Days Of Absence

Social scientists hastily convened a high level confab this weekend to study a recurring phenomenon that threatens to take the shine off Pittsburgh's lustrous reputation as a city on the rise.

The sociologists, ever fond of jargon that will enable them to craft complicated descriptions of simple facts, have dubbed the phenomenon "ebena evanesca," (sometimes reduced to "the E2 problem") which roughly translates into "disappearing black people."

To put the matter simply, when journalists or other media representatives turn their eyes upon Pittsburgh to seek out what makes the city special, black people consistently disappear from view. The resulting media coverage therefore makes the city appear even whiter than it is.

In a time when corporations and government bodies alike take every opportunity to highlight their progress in fostering diversity, such white-bread presentations of Pittsburgh may well make it less of a destination for the 20,000 new residents that Mayor Bill Peduto wants to attract here.

But the presentations persist.

ITEM: In April 2012, Details magazine ran a feature about East Liberty that somehow portrayed the neighborhood with no black people. 

Details is a national publication; their story essentially told the world, "East Liberty is soooooo cool - and there ain't no black folk there!"

All of the black people who do live and/or work in East Liberty? POOF!

ITEM: In March, 2014, Pop City published a list titled, "Sixteen Pittsburgh social media mavens to follow." There were no black people on that list, despite there being a bunch of black people in Pittsburgh whom a bunch of people (not all black!) consider to be worth following.

So, Pittsburgh's black digerati? POOF! POOF!

Now, TIME Magazine has produced a video about Pittsburgh's comeback, titled "Pittsburgh: The Comeback," in which they talk about the whole steel-to-eds-and-meds story that many of us could probably recite in our sleep.

Except that we won't get asked to, even when we're awake. And by "we," this time, I do mean black people, because for this 10-minute video, TIME magazine only spoke with white guys (or at least, we only see white guys speaking. Maybe they spoke with some black people but edited them out?).

So, black people who might have useful/interesting things to say about Pittsburgh's transformation? POOF!

Wait, it gets better: even when the video acknowledges the realities of segregation and racial disparities in Pittsburgh, they didn't even find a black person to say anything about that. POOF! POOF, POOF!

The confab was convened in response to the video, said University of Pittsburgh sociologist Dr.Thomas Foolery.

"It seems obvious that, as the song says, there's something happening here - but what it is ain't exactly clear," Dr Foolery said. "When media appear, black people disappear, en masse, in a day of absence that would make Douglas Turner Ward shiver, exercising a collective invisibility beyond Ralph Ellison's imaginings."

Dr. Foolery is conducting "a longitudinal study that attempts to determine whether black people circumnavigate and perambulate around media representatives whenever they appear, or whether media representatives do their own circumnavigation and perambulation."

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that TIME, in fact, accomplished a trifecta - as NEXTpittsburgh noted - by simultaneously excluding people of color, women, AND anyone under 40 as interviewees in "Pittsburgh: The Comeback."

The high point of the video for Dr. Foolery and his colleagues will undoubtedly come at the 8:30 mark, when Douglas Heuck, editor of Pittsburgh Quarterly and director of Pittsburgh Today, says, "Pittsburgh ranks at or near the top of all sorts of quality of life measures across the U.S." - while a slide appears of an article with the headline "Behind The Times: The Limited Role of Minorities in the Greater Pittsburgh Workforce."

And the beat goes on.

A proliferation of Prii

An anniversary is looming.

October 8 will mark our first year owning (through Capital Synergies) Pretty, a 2009 Toyota Prius.

The name, besides being an obvious play on "Prius," (and preferable to "Priapus"), acknowledges a change of heart and mind. When I first became aware of the Prius, I thought it was the ugliest thing on God's earth. Then, a few years ago, a friend gave me a ride to an event in a 2007 Prius. It was my first time being inside one, and the surprising spaciousness of the interior made me say, "Hey, this isn't so bad!" Then the display of graphics made me say, "Hey, cool!"

And the Prius went on my list of candidates to replace our 1997 Honda Accord, which had been totaled in an accident after passing the 200,000-mile mark. But on at least two occasions, when I found a listing online for a Prius that I thought might be appropriate for us, the darn thing sold before we got a chance to look at it.

Last September, I came across a listing for a 2009 Prius, touring edition - i.e., with all the bells and whistles of the time: Bluetooth (my #1 requirement), garage door opener (we don't have a garage), etc. And the timing was right, and the price was right, and I drove it home, stopping along the way to take this pic:

Come to papa, Pretty!

Since becoming a Prius owner, it now seems that I see cars like mine everywhere. But then, that happens every time we get a car. I have always assumed that that was merely the demonstration of a principle like, "You see what you're looking for." Or at the very least, what you're paying attention to. Something like that.

But the number of Priuses - oops, excuse me, Toyota - the number of Prii that I see in and around Pittsburgh these days makes me wonder if there's something larger going on.

