An Intern's Tale: Can the City Save Itself? (Philly Confidential)

An Intern's Tale: Can the City Save Itself?

We know it is out there, but how tangible is the violence that that become endemic in so many Philadelphia neighborhoods? The '07 homicide count hit the symbolic 100th mark Saturday and a handful of kids—aged 2 to 12—were shot across the city just during this past week alone.

Still, these horrors don't really happen to people we know, right?
Stray bullets are always confined to some other neighborhood where people like us don't really go to unless we are lost or because our job sends us there, correct? Therefore this violence must be someone else's problem; just another topic of conversation among civilized Philadelphians.

WAKE UP! All of us really need to start caring about Philly's crime epidemic.
Why?

Because any of us, regardless of race or class, can fall victim to it. Thugs just don't harass their neighbors; they terrify any normal human being who crosses their paths.

Just take a look of our sweet intern Diana. Who would want to hurt her?

Diana told us that she was a victim of Philadelphia's ever growing population of nefarious baby-faced teens.

In late October, the Temple senior was riding her yellow Schwinn across the now flattened Richard Allen Homes based around 11th and Parrish Streets in North Philly.
It was a little after 4 pm and Diana has just gotten out of class.

"I noticed a biker ahead of me who turned" down another street.
Diana didn't really think much of it and continued deeper into the garden-styled housing projects.

Two blocks later, "I noticed a group of kids huddling behind me. A split-second later I was on the ground."

One of the kids had just thrown a basketball towards Diana's head. Luckily, her tire took the impact instead of her face.
"Half of the kids split and the others were laughing," she said.
Diana got back on her bike and sped off.

Diana's story may seem trivial compared to the shootings we hear about on the news, but her tale isn't unique.

Another one of PC's pals was spit on, yes nasty gross phlegm, while she was out riding her bike around 19th and Girard in January.
The culprits were young teen boys.

On Saturday, PC was peddling across from Girard College when a teenage boy urged his gal pal to chase after her screaming "punch her, get her" as PC rode by.

Philadelphia's idle youth has become the root of this city's spiraling downfall, said a Boston-based economist during an interview last week explaining why Philly is digging itself deeper into an inescapable pit of despair.

If we don't figure out a way to get these youths off the streets and into legal-paying jobs, they'll stay thugs until they end up in jail, dead, or critically wounded. No matter the form of their ultimate fate, their lives will continue to cost us tax dollars and more importantly our sanity.

The seemingly inevitable future of the streets is even more freighting than the present.
Even if we somehow magically transform this generation of teens from hoodlums into working-class citizens, the poverty and hopelessness that created them will remain intact until some sort of major reform is demanded by the citizens of this great city. There aren’t enough stable families and decent schools to support the thousands of parentless poorly educated kids that fill the city's ever growing criminal class.

Has Philadelphia reached the point where it is too late to turn itself around?
Ignorance is bliss, right? Not anymore.

Posted on April 1, 2007 8:09 PM | Permalink

Comments (1603)

Gtown_teach:

We all know Asian Americans are the ones picked on the most. They get robbed, beat-up, and mocked... Until, they shoot a would-be robber in the head. Tell her not to take any crap off those thugs! They all think their tuff, untill you call their bluff!

Posted by Gtown_teach | April 2, 2007 1:22 AM

Posted on April 2, 2007 01:22

Beavis:

Yeah! Shoot em! Fire's Cool.

Posted by Beavis | April 2, 2007 1:56 AM

Posted on April 2, 2007 01:56

Butthead:

Shut up fart knocker!

