Citizen blogger Peak Johnson graduated from high school last spring and is former editor of the North Philly Metropolis. A North Philadelphia resident, he returns to the Great Expectations blog to give his perspective on issues he thinks most affect city youth. He attended the District 5 event held Feb. 24. He reports:
Another chance to blog and another chance to be able to represent the youth of North Philadelphia. When Ms. Jodie Lowe sent out a list of the different spots of where the bloggers would be delivering the Great Expectations Agenda, I chose The Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News building. What better place to be for a future writer?
I had managed to catch the No. 3 bus to Broad Street, where my intention was to catch the next bus and be at my destination in no time. However, the one thing I overlooked was that this bus, the C, is never known to come on time. I knew where this building was located, unlike many others, and as I did for the December Citizens Convention I received a ride from a friend, except this time I called him asking if he could drop me off.
Arriving at approximately 7:10 p.m., I dashed into the building and was directed to the event. “Just follow the balloons,” the person manning the guard station in the entryway said in a rather dull voice. The balloons were nice, but what really seemed more appealing were the framed covers and articles of the Daily News and Inquirer lining the walls.
Following the hall of the endless covers, I saw project managers Holly Kirksey and Linda Breitstein, the two ladies whom Ms. Jodie had mentioned to me. They told me to go right on in as things were getting started and to grab some dinner. I didn’t grab anything to eat, but I wished I had as it smelled really good. Taking a seat, I heard the moderator explaining the night’s agenda and, like every good moderator does, casually make jokes that are funny. Looking around the room and seeing such a large group of people lets you know that there are others who actually care about Philadelphia’s future.
After the moderator concluded his explanation, we were split into small groups. Group A focused on Budget and Taxes, Reform and Leadership, and City Services. Group B focused on Crime, Poverty, and Transportation. Group C on Education, Knowledge Economy, and Arts and Culture. Group D focused on Planning and Zoning, Neighborhoods in Flux, and Environment. Flipping through the Great Expectations Citizens Agenda guide, the group discussion that seemed to affect youth in big ways was Crime and Poverty.
My group was filled with passionate individuals who felt that ex-offenders were not given enough chances to start over and that Mayor Michael Nutter’s ‘Stop and Frisk’ policy was already getting out of hand. One group member, Denise Clark, described how she’s already seen young men for no reason being felt on by police.
This brought up another issue: There really isn’t any community relationship with police, which seems to be a major problem. More engagement would help and would let others know that there are people you can talk, too. Don’t be afraid.
When asked what I thought about the issues of Crime and Poverty, I simply replied that there weren’t enough opportunities for youth. When given nothing to do, youth can get themselves into major trouble. When reading the agenda, one of the near-term actions for Crime was to focus on youth. This problem should have been at the top of the list. You have to make the youth of Philadelphia feel that they truly count for something and that they truly do matter.
What I like most about the top priority and near-term actions for the Poverty agenda item is that both seemed to revolve around youth. The agenda reads: “The wrong start in life may not doom a person, but it seriously dampens one’s chances. It’s easier to give young people the right start—in education, work, health, civic engagement, etc.—than it is to rescue them from self-destructive situations and attitudes later on.” The agenda goes on to say that barraging young, at-risk Philadelphians with opportunities and helping to inspire them to fulfill their potential can only help.
After these insightful conversations, our group leader, Ms. Beth, informed us that members of the City Council would be arriving soon and this was our only chance to ask the questions that meant most to us. She urged us to quickly come up with questions. It was hard at first because no one seemed interested in asking them any question. However, pencils and pens started moving, and people were rearing to go. Surprisingly, the Council members answered every question that they were asked truthfully. If they didn’t have an answer, they said so. This was shocking since I pictured them as stuck-up individuals who would attempt to beat around the bush. Some of them even stopped after the event was over to talk with some of the groups.
One of the questions from my group focused around the problem with the “Stop and Frisk” policy. The Council members said that if this problem continued, they would look into it. They definitely felt that police shouldn’t be feeling on others just because they had that kind of power.
And so, with a few closing remarks by the Council members and smiles from the audience, it was time to go. I enjoyed the night -- being able to soak up as much information as possible and seeing what I can do as individual to make Philadelphia a better place.
Comments (9)
"Being felt on by police" is how stop and frisk is described? I hope the writer notes how much the homicide rate is down by compared to this time last year.
See the handy homicide odometer at www.ppdonline.org and see if that isn't a dramatic improvement.
No time? No prob. For 2008, the murders as of March 4th are 51. For 2007, murders in Philly as of the same date were 65. That's a 21.54% drop from last year.
So do your friends want to abide by police direction or do they want more murder? Just a bit of food for thought. Police can't keep kids safe who are too full of themselves to realize that this is for them.