A couple of months ago, my friend +Shimira Williams and I co-presented a program at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Northside branch. Afterward, I offered her a ride home, and between the library and Lincoln-Lemington, we counted at least a half-dozen Prii.

Tonight, my wife and I attended an event in Oakland. On the way there, I saw at least 7.5 Prii (the .5 is because I may have counted one of them twice).

This is normal now, and I have begun to suspect that the proliferation of Prii signifies something about Pittsburgh. This is just a feeling, but the feeling says that as little as five years ago, most Pittsburghers regarded the Prius as a car for people out on the Left Coast. It says that five years ago, I could not have taken this picture at random in an East Liberty parking lot:

A pride of Prii? 

My hypothesis? The growth of Pittsburgh's Prius population is a proxy for the greening of Pittsburgh, not by way of public policy initiatives, or campaigns by fine organizations like GTECH Strategies or Green Building Alliance, but by way of hundreds, then thousands of individuals making individual lifestyle choices. Such as, "My next car will be a hybrid." 

This delights me. What delights me even more is imagining two scenarios. The first is that as more used Prii are released into the market by people buying newer cars, they become affordable enough to show up more often in Homewood and neighborhoods like it, bringing the cost savings of a high-mpg vehicle to the people who need those savings the most.

The second is that Pittsburgh hosts To Go Before, the national convention for Prius owners. Just because I think that would be extremely cool. In fact, I think that would be so cool - and my selfish desire to attend such a convention without having to leave town is just strong enough - that I just might drop those guys a line. 

Pittsburgh's Black Digerati - Prophets Without Honor?

Today I sent Facebook friend requests to some people whom I do not know.

For me, that is unusual. I joined Facebook in 2009 to expand the audience for my work as a reporter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Therefore, I have been quite liberal with granting friend requests to people, whether I knew them or not. But I don't remember when I last asked someone I didn't know to be Facebook friends. Indeed, I don't remember when I last asked someone I do know to be Facebook friends.

I made the friend requests today because the people whose Facebook friendship I sought are members of an accidental club. We are Black Pittsburghers who have what some consider to be a significant online presence - whether as bloggers, or on Facebook or Twitter or Google Plus, or as contributors to print publications - and who were not included in a recent list of Pittsburgh's noteworthy online personalities.

The list was published by Pop City last week under the title, "Sixteen Pittsburgh social media mavens to follow."

Vernard Alexander, himself no small presence on Facebook, noticed that it was pretty homogenous, and called Pop City out in a Facebook status:

Another Pittsburgh LIST..............No people of color...........

But he went beyond a general complaint. He made it specific by tagging Black people on Facebook whom he considers worth following - and more than that, whom he considers to be worth recommending:

No Kimberly DrGoddess Ellis, No Paradise Gray, No Bluey Blackashell, No Ceo Raw, No Damon Young, No Rob Wilson, No Elwin Green, No Stephan Broadus, No Wadria StyleandSteel Taylor, No Shimira Williams, No Jasiri Xtra.........No LOVE...........

I am honored to be in that group, and told Mr. Alexander (and the world - it's Facebook, after all) that I would rather make his list than Pop City's. Which is true. I care more about having a good reputation with Vernard Alexander and among his circle than with Pop City. Not that I want a bad reputation with Pop City. I simply don't care as much about Pop City. At least, not for my own sake.

I care more for the sake of others who have achieved more than I have so far.

Kimberly ("Dr. Goddess") Ellis has presented at South By Southwest. Paradise Gray's One Hood Media Academy has received more than $200,000 in grants from The Heinz Endowments, and the man himself is a walking history of Hip-Hop. His collaborator Jasiri X's music and activism allow him to hang out with Harry Belafonte. After being featured recently in the Post-Gazette, Shimira Williams is attending a business briefing tomorrow - at the White House. Damon Young is a contributing editor at Ebony Magazine; Stephan Broadus, web editor at the New Pittsburgh Courier. Bluey Blackashell, I can't even describe.

ALL of these people are HIGHLY regarded by a bunch of people.

So, does Pop City not know any of them, or does Pop City not consider any of them worth recommending?

I can't help thinking about August Wilson, who, as far as I can tell, became famous in Pittsburgh after gaining accolades in the larger world. Do Black folk have to become famous out there in order to be noticed here?

In any case, I care less about Pop City's ignorance than I do about my own. So today I sent Facebook friend requests to the people on Vernard Alexander's list whom I do not know - Cardell Collins (Ceo Raw), Rob Wilson, Wadria Taylor. Because Mr. Alexander's recommendation is enough for me. And the ones I do know, I will work to get to know better. Because my limited knowledge says they're worth it.

As for me, I'm perverse. I want Pop City to continue paying me no mind, until my work advances to the point where they have to take notice, and they say, "Who the hell IS this guy?" - and then, "How the hell did we not know about him?"

That's why I have not included a link to their list, because that might bring me to their attention.

Do me a favor, OK? Don't tell 'em.

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