A public discussion on race and racism at the University of Pennsylvania has emerged in recent days following an opinion piece in the Daily Pennsylvanian last week from a black student who was the victim of racial slurs by drunk white students.

The first line of student Christopher Abreu’s piece is perhaps the most damning for the university. He writes:

I’m no stranger to racism. Being a minority, it comes with the territory. However, because of a recent experience, I cannot in good faith recommend that minorities come to Penn.

City Paper expanded the story today and raised the issue of how Penn students deal with their surroundings in majority black West Philadelphia. The article doesn’t really dig too deeply into relations between students and the community. Any thoughts? Leave a comment below.

Residents are invited to attend a meeting tonight to provide input on a proposal that would legalize outdoor cafe-style seating at restaurants along Baltimore Avenue.

Several businesses currently have outdoor seating, including the Gold Standard Cafe and Dock Street Brewing Co., but there has been no formal approval of the seating. The current city ordinance requires each business to apply for seating separately. The Baltimore Avenue Business Association, which represents a variety of establishments, is seeking an ordinance that would allow several businesses to apply together. These businesses include Elena’s Soul, Aksum, Gojjo, Gold Standard Cafe, Dock Street Brewing Co. and others.

Tonight’s meeting is a chance for residents who live near Baltimore Avenue to voice concerns about the approval of outdoor seating. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on the second floor of Elena’s Soul (4912 Baltimore Ave.)

The Philadelphia Inquirer includes a story today on changes in Philadelphia’s black population, which for the first time “clearly outnumbers” all other ethnic or racial groups. But the population is shifting, with large gains in population in places like the lower Northeast and Southwest, but losses here in West Philadelphia, the Northwest part of the city and in neighborhoods around Center City.

Whites leaving the city is the key factor in the increased percentage of blacks, the Inquirer reports. Middle-class blacks leaving the city for the suburbs is a related trend. The black population in the Pennsylvania suburbs increased 26 percent since 2000.

About 21 percent of the city’s population is now Asian and Hispanic.

About 50 people gathered outside of The Rotunda near 40th and Walnut to begin a march that would cross the city from “river to river” to protest upstate “fracking,” a process that uses toxic chemical to extract natural gas from shale.

Hundreds more protesters were expected to join in as the march proceeded across the Schuylkill River to Love Park and then on to Penn Treaty Park on the banks of the Delaware River for the annual Shadfest.

The march began with a reading from the Pennsylvania constitution and a brief explanation of the fracking process. The march is an attempt to raise awareness to the damage the process in northcentral Pennsylvania could do to the Delaware River watershed, which helps supply the Philadelphia area with drinking water.

The march was organized, in part, by the group Protecting Our Waters.

Here’s a slideshow from the beginning of the march:

Neighborhood residents can get an update of what’s in store for Baltimore Avenue this summer during the Cedar Park Neighbors annual board election meeting on Monday beginning at 7 p.m.

The meeting will be held at the Calvary Center for Culture and Community at 48th and Baltimore. The center will open at 6 p.m. for voting, which will continue until 7:30 p.m. Results will be announced at the end of the meeting.

Scheduled speakers include:

• Leah Pillsbury, Capital Campaign Coordinator at Mariposa Food Co-op.

Leah will talk about Mariposa’s expansion project.

• Vince Whittacre, co-owner of the Gold Standard Cafe and member of the Baltimore Avenue Business Association.

Vince will talk about new businesses and the proposal for outdoor seating on Baltimore Avenue.

• Algernon Allen, owner of Elena’s Soul and Cedar Park Neighbors board member.

Algernon will talk about upcoming events on Baltimore Avenue, including Jazz in the Park.

• Maureen Tate, Baltimore Ave Conversation Project volunteer

She will provide a summary of the Baltimore Avenue Conversation and possible next steps.
 

UPDATE – The march has been moved up an hour so it will now start at 1 p.m. at The Rotunda near 40th and Walnut. The other stops are moved up an hour as well.

Community members and activists are marching from the Schuylkill to the Delaware on Saturday to draw attention to the effects of upstate natural gas extraction on the Delaware River watershed.

The march will begin at noon at The Rotunda near 40th and Walnut and proceed first to Love Park and then to the Penn Treaty Park where the annual Shadfest will be underway.

The groups River to River and Protecting Our Waters are sponsoring the march, which will converge on Love Park at 2 p.m. before heading east and then north on Third Street to Penn Treaty Park and the Shadfest.

The documentary film Gasland details natural gas extraction and the process known as “fracking” that entails forcing toxic chemicals into shale formations to force gas to the surface. Gasland is playing as part of a fundraiser for West Philly’s Mariposa Food Co-op on Wednesday.

The rain date is the next day,  Sunday, April 24.