The following is an attemp to repost a blog post that somehow didn't make it onto the blog yesterday. Given yesterday's continued slaps in the face of Philadelphians by the state house of representatives, all of the sentiments still apply.
Yesterday I got on a bus leaving from the school district administration building with a group of students from the Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Social Justice (aka the Peace School) and made the 103 mile trip to the state Capitol building in Harrisburg. The 27 students from the Peace School had a special stake in this rally, having lost one of their own, Terence Adams, when he was shot and killed on a playground in E. Mount Airy on July 12, 2006 at 4:30 in the afternoon.
Terence was hanging out with a group of other guys who had apparently been in a fight earlier in the day. When their opponents from that earlier fight drove up to the playground, Terence's "friends" fled the area. Not knowing what had happened earlier, Terence remained, and was cut down in a hail of gunfire.
On the bus with me were Ni'mat Guyton and Martell Davis, two of Terence's close friends. Ni'mat had known Terence since he was about 12 and Martell, who had recently moved from Detroit, had known him for a couple years. I watched Ni'mat and Martell as they interacted with the other students and with the teachers and other adults who were helping to organize the bus ride. They stepped up and helped, without question, whenever they were asked, carrying boxed lunches from bus to bus, moving boxes of t-shirts around, laughing and joking around with my cameraman Gene and sound technician Joe.
They were friendly, polite and free of any of the cynicism or "hardness" that I would expect from two guys who had lived with and seen so much death and tragedy. I was a teacher for five years and had interactions from students from all different backgrounds - rich and poor, black, white, asian, hispanic, some extremely bright and talented, others who had to work hard for every grade they got. I learned a lot about parenting from these students and I know that somewhere, there are some strong parents and role models in Ni'mat's and Martell's lives. And then I sat and talked with them, interviewing them on camera to find out why they were on this bus and what they hoped to accomplished.
Both of them demonstrated a degree of sincerity, emotion and eloquence that proved that their desire to see an end to the scourge of gun violence, which had taken one of their own, was coming from a place deep within them. It wasn't an attempt to grab headlines or win elections or secure funding. They just want the killing to stop. For Ni'mat, Terence was like a brother. He was also the third close friend that Ni'mat has lost to gun violence. As hopeful as he still is about the possbility of an end to all the killing, he's also realistic and expressed, almost matter-of-factly, that he thinks that maybe he shouldn't make any more friends, if they're just going to be killed.
They just wanted to tell the story of their friend, Terence, to the only people in this state that can make a difference. They stood there with several hundreds of people, many holding pictures of the loved ones who had been taken from them. Ni'mat actually got up and addressed the crowd. With his booming voice filling the area in front of the capital, he asked simply that those charged with protecting the public, chosen by the people to enact policies that are supposed to help us and keep us safe, give young people like him a chance to reach their full potential without being cut down like Terence was - playing basketball at a neighborhood playground. And what did they get in return?
A big, fat slap in the face or maybe a pistol whipping is more appropriate. Though, the way things were organized, with the rally and prayer vigils on the outside and the legislature in their isolation booth on the inside, no one could know as they boarded the buses to go home, that their state legislators had effectively decriminalized murder:
Pennsylvania already allows people to use deadly force against intruders in their homes. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Steven Cappelli, R-Lycoming, also would allow people to use firearms in or around their businesses and cars if they face death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping or rape.
Advocates call this type of bill "stand your ground" legislation.
"This proposal takes the fear away from people who want to protect their family from others without fear of legal retribution," said Rep. John Pallone, D-Westmoreland.
...
Cappelli said, "This is about the growing number of men and women who have purchased a weapon... [so] that they may stand their ground and defend themselves."
The bill passed, 151 to 42.
Thank you Reps. Pallone and Cappelli. Thanks for answering Ni'mat's and Martell's concerns by telling them, go ahead when you turn 18, arm yourselves. You're kind of on your own until then. Thanks for telling them that you can't do anything to keep guns from getting into the hands of the bad guys. Thanks for telling them that you don't care what's going on in that city down in the southeastern corner of the state. Thanks for telling them that the your interpretation of the 2nd amendment, an interpretation sponsored by the NRA, is more important than the lives of the 292 people who have been killed in Philadelphia this year - 85% by guns.
If a state senator is going to laugh in the face of one of our city councilman and tell him "you're wasting my time." If a coalition of mayors from across the state - Allentown, Williamsport, York, Philadelphia, Scranton, Bethlehem, Lancaster and Reading - can't get them to listen, what chance do we have? What was today's word of the day? Oh yeah... secession.