MLK Day, PSU and the Cynicism of Reporting at The Philadelphia Weekly

On Monday, January 15th, the amazing young leaders at the Philadelphia Student Union held a "Call to Witness and Action" to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday. The event called for an end to all forms of school violence. The messaging that the students developed for the event aimed to broaden our understanding of violence. The students explained that structural violence, produced by underfunding our public schools, leads to all sorts of negative outcomes, from high drop out rates, to low levels of college access, and a school-to-prison pipeline. In order to develop this deep understanding of violence, which even college students struggle to develop, PSU members came together for hours to probe the system in which their schools exist, developing a deeper analysis of the situation. Amazing, right?

But flash forward to the Philadelphia Weekly's article on the MLK event from reporter Joel Mathis. In Mathis' story "Hollow Protest Against School Violence," he argues that the students offer empty messaging produced by adults, illustrating of the cynical media age we live in. This article shows the worst kind of lazy and untrained reporting. A convention of the profession is that journalists come to a story with an open mind. Mathis had a fair question he wanted answering, about the actual experience of physical violence. However, when Mathis, a 36-year-old white male, heard answers he didn't want to hear, he characterized these youth leaders of color as puppets of adult handling instead of listening to their message. Moreover, he made this argument without the slightest of proof except that students stuck on their message, a lesson we all quickly learn when it comes to dealing with a press corps that is likely to take your thoughts and words out of context.

What is worse is that Mathis did not even report on the message the students offered. He did not consider the argument they were making, or attempt to either justify or debunk their argument. Instead, he spent the precious words the Philadelphia Weekly mistakenly allotted him to degrade amazing students like Shania Morris, who decided to spend a school holiday taking part in the body politic. Mathis called them puppets of an "activist" agenda. Finally I want to cite a point PSU member Dan Jones made in his response to the article. Dan wrote:

I take issue with how the author began his article- he said that he was looking for "good old-fashioned righteous anger". Maybe that framework contributed to his misunderstanding. This action was one motivated first and foremost by love for each other and a desire for peace.

The Philadelphia Weekly and Joel Mathis owe the students of Philadelphia's school system an apology, one I think we all should demand.

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