It is horse shit.
Owens oddly undresses in public, revealing himself to be a copycat by making reference to Kanye West’s declaration that President George W. Bush “doesn’t care about Black people.”
That was horse shit, too.
Owens lambasts the mayor for failing to stem the wave of — let’s face it —Black on Black murder. Kenney — rightfully — rejected declaring a state of emergency as a meaningless gesture.
“Yes, his decision not to declare a state of emergency about a gun violence crisis that’s killing mostly Black people is racist,” Owens writes with his head up his ass.
Does he not realize this epidemic of murder is coast to coast? Are all the mayors racist?
Owens points his finger at the white mayor and his Black Councilperson. You know who is ignored in his outrage?
The Blacks who are pulling the triggers.
Owens wants to make the homicidal wave, to borrow a phrase from Rudyard Kipling, a white man’s burden.
How interesting.
If you’ve been here a while, you know I am no fan of Kenney’s, to say the least, based on his policies, and actions.
We were friends once, and I’ll tell you what broke the friendship.
We were having a months-long back-and-forth debate over immigration while he was in Council. He supported illegal immigration. I opposed it, because it is illegal. I said lawmakers like him should respect the law, not engage in breaking it.
Then he did it. He said, “I guess you don’t like brown people very much.” Yes, the last-resort race card — despite him knowing that Philly has a lot of white illegals — from Ireland, Russia, Israel, Canada.
Now the race card gets played against him.
What goes around, comes around.
Kenney is a smacked ass, spineless, a sourpuss, a progressive ideologue, but he is not a racist who does not like Black people.
So it’s ironic that he gets slapped with an accusation of racism. And if Owens doesn’t know that is horse shit, he’s not as smart as I think.
HAPPY FRIDAY !!!
pallie,
You being a travelling man. Have you ever been to “bean Town”, more commonly know as Boston ? Were you ever at the ‘commons’ ? It’s a inner city park, complete with lake, statues and on a nice day – particularly weekend, there are countless people on their soap box. On any given weekend, you can hear bible thumping, walk ten feet and hear bible condemning. Walk another ten feet and here your favorite soap boxer complain about the air we breathe.
In short, everyone gets a shot at complaining about anything that you want to gripe about, and you, the bystander, get your pick of the litter.
Today we have Ernest Owens. I don’t suppose that he would believe that he has it pretty good here in the USA. Many countries, being black is not welcomed. Being black and gay is a good enough reason to be stoned. Yet, here he is, complaining about his version of a fairy tale.
Tony
Yes, been to Boston a few times, the Commons, Fenway and the bar they used for Cheers.
phila mag was always nauseating.Now it is nauseating in a brand new woke way much like the Newyorker and just about every publication.Remember how huge and crucial the best of Philly once was?Look how insignificant and politically correct this years winners are.Who cares anymore?Who reads this anymore?What would Malcolm Lipson think about what his mag has sunk to?
The last year it was relevant was 2011 when they named me best columnist. 😏
I will waive translation.
Completed higher education guarantees a diploma, not necessarily smarts.
👌
So, so sick of this ungrateful attitude of many minorities. If you don,t like anything,just blame it on racism and white people. You,be aptly called it what it is—-horseshit!
Auto spell messed up my post. The word that appeared as you,be should have been you’ve.
This app lacks the ability to edit, alas.
For such a small, inbred, dangerous city, Philadelphia has an exceedingly large collection of perfect assholes.