Yes, we do live in a city where the police have targets on them, the judges roll, and the pols take money from drug dealers. The question is can Nutter change it by himself?

I know Street and Johnson both felt that their liberal views would save the day, with lots of reentry programming, anti-recidivism mental health, addictions, jobs, job training, GED, and other items on the inside, and outside. I'm not saying to chuck any of that. No way.

But it is no substitute for incarceration for a certain kind of offender -- the drug trade boys and the violent/highly anti-social offenders -- until they are physically unable to reoffend.

The reality that others point out that Street can't accept is that the black men NOT of their generation are Alton Coles, the rapper/music producer and crack dealer of SW Philly. They don't idolize MLK, Jr. They idolize Gotti, Sigel, Death Row records, rappers who give the impression that they are also murderous street dealers.

These guys don't want a job, even a "150% of minimum wage" job. Are you kidding me? Ask them.

They make tons selling drugs and feel important in the romanticized role as ganstah. They want to have money, babes, and bling. They want to be feared. They want to be Al Capone.

While Street and Sylvester can't imagine how anyone could want to be a ganstah, their own relatives are busy in the life. Street's nephew, Sylvester's anti-cop rapping son, the older relatives are in denial about the root of the problem, what their own families' young black men want for themselves.

A criminal is not the same as someone merely poor. Someone who is poor is not by definition honest. Philly regards all poor as worthy, virtuous, honest, and willing. They're not.

Philly has long had a history of black organized crime going back generations. Several good books have been written about it. I enjoyed "Black Brothers, Inc.: The Violent Rise and Fall of Philadelphia's Black Mafia" by Dr. Sean Patrick Griffin, a former PPD cop on the line. Those men taught their sons that black crime is the only way to be really powerful. The message stuck.

Philly has long had a hard core criminal element, and that element isn't interested in self-improvement.

Unlike the "bootstraps" generation of Street and Johnson, the ganstahs just want to sling 'caine and horse, and prove that they are "man enough" to pull the trigger.

They just want to stick up the faceless franchise (to them) for some easy money when life proves too difficult after you get addicted. Please note that every single cop shooter has had a job. They got hired in legit work. They just didn't respect what it gave them. It didn't give them what they wanted. Not Mustafa Ali; not Jerome Whitaker. Not John Lewis. They all had jobs. Ali had a business, also. They all had kids. It wasn't enough for them to go straight.

This is not a group that wants religion. It doesn't want legal work, which they regard as "fo' suckahs" as one guy explained to me.

They didn't like school and "sure as damn sight" don't want a GED, as one dealer told me.

And they don't care to be a married man and father of their children full time, so... what do you make of them?

They are only headed for the University of Graterford. That is, if they get arrested, and fail at what many boldly proclaim, rap style, that they'll "take out a cop" before they get arrested. Get it?

Can you listen to what they are telling you?

It's simpleminded to try to make a knucklehead into a CEO. They need to go in for a long stint where a long think might change their approach.

Don't belive me? Watch a few Alton Coles/Beanie Sigel videos, and please, let me know what you think. I'm pretty sure the lyrics spell it out. "sling 'caine" is from the Alton Coles video.

Are we going to respect criminals enough to listen to what they are telling us? They are telling us that they will wreak havoc unless you put them away for a long time.

That havoc includes shooting at, and killing, cops.

Two words: Three strikes.

Street wanted MORE, the Mayor's Office for the Reentry of Ex-Offenders to be a substitute for growth in our Philly prison system.

It just can't be. It's a critical adjunct. But Reentry programs can't address the hard core criminal element that just reoffends continuously in drugs and violence. They need to be locked down. There really is no alternative to jail/prison time for the hard core that makes up the scary revolving door offenders.

9,000 county prison beds is way too small in a city with a huge huge open air illegal drug trade that is like the 2nd or 3rd largest employer in the city.

We really honestly need about 30,000 county prison slots, and then we need to up our sentencing to send inmates out to the state system.

We can't change the huge number of crack babies, etc. who grew up without head start, without kindergarten, without preschool, without sober moms.

They are adults now. There's no pill that can undo brain damage of that kind. Yes, there is treatment for mental illness, but is there a way to reverse the deficits of the worst of the urban experience?

Be honest. We're going to be spending way more on prisons, and way more on social services and treatment for ex prisoners or current inmates. We're no different in that than Montana or NYC.

