Posts by Johnna with JDWeb
And A Little Child Shall Lead Them: King Hill’s Death Brings Call For Change
So much that’s happened in the last week has been emblematic of the chaos of 2020. Iconic civil rights leaders John Lewis and C.T. Vivian died. Federal agents snatched protesters off Portland streets at the Trump administration’s behest. Then, after months of downplaying their importance, President Trump finally admitted that masks are an effective means…
Read More This Year Juneteenth Is More Meaningful
Juneteenth is a celebration that can’t be contained in twenty-four hours, because while it commemorates the day that African Americans were truly freed from slavery, freedom is not finite. And so, this weekend as I watch Donald Trump hold a political rally at an indoor arena even as a deadly virus circulates, I will celebrate…
Read More The Statue Is Gone But There Will Always Be Another Rizzo
For three years, I called for the Frank Rizzo statue to be moved from its taxpayer-funded perch in the shadow of City Hall. But in the chaos leading up to the Kenney administration’s decision to remove the notorious monument this week, I learned that there are those who unabashedly support the brutality the statue represents. I learned…
Read More It Was Like Living At The Edge Of Chaos: The Day Coronavirus Came Home
The day coronavirus came home was unremarkable except for one fact. It was my wife’s birthday. I’d neglected to grab a card for her in the days leading up to March 20, but this year, unlike in previous years, I had a legitimate excuse. The world was turning upside down. Malls were closed. There were…
Read More Kobe Bryant Was Philadelphia, And So Much More
Kobe Bryant died at 41 in a helicopter crash on Sunday, and the shock of it made the world move a little slower. For some of us, it made time stop completely. That’s because Kobe was a cultural icon—a man too young, too famous, too well-known to die so suddenly. Yet we looked up and in…
Read More A Call For Change Is Bringing Police Commissioner Outlaw To Philly. Now It’s Time To Move Forward
This week, when Mayor Jim Kenney announced the appointment of Danielle Outlaw as Philadelphia’s next police commissioner, it was the next step in a journey I never foresaw. It began back in June when the Plain View Project revealed that over 300 Philadelphia police officers had posted racist or otherwise offensive material on Facebook. I called on the people to protest…
Read More Why Would Some Black Audiences Boycott The New Harriet Tubman Movie?
In a Black community dealing with the shooting deaths of numerous children in recent months, another story is vying for top billing — the proposed boycott of the Civil War-era biopic, “Harriet.” It seems to be part of a disturbing pattern of Black folks telling each other not to support Black films. And not just…
Read More #ManUpPHL on Classix 107.9 FM
#ManUpPHL is an anti-gun violence initiative bringing black men together to stop the shooting. Joel Wilson of 100 Black Men, Stanley Crawford of Black Male Community Council of Philadelphia and Michael Smokey Wilson of LESSONS talk to Solomon Jones about why their organizations are involved.
Read More Philly child shootings show we can’t wait for government to reduce violence
This past weekend in Philadelphia a 2-year-old was shot in the head and died. Just a day before, an 11-month-old baby was shot four times and lived. And while my prayer is that something good can come from this assault on our children, reality says prayer is not enough. Philadelphia’s black and brown community —…
Read More Rally For Justice Coalition Demands 3 Provisions Of Accountability In New PPD Contract
It’s happened again. A white police officer in Texas has shot and killed a black person in their own home. In a case reminiscent of Amber Guyger, the former Dallas cop convicted of killing 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean at home, a white police officer in Fort Worth has shot and killed a black woman in…
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