Posted by Anonymous | March 5, 2008 2:23 AM
Posted on March 5, 2008 02:23
Again, I'm reading through this and seeing the writer refer to "feeling on others just because they had that kind of power." This is a very naive view of what police are doing.
I really have to wonder why people stop their lives, come to these meetings, and of all the problems facing Philly, bad schools, underfunded police, filthy streets, corruption trials, etc., the problem that people find they must attend to is "feeling on others just because they [police] had that kind of power."
If you want to make Philly a better place, let police do the job that police do everywhere. If you live elsewhere, and I encourage you to do so in your life, all over this great nation, you'll find that "stop and frisk" is standard operating procedure, and regulated by law.
That means whether you hop a bus to Delaware, Delaware County, or NJ, you can be pulled over for cause, which includes talking on a cell phone now, stopped for cause, and yes, frisked for cause.
If this is what violent neighborhoods need more than ever, we can't worry about hurt feelings.
Posted by Anonymous | March 5, 2008 2:28 AM
Posted on March 5, 2008 02:28
I wonder if we should make it mandatory that all Philly residents live outside the city for time. Then they can really get an idea of what the social contract entails elsewhere in the nation.
Posted by Anonymous | March 5, 2008 2:30 AM
Posted on March 5, 2008 02:30
As I read the words of this young man who appears to have fixed his reportage radar on stop and frisk comments, I have to relay some of my life experience.
First, there was a young man I was assigned to care for as a student nurse. He was about this writer's age when he was shot and paralyzed from about the lower lungs down. He lived at home, but "home" was a drug addicted girlfriend's apartment where they lived off of his disability payment.
She took no care of him whatsoever, and he didn't like nurses or social workers coming in because he was still involved in things that got him shot in the first place.
He ended up back in the hospital, and that was the first time that I saw hip bone poking out of a bedsore.
How's that preferable to stop and frisk for 1000 kids without a gun, to find that one kid that let this young man end up dead at 24 years old related to too far gone bedsores and infection. He was a corpse who could breathe for a short time after his GSW (gun shot wound).
GSWs are bankrupting medicaid and social security and other social services that provide care to the indigent, which GSWs typically become after their injury.
Think about that and hopefully there'll be someone to talk about that (sorry, my back is too tired to come out to all these silly things where people make public their lack of education) to let you know that if you have a problem with stop and frisk, how do you manage not to be outraged by the violations of the civil rights caused by sui-genocide?
I hope you won't be in my med surg unit, young man. Chances are very good in Philly that you will.
Posted by Anonymous | March 5, 2008 2:40 AM
Posted on March 5, 2008 02:40
Let me try to describe that festering, stinking bedsore caused by this gun shot wound and paralysis -- it was more showing bone than red, degraded tissue inflamed by pus and infectious material that one should only ever encounter in that quantity on a petri dish.
Of course he was in agony. Morphine could hardly quiet him for long enough. He raged against his pain like a wounded animal that you could hardly lay hands on to help.
Still feel all righteous about stop and frisk? I think I have a civil right not to get shot, how about you?
Posted by Anonymous | March 5, 2008 2:43 AM
Posted on March 5, 2008 02:43
Oh, one more note -- he died in agony after living in agony after his GSW injury. That's the more typical GSW death, not fast, not in the street, not in a hail of blazing macho glory.
Slow, agonizing, terrifying, alone, and not able to breathe the smell of your own stench without gagging, as he said to me before he passed. He couldn't eat because he didn't want to touch his colostomy bag (which bypasses your stool past your torn up organs we can't sew back together). He was a toothpick who grew a face of death, teeth protruding, lips pulled back, eyes sunken in his sockets from round the clock fear.
Girlfriend's reaction? Who gonna pay my beels?
Posted by Anonymous | March 5, 2008 2:47 AM
Posted on March 5, 2008 02:47
Tour the rehab units in any major city, so you can see what a euphemism they are for GSW injury. Then we'll listen to people cry about stop and frisk. There are none so blind as those who will not see. Look around your North Philly neighborhood. Chances are that the young or middle aged guys on canes, wheelchairs, jazzies, etc. are GSW survivors who lost their ability to earn a living and support families.
They liken themselves to the living dead. But hey, nobody stopped and frisked their shooters, so all must be fabulous in the ghetto.
Posted by Anonymous | March 5, 2008 2:51 AM
Posted on March 5, 2008 02:51
Oh, one more item. Kid comes up to my door on Halloween. He's about four years old. Cute as a button. I have a fake rubber arm that I shake hands with the older kids for. I'm dracula.
Little guy wants to hold my rubber hand. I give it to him, tell him it's pretend.
He turns to his mom, and asks, "Mom, was she shot?"
Posted by Anonymous | March 5, 2008 2:54 AM
Posted on March 5, 2008 02:54
There isn't enough for the youth of the city to do?
How about homework?
Posted by rb | March 6, 2008 4:19 PM
Posted on March 6, 2008 16:19