We just have to face it, and that was something that Street felt meant defeat. Why, I'm not sure. Prison to Street is bad, even if it gets someone clean, gets them in NA/AA, even if it gets them in programs and health care, job training, or mental health treatment. If we keep calling imprisonment defeat, we are going to keep having cop funerals and cop shootings, back to back.

Yeah, what's up with the 10,000 men? Seems like there are 10,000 men shooting.

Can we ever really have the NOI running an anti-crime movement? Please, can we be a little honest, and not so PC? Louis Farrakhan? Jeremiah Shabazz? Shamsud-din Ali? Philly is rife with NOI abuses that even the national Islamic leadership has called out.

It always creeped me out that Johnson is a black Muslim in a movement in Philly with such an incredibly strong history of black organized crime.

How can the police commish address the pervasiveness of crime in the black community, if he can't address the pervasiveness of crime in his the Masjids in Philly?

There is still a whole lot more work to be done, even if that is only taking a strong stand against crime, and not making excuses for it because of a conviction of victimhood.

Here's how the Ink's DeLuca reviews the lastest from Jay-Z:

"Having by his own account risen from dealing drugs in the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn to running a multinational empire that includes a clothing line, the 40/40 nightclubs in New York and Atlantic City, and partial ownership of the New Jersey Nets, the 37-year-old Jay-Z is a power broker conversant in the mythology of criminally minded entertainment.

"'Mind state of a gangster from the '40s meets the business mind of Motown's Berry Gordy,' he rhymes on "Pray," one of the six tracks on American Gangster on which he collaborated with that other pre-eminent hip-hop businessman, Sean "Diddy" Combs.

"'Turned crack rock into a chain of 40/40s / Sorry my jewelry is so gaudy . . . / America, meet the gangster Shawn Corey / Hey young world, want to hear a story . . . / I'm cut from the cloth of the Kennedys / Frank Sinatra having dinner with the Genovese / This is the genesis of a nemesis Mother America has not seen since the Harlem Renaissance birthed black businesses. . . . "

So, if you want to know why more criminals are shooting at cops, probably we want to look at what they really see as success.

They think that to be successful, you have to start in drugs, and not let anything stop you until you own nightclubs, basket ball teams, and record labels.

Roc-a-fella records is riddled with drug crime. The Smoking Gun outlines those legal documents.

Now every knuckle in Philly wants to true to get legit success by going the crime road. No one is telling them that it's stupid and that's why daddy's in jail.

"This is the genesis of a nemesis Mother America has not seen since the Harlem Renaissance birthed black businesses..."

The black businesses it refers to are Lucas type moneymakers.

This false respect is poison. This romantic ideal of the ghetto criminal, the poverty pimp, is foolish. This is the "genesis of a nemesis."

There has to be zero tolerance, and a genuine "broken windows" response, where lesser offenses are prosecuted. You can't just turn out the corners boys back to their turf now taken over by someone else, unless your crime strategy is to allow them to kill each other off, and a few cops, in the process.

Another two words: National Guard.

Dave, Street meant "10,000 dead men." Watch that fine print, bro.

This mess of a city is just making me sick! I can't understand why or how it got to this! There is just an utter disrespect for law enforcement by the citizens of this city known for it's "Brotherly Love" - yea right, whatever! And to be honest, it starts with the law enforcement agencies first! The lack of respect they have for the citizens and the lack of accountability across the board from the higher ups on down - that is to blame. If supervisors held those below them accountable for their actions and results, then it would cause a domino effect across the city; administrators holding teachers accountable, teachers holding parents accountable, parents holding students accountable, etc, etc -- this is where we need to start.

No one cares about anyone else in this city. Everyone is out for their own and because of this - there is no respect. I grew up an hour outside of Philadelphia and the amount of ignorance and pure laziness that is so paramount in this city is ridiculous! And most of it I see starting at a young age and when you look at the parents - well let's just say the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree. But I don't blame the parents entirely, I blame the system - the people that pass legislature - those are to blame. Because instead of focusing on real issues and real solutions to fix the mess this city is in, they're focused more on fatter pay checks!

I work my 40+ hours a week and daily I come across individuals, families, seeking assistance in the form of money and/or programs and I am astounded at how fast the system is willing to keep the ignorant - ignorant by being quick to grant the lazy cash assistance, free medical, food stamps and subsidized housing...yet are they pushing vocational training, survival skills? No - they don't...just keep them stupid so they can keep you in power and continue to have loads of times on their hands to commit crimes. Right!?

