PHILLY-ROOTS-L Archives

Archiver > PHILLY-ROOTS > 1998-04 > 0891525097


From: <>
Subject: Re: Kensington
Date: Thu, 02 Apr 98 08:51:37 -0500


I have both books.
Binzen was out to characterize or document the extreme racial
prejudice that existed in Kensington and that attitude colored his
account. However, that doesn't mean he was inaccurate.
I saw first hand, and participated in, the racial prejudice at that
time. The assaults and fights and insults to any black person who
found himself in Kensington, for whatever reason.
In the bar that I hung out in the owner had two sets of glasses, one
for whites and another separate set for the black trashmen who would
stop in for a beer while working. This bar was only one of two that I
knew that would serve black people.
Most parents wanted the best for their kids, mine did, but once out of
the house, on the corner and in school, the world was a different
place. I went to Stetson in the 1950s. I would not wish that on any
kid.

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Kensington
Author: < > at INTERNET
Date: 4/1/98 9:25 PM

Just had to say my piece here. When I read "Whitetown, USA" my
overall impression was that the author seemed to have a preconceived
bias. Using that bias, he concentrated on trying to prove it. The
author generalized and stereotyped. I took into consideration the
time period in which it was written, but still can find nothing to
recommend it as an honest portrayal. Binzen definitely isn't an
authority that I would cite to try to prove a point - not with his
jaundiced viewpoint. Most of my family was from Kensington and none
of them were like the people portrayed in that book.

A much more honest book was "Voices of Kensington" where both
positive and negative aspects of living in the area were mentioned
through the oral history of area residents. Kensington wasn't a
utopia. It was an industrial town, within a city, with the good and
bad that went with it. The area wasn't pretty, but the people that I
knew were decent and hard working, trying to do the best for their
children within the means they had available.

Lynn

Lynn

This thread: