Last week, New York Magazine published an expose entitled “The Hidden Struggles of John Fetterman”. The piece focused on how recent health struggles lead Fetterman to being mean and toxic with stuff.
But to those like me, who grew up in the local community, Fetterman has always been a toxic character. Many of us warned about this behavior for more than a decade and were ignored by activists projecting their hopes onto Fetterman.
Filmmaker and lifelong Braddock resident Tony Buba, who the New York Times dubbed “The Bard of Braddock,” posted a provocative piece on Facebook about what that projection onto Fetterman says about us. With his permission, we have reprinted his piece here.
Fetterman's Long History of Toxic Relationships in Braddock
By Tony Buba
I read the article and I see no difference in the way John behaves now, then when he was the mayor of Braddock. The way he deals with people is the same way he treated Jesse Brown, Tim Brunson, Ed Cloonan, The Braddock Inclusion Project, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Chris Miyares and others. When he was Mayor he rarely went to council meetings. He didn’t interact with most of the other council members. Levi’s gave the community one million dollars for the ads it shot here, (which LaToya Ruby Frazier brilliantly deconstructed).
The money went to John’s non-profit. No community discussion about how the money should be spent. People cheered, I guess they thought the residents of Braddock would make bad decision of what to do with the money. I remember I told a reporter John’s idea of a grassroots movement was Astroturf. The money did go to install some beautiful stained glass windows in a building his nonprofit owns, which is now in need of major repair, but it does have stained glass windows. Like I said, I read the article, and this is for the most part who he has always been. He hasn’t changed that much, and for his family’s sake, I hope his health improves.
I think the real question that needs to be asked is, Why did people support John in the first place? There were many Braddock residents who couldn’t figure that out. Was it his shorts, his tattoos, his height, his libertarian bent, or that he was white?
His politics were never progressive. He ran as a spoiler in the first senate race, from what I heard, at the request of Governor Rendell, who disliked Joe Sestak. This split the Western PA vote. Joe Sestak lost in the primary, guaranteeing Pat Toomey the election.
John’s whole schtick is one of white male privilege. Name a woman, or a person of color who would dress, and behave the way John did that you supported for public office, and that the press would have covered favorably.
Can you imagine if Rep. Summer Lee or Mayor Gainey chased a white jogger down the street with a shotgun? Or if Gainey would campaign in a hoodie? Or if they tried to change the marquee of a white owned bar to claim that the business was closed because they thought that business was nuisance or if they saw a white person they didn’t like to tell the police to issue that person a citation with a $50 fine claiming that person was loitering with the intent to commit mischief; knowing that this person did not have $50 and he would have to go to county jail.
This brings us back to the question why did people especially some liberals become enamored with John? Did they want their own version of Trump? Or does it go to the heart of what we must fight against and speak to everyday, and that is our own racism and classism. Something lot of us try to rationalize away.
John’s appeal as the great white Harvard-educated Savior who was going to rescue Braddock was a strong one for those who, in their hearts, still distrust people who are not college-educated or went to a less prestigious school and who are not white.
By the way, if anybody knows the New York Magazine reporter, not everyone owns a gun in Braddock.
