On Sixers arena, opinions differ among Philadelphia’s Black clergy and leaders

It was an obvious choice for the Rev. Mark Tyler to stand with Chinatown when he heard the Sixers planned to build an arena on the neighborhood’s doorstep.

To Tyler — and other Black community members who oppose the arena — the people who ought to be given the greatest consideration are those who live there, and who would experience the greatest impact as a result. With the arena proposed to go on the block from 10th to 11th and Market to Filbert — abutting the southern border of Chinatown at Cuthbert Street, six feet from the nearest Chinatown business — that meant that Chinatown residents, business owners, and patrons were the ones who deserved support.

» READ MORE: African American clergy announce support for Sixers arena project, citing jobs and economics

So when Tyler and others who oppose the arena saw a group of Black clergy, as well as the African American Chamber of Commerce of PA, NJ & DE, gather for a news conference to announce their support for the project, they were shocked and angry.

The news conference the Sixers held, opponents said, felt like a purposeful erasure of the nuances within Black communities.

“More preachers that I’ve spoken to don’t support [the arena] than do,” Tyler said.

Those who support the arena see it as a great economic opportunity for Black residents and businesses to be included in the massive $1.3 billion project.

“This is about the opportunity for the city, and how do we include, for the first time in the history of this city, the birthplace of America, how do we finally include 44% of the population?” said the Rev. Donald Moore, of Mount Carmel Baptist Church, one of the pastors who endorsed the project at the March news conference. “How do we finally include us?”

The Black clergy who oppose the arena said they respect their colleagues’ stance in favor of it. But they take issue with the portrayal that there is just one way Black Philadelphians are thinking about the issue because “it doesn’t allow for the full character and culture of our community to come to light,” said Bishop Dwayne Royster, executive director of POWER Interfaith.

“We all have different priorities,” he continued. “Ending poverty in Philadelphia is my priority. The housing crisis is my priority. The arena isn’t addressing that. Some of us are concerned about real issues, not a game.”

The months of protests against the project from Chinatown and its allies — focused on concerns about gentrification and displacement the arena could cause in the historic, immigrant neighborhood — resonated with many Black residents across the city who have fought parallel fights from West Philly to North Philly.

Tyler has seen the way thriving Black communities have been squeezed out by big development, such as the University of Pennsylvania. He’s seen the way his congregation at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, and others, has dwindled as a result. And because of his community’s own experiences, empathy and compassion for people who are harmed by gentrification — “or the next new big thing that promises that it will never disrupt your life” — are a given.

“If a group like the Sixers are comfortable enough pushing against Chinatown … there’s no space in the Black community that is sacred and off-limits,” he said. “So if you don’t stand up for Chinatown’s sake, stand up for your own sake.”

“If you don’t stand up for Chinatown’s sake, stand up for your own sake.”

But those who support the arena don’t see it as a fast pass to the gentrification of Chinatown.

“There’s a difference between community development and gentrification,” said Moore. “This is a community development opportunity. It’s not gentrification of an area.”

If the plan was to build the arena near a Black community — and the circumstances were the same, in proximity and investment — the pastor says he would absolutely support it.

“For me,” he said, “it’s not ‘either-or.’ It looks like the Sixers are trying to make sure this is a ‘both-and.’ How can this work in a responsible way?”

Multiple community members took the podium at the March conference, all reiterating the same point: The $1.3 billion arena will provide unprecedented economic opportunities for Black businesses and residents across the city.

“The project will serve as an extraordinary catalyst for the economic development of our city,” Pastor W. Lonnie Herndon of the Church of Christian Compassion in West Philadelphia, said at the news conference. “The versatility of a state-of-the-art facility has the potential to not only revitalize the desert that is now the Center City business district, but it can also bridge the gap between Philadelphia and surrounding counties.”

The Sixers announced during the news conference that they would devote $2 million of their proposed $50 million community benefits agreement (CBA) to prepare Black-owned businesses to take jobs in the arena, with 40% of concessions operations allocated for Black businesses.

