Posts Tagged ‘Philadelphia’
If we’re declaring a gun violence emergency, don’t just flood Black neighborhoods with cops
With gun violence in Philadelphia out of control, politicians and members of the media are calling on the mayor to declare a state of emergency. So far, the mayor has refused to do it, and unless we’re talking about something other than flooding our neighborhoods with cops, I think he’s right, and here’s why. Declaring…
Read More The gun violence must stop, and here’s what we’re doing about it
We must stop killing each other. Because if we don’t win that battle, none of our other wins will matter. We can’t keep going through weekends like the one we just had, where nine shootings left 3 dead and eight wounded. We can’t keep going through years where the level of gun violence is higher…
Read More The City plans to spend $70 million on gun violence. But it’s not how much you spend. It’s how you spend it.
Politics is the art of the deal, and yesterday, City Council reached a compromise to spend $70 million fighting gun violence. That’s good. But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that money, in any amount, is the cure for what’s happening on our streets, because unlike politicians, the streets don’t compromise. Bullets don’t compromise. Death…
Read More As masks come off in Philly there’s reason for hope
These days there’s a lot to talk about in Philly. In the face of a gun violence crisis that’s killing Black men in droves, City Council voted to ban dirt bikes, the state legislature is trying to bring back voter suppression, and while the little guy gets harassed for every penny, big businesses don’t pay…
Read More Thomas Farley delivered the final, ugly insult to the MOVE family, and now he’s paying the price
First, the Philadelphia Police bombed the MOVE house, killing 11 people, including five children. Then the bones of one of the children was shuttled between the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton, and finally, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley decided to cremate and dispose of some of the remains without telling the family. From the outset, these…
Read More My wife saw a victim of violence, and the trauma brought tears to her eyes
The daily headlines make it sound so matter-of-fact: “Violence in Philly includes two fatal shootings, a double stabbing, and six wounded by gunfire.” Except it’s never that simple, because behind each headline, there is a family, a community, a life. There is someone whose death creates trauma for all who see it. This weekend, my…
Read More After 11 are shot in 24 hours, Philly’s homicides aren’t someone else’s problem. They’re ours
Eleven people were shot in less than 24 hours in Philly this weekend, and if we continue at this pace, we’ll have 600 homicides in Philadelphia by year’s end. That’s 600 funerals, 600 grieving families, 600 futures erased—600 lives lost in a cycle that is vicious in more ways than one. This is not someone…
Read More You want to stop gun violence? Listen to the streets
Gun violence has taken our peace, our prosperity, and our people. It’s left far too many of us in a constant state of fight or flight, wondering if the next moment might be our last. In a city where 499 homicides took place last year, we can’t sit here hoping things will get better. We…
Read More The ‘twice as good’ rule for Black leaders brings unfair scrutiny to Danielle Outlaw that Thomas Farley dodged
We have to be twice as good to get half as much. That key verse from what I like to call “The Big Book of Black Home Trainin’” came to mind as I watched twin controversies grip the city over the last few weeks. One scandal involved the Black female police commissioner Danielle Outlaw, who…
Read More Philly Fighting COVID disaster strikes another blow to vaccine trust in Black communities
The Philly Fighting COVID debacle, where a group of self-described “college kids” with little-to-no medical experience was given a city partnership to run a mass vaccination program, is more than a national embarrassment. It could very well worsen the Black community’s mistrust of the COVID-19 vaccine—a mistrust our community can’t afford. Having watched for months…
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