Wednesday, November 28, 2007

There is Something about Philly

TwitThis


When your folks, Barry Michael Cooper, (I see you hustlin'),
sent me this video of Philly Swain, I thought.

Ummm. Perfect for my Philly post.

Between the Constitution, the Murders, Freeway and
the Liberty Bell, there is
something about Philly.

Philly has a had 400 murders in 2006.


This year they have had


OG, speaks on the young bucks,
So far this year, more than 315 people have been killed, a pace of well over a murder a day, police said. That’s a higher rate, according to FBI statistics, than much larger cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.

But Philadelphia’s situation is different today from years past in that more and more of the killers are teenagers, according to the Philadelphia Police Department and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office.

“They just shoot at anything and everybody, without even looking,” said Shawn Banks, a former drug dealer and gang member. Now in his 30s, he said the new generation that rules the streets is made up of kids who shoot first and never consider the consequences.

And they are murking popo out there.
Cassidy, 54, was one of three Philadelphia law enforcement officers shot in four days. The other two officers survived, but the crimes' brazenness shocked this city. A suspect in Cassidy's death was arrested in Miami on Tuesday.


Even tho' there has been much written about the murders little has
been written about the thousand's of Black men who got together for the
purposes of organizing the community against the murders that
are taking place in the hood.

Most notable about those present to informally address the gathering crowd was a proactive do-it-yourself approach to the rehabilitation of black communities. Peace Ombudsman Edgar Lee age 78 of West Philadelphia was representative, handing out flyers for the New World Development Corp. which encourages "Grass roots neighborhood responsibility and problem solving" through block meetings with young people.
The element of self sufficiency to the event reminded me of the
Million Man March, for Philly.

It almost seems like Black people need to come together
publicly, THEN proceed to get organized.

And quite honestly if there is follow through, which we are in fact
challenged in that area.
Nothing raised the energy in the crowd more than Bruce Crawley's economics lecture on opportunity, inequality, and the importance of supporting the black community by shopping at black owned businesses and developing a black economy. He also addressed how a shift in hiring practices could make it easier for ex-convicts to reenter the workforce. Clearly the crowd was interested in work. The potential could really be felt in the air. It's also the movement's response to both sets of money questions. How do they fund the project? According to Collins' rebuttal in the Philly Daily News, "The finances are evolving from private donations at present," and as long as people are wiling to donate their time, the needs of the project do not overwhelm the combined support of Charlie Mack and company, churches and black organizations, and some help from t-shirt sales. How will they address the root problem of young men who don't see legitimate economic opportunity? This same black community's growth into an increasingly self-sufficient economy; enterprise and employment.
In other Philly news, Freeway just released an album.

As did Jilly.

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Why do you think Philly is representative of so many
of the juxtapositions that make America what it is?

Why are there so many murders there?

Deep music history, found fathers connection,
egregious crime rate, fertile ground for emcees?

What is it?

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8 comments:

matt said...

yo, philly is and always has been representative of the worse aspects of life in the US. I will never forget when i first moved there and was listening to npr one morning. it was during union led construction delays around the building of the real world house and a union rep and a local economist were arguing. the economist brings up the fact that veteran's stadium (the old football stadium) had a judge and jail on site and in use during all football games as an explanation of the city's backwardness. the union rep responds by saying, "you think it's strange that we have a quick and effeicent justice system."

i thought to myself, no, its strange that you motherfuckers are so gotdamn wild that you need a gotdamn judge and jail at the fuckin football stadium. because life in philly has always been rough, philly has a very deprived sense of normal. there is a statue of the racist police commisoner/mayor frank rizzo that bears an ire resemblence to a statuesque hiel hitler pose. this is a cat who called black folk niggers during campaigns during the 80s and theres a statue of him. yo, philly has the angriest white people in the world and if white folks mad, you know black folk got a whole lot to be angry about.

the murder rate in philly has to be understood in philly's cultural terms. philly is a sick place.

A.u.n.t. Jackie said...

I just did a show in Philly (which i can't name but you can probably guess) and 20,000 people showed up to audition when we got to the stadium it looked like a refugee camp..i think those people just wanted to get out of there!

it was an ominous feeling!

M.Dot. said...

i thought to myself, no, its strange that you motherfuckers are so gotdamn wild that you need a gotdamn judge and jail at the fuckin football stadium.
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Hahahahahha. Your nuts.

yo, philly has the angriest white people in the world and if white folks mad, you know black folk got a whole lot to be angry about.
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You sure they beat Floridians and South Carolinians?

M.Dot. said...

i think those people just wanted to get out of there!

it was an ominous feeling!
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Like a Permanent Hurricane Katrina Exodus?

matt said...

you know that urban white anger is a real different type of anger than the rural down south anger, joe.

M.Dot. said...

you know that urban white anger is a real different type of anger than the rural down south anger, joe.
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How is Urban white Anger differnt from that southern shit.

Neither Ain't really checking for a negro unless they pushin' they babies or pushing a football.

LOL.

the prisoner's wife said...

i used to travel back & forth to philly a lot for my gig back when i was in ny. my impression of philly was that it was a smaller, dirtier new york. beloved's father & step mom live right across the bridge in jersey and they took us to some dive bar in north philly once...that shit looked like the Wire.

the other spot that's depressing as hell...Camden, NJ. that looked like the Corner, crackheads & zombies everywhere.

Model Minority said...

they took us to some dive bar in north philly once...that shit looked like the Wire.
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Uh.
Yeah.

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