Posted by Butthead | April 2, 2007 1:57 AM

Posted on April 2, 2007 01:57

C-Lo:

The truth of the matter is this - the entire value system, or lack thereof, within many of these communities is the root cause of the violence in Philadelphia. When we, as a community, allow parents to become derelict in their responsibilites, allow excuses to be made for inappropriate & destructive behavior, and turn a blind eye to teaching correct moral, social & coping skills then we find ourselves scrambling to "stop the violence" in our city. The sad reality is that when we, as a community, say:it's no big deal to get 4 different young women pregnant and not provide for those children, or it's ok for young girls to want a baby at 14 with no means of support, and that it's not important for our children to know that education is the key to freeing oneself from poverty & despair then we set ourselves up for the inevitable spread of disrespect and violence.
It's time that we begin to distinguish between right and wrong without skewing the line with excuse after excuse. Likewise we, as a community,must begin to uphold and live a moral and value centered life setting the example in the community rather than hiding it away in our homes.
The answer is not found in banning firearms, increasing police, blaming the school system, or the job market rather it's found directly in the home and the messages(or lack thereof) being sent to the kids of this city. Until we change the overall mentality, the violence will spread and become worse.

Posted by C-Lo | April 2, 2007 9:37 AM

Posted on April 2, 2007 09:37

Dee:

Amen, C-Lo. Respect for self and others comes from within, and good role models. There is nothing "earth-shattering" about respect and responsibility, or keeping your hands to yourself. One's "dire circumstances" (ie poverty or unemployment, etc.) are no excuse for attacks on others (or their property).

Posted by Dee | April 2, 2007 10:08 AM

Posted on April 2, 2007 10:08

Mike Bucceroni:

Headline from today's Philly.com website.....

A city's cry: 'Enough is enough'

David/Simone............I think people are reaching the point of Kifaya. Then, and only then, do things have the potential for change.

Some of the other posters to this thread are exactly right. Sylvester Johnson is exactly right when he says that the city can not "police its way out of this".

It has often been said that the primary unanswered question transitioning from the 20th century to the 21st is the one that reads "How shall we live".

Maybe now is the time to start formulating an answer.

Kifaya in Egyptian Arabic (كفاية) is a word meaning "enough". The term is used to indicate that the user has "had enough" or idiomatically can't bear or can't take it any more.

Posted by Mike Bucceroni | April 2, 2007 6:18 PM

Posted on April 2, 2007 18:18

Suz:

Your job as a reporter is to take information and make it interesting and sensational. Within your role as a journalist, I think you really do care about certain issues and advocacy. But advocacy and activism isn't your primary goal. Solutions are more like an afterthought to a story. Journalism is very respectable no doubt, but maybe it would be beneficial to speak to academics in other areas as well as read articles from sources other then newspapers.

FYI, I just learned that part-time jobs correlate with several risks for adolescents. These risks include gateway drug use; including cigarette smoking, sexual activity, lower grades, and less time studying.

Also, you say, "These horrors don't really happen to people we know, right?" You also say violence can happen to anyone "regardless of race or class." Maybe I'm just playing the devil's advocate, but I'm curious to what you mean by these statements and where your intent lies within each target audience.

Posted by Suz | April 3, 2007 2:46 AM

Posted on April 3, 2007 02:46

phoenix arizona sal:

to the young lady that was accousted by the young "african-americam youth: first off i'm glad you and your friends were not seriously hurt. second get your degree and get the hell out of philly. the current face of philadelphia is "BLACK AND POOR". i was born and raised in philly. i graduated from west philadelphia high school in 1969. i have been living in phoenix,arizona noew for 7 years. philadelphia like most large mid-west and east coast cities have no economic base(i.e. small businesses) which are the largest employer. arizona is extreamly business friendly. after you and your friends graduate go west.

Posted by phoenix arizona sal | April 4, 2007 4:23 PM

Posted on April 4, 2007 16:23

SRW:

Sheesh. And I thought the verbal abuse I endured riding in certain neighborhoods was bad.

Posted by SRW | April 7, 2007 2:03 PM

Posted on April 7, 2007 14:03

Diana's cute! That's right. Get outta this city

Posted by n | April 8, 2007 7:54 PM

Posted on April 8, 2007 19:54

razar ringtones:

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Posted by razar ringtones | October 23, 2008 10:23 PM