An east Baltimore, MD neighborhood in the summer of 2018. Screen grab via Fox 45 – Baltimore.

After Baltimore’s newspaper condemned a conservative cleanup effort a billionaire will pledge $100K if they rescind their column

In the hysterical furor surrounding President Trump everything affiliated to the man is considered toxic. When a group of conservative community organizers (yes, I called them that) decide to go into Baltimore and help with cleanup efforts in impoverished neighborhoods it is instead considered an act of racism. As Sister Toldjah reported, The Baltimore Sun looked at this noble work and instead of being happy that some “white conservatives” were finally doing something, the newspaper instead declared it an act of intolerance.

When conservative activist (yes, there are those) Scott Presler gather a group of 170 volunteers to go into the areas of town and forge cleanup teams the Sun newspaper was full of condemnation and derision, questioning his motives and the sincerity of his actions. That the newspaper received much negative blowback is encouraging, but the best came from Presler himself. In a pith tweet Scott adeptly underscored the problem with Baltimore city officials.

The people of Baltimore love their city, but the city is forgetting its people.

You didn't include how the city wouldn't give us permits for dumpsters.

You didn't include how the city owns the abandoned buildings where illegal dumping happens.

Retract this article.

— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) August 7, 2019

And now the newspaper has a bigger challenge. Bill Pulte is a philanthropist with a long history of this very type of direct activist assistance in city areas. After seeing the newspaper take such a negative and entirely biased reaction to community outreach Pulte has thrown a challenge directly at the Sun: if the paper retracts its intolerant editorial he will donate $100,000 to additional cleanup efforts in the city.

https://twitter.com/pulte/status/1159104682004025345

It will be interesting to watch this play out. Because not only was the paper noted for being impertinent about positive work, but it has been found that the Baltimore Sun has in fact previously acknowledged there is in fact a problem with the city being in need of serious cleanup. How is it that this news outlet can pretend that Presler’s action were fostering a “tired image of a city that cannot take care of its own neighborhoods”, when it did an investigation into the very issue?!

It was just weeks ago, ahead of the President’s comments about Baltimore being in need of governmental authorities taking care of the city, that the paper looked into the “city’s trash problem” (their words.) So please, explain — how does the newspaper look into a recognized problem in the city, and when activists come in to address that very problem they are called out for fostering a negative stereotype? It cannot be an assumption based on racial profiles, as has been alleged, when the same paper has already recorded there is the problem!

Further, it was just over a year ago when the trash problem in Baltimore was recognized by the Baltimore Sun. When another community worker wanted to inspire people to aid in cleanup efforts the Sun managed to avoid questioning his tactics and motivations — and he was not accused of fostering negative stereotypes about the city and its residents. Huh.

It almost would appear the newspaper bases its interpretation of community assistance based on the political beliefs of those who are undertaking the work. It also appears it will excuse the sloth and corruption of the government officials who have been failing the citizens based on party affiliation. As Presler notes, many of the locations they cleaned were not only due to government inaction but were actually government properties.

Hopefully they will look at the offer by Bill Pulte and not accuse the man of nefarious motivations, and take back its biased and intolerant assessment of the efforts to improve its city.