Meanwhile, those that work 40+ hours a week, pay their taxes and are good, law abiding citizens - watch out if you hit a bump in the road we call llife, because there is no help for you from anywhere because you make too much money or have too much in resources!! This is so backwards!! Instead of helping those that help the system, the system pushes them away saying "We can't help you with ANYTHING", but the system turns around and continues to hold the hands of those same people who continously commit crimes because they were never taught anything else.

The solution has to come from the top and those solutions need to be enforced by everyone - no breaks! Otherwise, what will this city become? Or is it too late already??

"Donyea Phillips, accused of shooting and wounding two police narcotics officers last Tuesday, did not show up for his preliminary hearing yesterday."

--from today's DN by Damon Williams

Q: HOW did Phillips get out of prison? How could he get bail after being charged with shooting two cops?

A: How else will the city have drug dealers if we don't bail them out right away?

Every other county surrounding Philly, indeed, whole states HOLD those charged with serious crimes, especially those who have a history of not showing up for things.

They are held until their court date. This is why there is so much waste in the courts -- endless no shows equals endless rescheduled court dates, and double the costs the taxpayer pays for prosecution, defense, and judge each time.

When is the paper going to audit the way the system processes these worst offenders?

Phillips has already shown he will shoot a cop. Now the city courts have certified that he will get one more chance to shoot at them when they try to serve his bench warrant.

There are 10,000 people with outstanding bench warrants.

Q: What does 10,000 outstanding bench warrants in Philly make the city?

A: An open air prison where the criminals get a chance to 1. keep committing crimes 2. kill pesky witnesses 3. stay on the run until they get into a cop shootout.

We need to double or treble our city prison space, period. Period.

Anyone that can be sent upstate has to go now to make room, but that will only be 2000 people, depending on the state's get-tough ideas. Rendell has already made it clear that he wants "early release." He wants drug criminals to get early release to make room for the drug criminals who played the system and got into shootouts with cops.

Brilliant.

Jackie it's not too late. But a straight Democratic ticket seems like it isn't working for Philly. Are these folks going to get tough on crime? Not if they know they can rely on your vote no matter how bad YOUR streets get.

Send them a message -- it stops now. Vote for the candidate that delivers the goods on crime, no matter the party.

Donyae Phillips was let out? So he could show up to court on his own recognizance? I'm pretty sure that if home slice can't spell recognizance, he's not gonna show up for his court date for shooting two cops. There are people who have to be held to show up for their court dates. Is that not done at all in this city? You can shoot two cops, and as long as they don't die, you're granted bail?

When are the dingydoo judges in this town going to use their heads? Not every lead paint baby is going to be able understand why it's better to show up for court than not. They think they just got a "get out of jail free" card, so long as you don't get caught.

What do you think they'll be willing to do to make sure that doesn't happen?

People with warrants are much more likely than not to be the ones who shoot at cops, and pretty much all of the rest of us. Hint, hint.

What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? The entire issue with Donyae Phillips should be investigated. Whose to say he wasn't framed to say he did the shooting....Were there any finger prints taken from the gun, etc.?...etc. I believe he is one of those young men who was caught up in something he had no idea how to get out of. I hope he will get a chance to talk to a social worker or someone to make sense of why he was even there in the first place. See if there were issues in his past that steered him in this direction, etc.

I am still young and it's been a long time since I lived in Philly and I am sooo glad that I got out when I did. I remember Wilson Goode (sp?) and the properties which have his potential. How many remain and how much more the city of brotherly shove is becoming the city of bloodshed?
When I return to visit my father in N. Philly, my stomach starts to turn. Why? I see the grafitti everywhere. Thugs marking their territory and artists expressing themselves. We can speculate for months on how it got this way. Honestly, we know. But now it is time to throw the hammer down. This will be the only way. I know.. it will get worse before it gets better because we always wait until something truly horrific happens. I am suprised also that this city's strife goes practically unnoticed in the national eye. Perhapse more light should be shed on the situations and the pressure on the PPD and politicians will force moves to positive change. We know this is not a matter of 'If', but WHEN?
If you take away a child's (thugs) toy (drugs) they cry and throw a temper tantrum (violence). Then, after they are done, peace will prevail. But this is only a cycle. In many years to come, violence will return, and then we will become intollerant of it and erradicate it. And then, it will return years after again. We must stand strong, teach our children respect for every living thing.

So i guess when the police murder people its o.k ut when the roosters come home to crow were all supposed to feel bad,right ?? Not I ..

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