Posts by Solomon
ManUpPHL wins major City grant for anti-gun violence work
Yesterday when I learned that ManUpPHL was among several community organizations to receive City funding to fight gun violence, I was moved. Moved not only by the $242,000 grant, which will go to pay stipends and create employment opportunities for the men we serve, but by the journey we’ve taken to grow this movement. I…
Read More Disturbing testimony in Dougherty-Henon trial from former L&I Commissioner
Imagine you’re the commissioner of a city department called Licenses and Inspections. Your department is in charge of issuing building permits and inspecting construction jobs, among other things. And you make a good living as L&I Commissioner, so you can’t afford to let anyone mess that up. Now, imagine you get called into a meeting…
Read More There will be another Jon Gruden in the NFL. He’s probably already there
For those who believe in swift justice, Jon Gruden’s downfall seems to fit the bill. After all, Gruden’s resignation Monday as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders came just hours after the New York Times reported that he sent racist, homophobic, and misogynistic emails to NFL executives for the better part of seven years.…
Read More Columbus did not discover America, but we have now discovered who Columbus truly was
In the past, today would be called Columbus Day. It’s a holiday that celebrates the man who supposedly discovered America. But this is not the past, and today there’s a real question about how someone can discover a place where people have already lived for hundreds of years. The other problem with Columbus Day is…
Read More Grumpy Old Men battle over Biden social infrastructure cost
When Joe Biden took office, he said he wanted to expand programs for people. Expanded Medicare, discount daycare, free community college, free pre-k, paid family leave. It’s the kind of plan that would help nearly everyone who needs it—young or old, black or white, republican or democrat. And it was a big vision, with…
Read More Defacing the George Floyd bust just the latest chapter in a long line of racist acts
When I learned that a bronze bust of George Floyd had been defaced in New York, I was sad, and then I was angry. Because this was not the first time that a monument to Black justice was attacked. In December, the Proud Boys, burned two Black Lives Matter banners at Black churches. The memorial…
Read More George Floyd’s sister is way past angry, just like the rest of us
Bridgett Floyd, sister of George Floyd, spoke for all of us when she told CNN, “I’m past upset, I’m past angry.” She was talking about Congress failing to pass police reform after the world watched her brother being choked to death by former cop turned convicted killer Derek Chauvin. And you know what? Bridgett Floyd…
Read More Why didn’t America believe the Black women who accused R. Kelly?
When jurors found R. Kelly guilty of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges, the verdict not only exposed Kelly’s own perversion, it also revealed much about our society. For decades, Kelly had faced allegations that he was a child molester. He was tried in 2008 on child pornography charges, but with his acquittal in that…
Read More With 400 homicides in Philadelphia, we must do all we can to make the murders stop
Philadelphia hit 400 homicides this weekend. We haven’t seen those kinds of numbers since 2006, and even then, it was at year’s end. We are in the kind of homicide crisis that reminds me of the crack era, when drug dealers were slugging it out over territory and cash, and the lawlessness could at least…
Read More Dear Congress: Pass police reform or prepare to be voted out
We can’t wait anymore. That’s what I thought about when I learned that there would be no deal on police reform between Democrats and Republicans. The two sides had been talking for months about doing something to reign in the unchecked power of police. Something that would deal with the racism that makes Blacks…
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