Philadelphia - From Struggling Against The Establishment Over Injustice To A Partnership With Them To Become A Sanctuary City

As I reported several months ago - the state of Pennsylvania is rated the most deadly state for Black people.  The city of Philadelphia delivers its fair share of corpses of Black males to allow this state to retain this designation.   This point will go relatively unchanged because the bias in Black America figures that this deadly distinction belongs to Mississippi or Alabama.  This can't be happening in the enlightened North.

New Pittsburgh Courier: Pennsylvania Tops List Of States For Black Homicides

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Blacks Killing Blacks In Tragic Numbers (2007)

Philadelphia is a city of constant struggle.  As a native Philadelphian I was aware while growing up of the struggle against the Rizzo Administration and Police force.  Claims of police brutality, harassment and illegal arrests have long dogged the department.  

These concerns were had in the wake of the city being persistently represented with an annual murder count that topped 250 dead bodies each year.  In recent years up to 80% of these homicides were of Black people.

As a result of this struggle for justice, community safety, quality schools and economic development the activist forces operating within the city of Philadelphia worked to install their slate of candidates into the machine that controls their city.    With each passing election they drew closer to their goal.

This post is a focus upon how Philly is faring now that all of the "Mission Accomplished" signs have been hung around the city, representing the political victories of the political operatives.

The short summary is that despite having favorable people in place the key issues that the activists took the previous machine to task over remain unmet.

• Justice - remains elusive 
• Community Safety - still not set but thankfully an increasing number of community organizations are fighting to maintain the streets in their own community
• Quality Schools - the scandal plagued schools in Philadelphia continues to have an imbalance of quality high schools and failing high schools
• Economic Development - if you are not in downtown Philadelphia there is a limited amount of economic development to be expected

When those fighting for justice "win" a favorable slate of individuals in this realm yet still feel shorted - What do they do?

They shift over to a new issue which they and their new "Permanent Friends" in power can agree upon - Make the city of Philadelphia a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants!

The list of favorable individuals in power are all from the same party and machine:

* Mayor Nutter
* DA Seth Williams
* Chief Ramsey
* Solicitor Romulo Diaz
* Sheriff & Chief Jailer John Green
* Public Defender Ellen T. Greenlee 

In one smooth running machine you have 

1) Those who arrest 'em
2) Those who detain 'em for trial
3) Those who prosecute 'em
4) Those who defend 'em
5) Those who judge 'em
6) Those who drive them to Greaterford Prison

ALL CONSPIRING on the same MACHINE.

With the Sanctuary City drive it provides an opportunity for the entire community of activists and officials to come together in agreement on an issue all the while the original concerns that lead them to power remain unmet.

I am an outsider to the city of Philadelphia.  I have no ability to force them to do anything.   I can attest to the environment because I have a large number of friends and family that live in the region.  Many of them have existed the city because of the eroding conditions and the crime rates that exist.

In my opinion the reason why the activist community has taken up the Sanctuary City movement is because this allows them to connect with government whereas the bulk of the other problems require them to directly address the individual people in the city - the parents who are not managing their children in school, the criminals who are assaulting the community and the skills gap which prevents attractive companies to invest in areas other than downtown.

If these "Activists of Leisure" want to shift the focus on an easy win this is their call for their city.  They are using imagery of Arizona as a means of having the city to block the use of the relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation of people who are illegally in this country.

The problem is that their actions are not put in check with regard to some greater calling to manage all of the quality of life issues in the city, particularly the ones that leaning on the government to do right will fix.   As the murders continue on the streets the activists have found their new groove.

I am not suggesting that the activist community in Philadelphia is unable to do more than one thing at a time.

The point remains, however, that after decades of struggle they merely have favorable people in power with the same results largely occurring.  This calls in to question the actual motivation of the entire movement all along.

It seems clear that instead of tough decisions that need to be made - which would likely stem the exodus of solidly middle class and working families  - the activists would rather stay on the struggle, unconcerned about the full impact of their antics.  Most assuredly not holding themselves accountable for the shortfall in results if it means that they have to change if better results are to be had.