Almost time for White-o-ween!

[Marquis]

I look forward to this every year.

[JasonMcElroy]

I don't get it. Do black people not come outside on Sunday evenings as a rule?

Isn't this just so families with busy work weeks can trick-or-treat on the weekend?

BTW, did that message come in a fortune cookie?

Jason

[annie]

Isn't this just so families with busy work weeks can trick-or-treat on the weekend?

That's what they came up with after people started calling them out on it but I heard it was done even when Halloween fell on a weekend.

[hubba1]

I don't get it. Do black people not come outside on Sunday evenings as a rule?

Isn't this just so families with busy work weeks can trick-or-treat on the weekend?

BTW, did that message come in a fortune cookie?

Jason

Ha..that's the first thing I thought, "what a strange fortune cookie... it informs you of community events!" lol

[Marquis]

I don't get it. Do black people not come outside on Sunday evenings as a rule?

Isn't this just so families with busy work weeks can trick-or-treat on the weekend?

Sure. Doesn't everybody do this? Parents can't possibly make it home in time to take their kids out.

BTW, did that message come in a fortune cookie?

Jason

I wish.

[Giavella Water]

I look forward to this every year.

I don't get it. So your saying black parents don't work? Racist post.

[Marquis]

I don't get it. So your saying black parents don't work? Racist post.

Yes, that's exactly what I am saying.

[Giavella Water]

Yes, that's exactly what I am saying.

Tisk,tisk.

[FMT]

I think that the neighborhood parade from the Fairmount Art Center is also on Sunday...I think at 530?

[PhilaCap]

too much hooting and hollering on regular halloween i guess

[JasonMcElroy]

Some people are really trying too hard to read something more into this.

I still don't see the issue.

Are parts of the story missing? Was this message clandestinely delivered to white people only?

Explain to me how having trick-or-treat on a weekend evening is racist.

I'm not baiting. I really don't see it.

I also don't see how a Sunday night is any different from a Wednesday night. Parents and kids have to get up for school and work the next morning in either case.

Jason

[6enny]

Seems like it would suck for kids with white supremacist parents. Nobody knocking on my door on a random, non-Halloween night is getting any candy.

Or are the houses that celebrate white-o-ween somehow marked?

[Marquis]

Some people are really trying too hard to read something more into this.

I still don't see the issue.

Are parts of the story missing? Was this message clandestinely delivered to white people only?

Explain to me how having trick-or-treat on a weekend evening is racist.

I'm not baiting. I really don't see it.

I also don't see how a Sunday night is any different from a Wednesday night. Parents and kids have to get up for school and work the next morning in either case.

Jason

Maybe this will help.

Does Fairmount Have a Halloween for White Kids? | News and Opinion | Philadelphia Weekly

[guzzijason]

I think it is selectively delivered to certain houses, or perhaps certain blocks. I've lived in Fairmount for about a decade, and while I've heard rumors of white-o-ween, I've never had anyone knock on my door or otherwise been invited to participate.

__Jason

[phillymike]

A rhetorical question to the Fairmounters complaining about "Whiteween". Would you let your children trick or treat in the neighborhoods north of Girard ave? Would you let your children take a stroll through neighborhoods north of Girard say on a hot summer night ?

[JakeL]

A rhetorical question to the Fairmounters complaining about "Whiteween". Would you let your children trick or treat in the neighborhoods north of Girard ave? Would you let your children take a stroll through neighborhoods north of Girard say on a hot summer night ?

I lived north of Girard and still own a house north of Girard, so yes, my kids would probably want to come up there. Especially my block, which is a tight knit block and has plenty of awesome grandmothers and grandfathers who would load up the kids bags with massive amounts of candy.

[FrankStar]

Unless you show up on the evening of the 31st, you aren't getting anything.

[JasonMcElroy]

Marquis,

I read the link you provided. Thanks.

The story didn't seem so damning. Especially when you take into account some of the comments (not the obvious racist troll ones) stating that a group of a few blocks has their own event on a different night. If they are to be believed, all members of these blocks (comprised of more than just white people) participate. Doesn't sound racist to me. Sounds like a nice block that doesn't wish to deal with the deluge of people not from the neighborhood coming around on Halloween.

I lived on a block in Germantown until very recently where the neighbors were quite close and often did things together like kids parties, dinners for no special occasion, porch parties, bbq nights, etc. Halloween was no exception and is a great time on the block. It's no surprise that people from other neighborhoods would want to come around as all the houses were decorated and every house was open for visitors. What I noticed over the years was stated by someone else in the comments section of your article: after the initial round of young children in costumes, older kids with no costumes at all would come around and expect candy.

Here's the important part for those who wish to read racism into everything. READ CAREFULLY:

We didn't want those people coming around. You know why? Because they didn't have the basic respect to play by the rules. Wear a costume. Come at a reasonable hour when other children are out. Be polite and thankful. Maybe even talk to some new people.

Not because because they were "not from around here". Not because of their race. Not for any other reason than the fact the no one wants disrespectful ass_holes coming to their homes demanding to be given something.

Plenty of people came around during normal hours and played by the rules. They were welcomed. If you're gonna hand out candy, you can't really bi_tch when people you don't know show up.

It's that simple.

This is not so say that I deny racism. Obvious not. I've seen and met PLENTY of people in this city who blame everything their failed career prospects to the price of milk on those (blacks/whites/asians/mexicans).

Unless the people in Fairmount behind this message selectively delivered this notice to only white households while skipping others, it's not racist. If they gave them to every house on two specific blocks and they all happend to be white families (which doesn't seem likely, but I don't know) it still wouldn't be racist.

Jason

[RonMcNasty]

Due to the impending storm slated for Tuesday/Wednesday, sunday's white-o-ween may be the "smart move-o-ween".

[Marquis]

Jason, I don't know who is responsible for the note, and I don't know how far and wide it was distributed. From talking to some old-timers in the neighborhood, this is in response to an incident that happened 20 or 30 years ago. That's not proof of anything, of course, but that and the fact that all the kids doing this are white seems a bit suspicious.

As you say, the article is not that damning, but I think it's the comment section where the real story gets fleshed out.

The reason some Fairmounters celebrate halloween on a different day is due to the animals that invade our community because they don't give out candy in "the hood" Some communities would bus kids into Fairmount. Now the animals just come around Fairmount and rob people at gunpoint. You want trick or treat do it in your own neighborhood and if they don't do it there then too damn bad.

In other words, "for the convenience of working parents."

Honestly, I don't care one way or the other. I give out candy on Halloween to whoever shows up at my house. Anybody who shows up looking for candy on a day other than Halloween will be disappointed. Or maybe they'll get some pennies. I have a lot of pennies. And Jolly Ranchers. Who doesn't love those?