“The Black community is ready, and it is excited to play a significant role in this project,” Regina Hairston, chamber president, said at the news conference. The chamber did not respond to an Inquirer request for comment.

The team also says the building of the arena — which would open in 2031 — would provide about 9,000 construction jobs.

Moore said the employment opportunities could be life-changing for African American families.

“Whether you are for or against the building of the proposed arena, this is a really unprecedented opportunity that’s on the horizon of the Black or African American community in Philadelphia,” he said. “Forty-four percent of the city that is left out.”

A CBA is a legal, negotiated contract in which a developer promises certain amenities or improvements such as job opportunities or housing, and a neighborhood agrees to support the project in exchange. CBAs can have loopholes, however, and opponents of the arena point to a history of developers not keeping their promises.

In an email, a spokesperson for 76 Devcorp, the team owners’ development arm for the project, said they “have been consistent that the CBA will be legally binding and understand the importance of providing certainty that our commitment will come to fruition. We remain committed to ensuring that communities of color throughout the city benefit, and Chinatown remains a significant piece of that.”

But opponents are still skeptical and challenge the Sixers’ commitment to equity, calling the offered $2 million for Black-owned businesses “insulting” and “peanuts” in the scheme of the project. The $50 million CBA is less than 4% of the project’s value.

“How do we finally include 44% of the population? How do we finally include us?”

“What have you done to support Black businesses and increase their revenue where you are now? How is that kind of agreement going to be sustained over the course of the future?” asked the Rev. Bill Moore, pastor of Tenth Memorial Baptist Church and chief clergy organizer of Stadium Stompers.

“And if you want to have a real conversation about empowering Black businesses and helping Black businesses to create wealth, then let’s also have a conversation about getting a part of the team … let’s have a conversation about more than a hot dog and a soda.”

John Elliott Churchville, a civil rights activist and founder of the Philadelphia Freedom Library and School, is also doubtful that the promises will come through because the barriers of systemic racism will always be there.

“Everybody says we’re gonna give you this, we’re gonna give you that,” he said. “And then when you get to the table, they say, ‘Do you have any experience doing this?’”

“The only way to convince the city to demolish an entire minority community is to make promises to another minority community and pit them against each other,” one user commented on an Inquirer Instagram post about the March news conference.

Nearly 500 more comments echoed that sentiment, promising solidarity with Chinatown — surfacing yet another layer of tension for the Sixers as they push their dream downtown arena.

Royster agreed.

“[76 Devcorp] is using two oppressed communities, the Black community and the Chinese community, to fight each other,” he said, accusing the entity of using racialized politics. “And in the meantime, the billionaires that are behind these corporations walk away unscathed … and everybody else gets left with crumbs.”

Churchville poses one question to those who support the arena: How would you feel if the reverse happened?

“It’s a sellout,” Churchville concluded. “Every BIPOC community should be in support of each other, because what’s happening in one place is happening to all of us.”

But the Rev. Donald Moore, the supporter of the arena, disagrees that this is turning communities against each other.

“This isn’t Chinatown versus Black Philadelphia,” he said. “[The clergy are] looking at this through the lens of what it means for the city as a whole, with some emphasis on the Black community. Not negating the concerns of those who are on the opposite side of the conversation. How do we get it done for the city?”

Days before the Sixers’ news conference, Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture, a social justice and housing activist, issued a warning to her fellow organizers.

“We should be careful that the 76ers will try to pit Black people against Chinatown,” she told them. More than four decades of organizing taught her that, “My own people don’t always be on the right side of justice.”

But she also has a picture on her computer of Yuri Kochiyama, a young Japanese woman and civil rights activist, carrying her membership card to Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity.

It’s just one instance of a rich history of Black-Asian alliances from which Nkrumah-Ture draws inspiration, listing name after name of Black and Asian activists who have stood in solidarity over the past century.

“This is why I do what I do,” Nkrumah-Ture said. “We’re not a monolith. But even beyond that, I’m going to stand with anybody who’s for the right thing.”