Philly’s Top Cop Wants 10,000 Black Men to Patrol Streets…
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The city’s embattled police chief, acknowledging that police alone cannot quell a run of deadly violence, has called on 10,000 black men to patrol the streets to reduce crime.
Sylvester Johnson, who is black, says black men have a duty to protect more vulnerable residents. He wants each volunteer to pledge to work three hours a day for at least 90 days.
“It’s time for African-American men to stand up,” Johnson told the Philadelphia Daily News, which first reported the story Wednesday. “We have an obligation to protect our women, our children and our elderly. We’re going to put men on the street. We’re going to train them in conflict resolution.”
The program’s backers include Dennis Muhammad, a former Nation of Islam official who has been hired by police departments in Detroit, Syracuse, N.Y., and other cities to conduct community-sensitivity training.
Philadelphia, the nation’s sixth-largest city, has nearly 1.5 million residents, 44% of them black. It has notched 294 homicides this year. More than 80% of the slayings involve handguns, and most involve young black males.
Here’s what’s being said across the sphere:
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In the simplest terms, Africans in the US and abroad have a major security crisis which is centuries old. To the extent that Black men are able to address that crisis with the assistance and leadership of Black security experts, this is an excellent and necessary idea.
All work proceeds from the point of security. Even criminal enterprises have to establish a baseline before they can grow. Nothing of substance and duration is possible without seurity. In the instance, the proposal is coming from the state, but it should be clear that even if 2,000 Black men in Philadelphia work together for a sustained period on this initiative some benefits will accrue.
It’s an idea whose time has come, gone and returned. Community policing used to be a requirement of Black life in 1880’s Oklahoma. Cities which are often equated with the Wild West just may require a similar “old school” solution. More on this later…
I love this idea! Who says nuggets of self-determination can’t come from strange places.
One question though…
Can we come too? We, meaning women.
After this…free-meal programs…after that…free alt-education programs…after that…well, we’ll need to shore up security greatly because that type of self-sufficient community would scare the crap out of everyone who knows it could eventually mean an end to their priviledged way of life.
At the very least, I like the fact that they are seeking solutions that aren’t the same as usual, dressed up differently.
Comment by Sportsdiva — September 17, 2007 @ 3:08 pm
I would imagine so. It’s time for a change.
Comment by Temple3 — September 17, 2007 @ 4:02 pm
T3 we’ve talked about the security issue before, but I’ve got issues with the concept as suggested here in practice and in theory. Theoretically there is no accountability mechanism embedded in this suggestion. Theoretically this is also based on a problematic conception of urban crime, and of the responsibility of the black citizen. Practically I don’t think people understand that moving from 10 on a neighborhood block to 10,000 doesn’t just complicate issues 1000 times, but something much more than that.
Comment by Lester Spence — September 17, 2007 @ 6:00 pm
In the heat of the heat-up, I just now seen’t you squirted a lil’mo gasoline on the fire…., it takes me back a minute or two…..,
Comment by cnulan — September 17, 2007 @ 7:34 pm
LKS:
I’m wondering how you might assess this “theoretically” beyond the question of Blacks as citizens. Clearly, Blacks have never been true citizens in this state. We are part of a class with frequently unenforceable rights. So, the question of our responsibility as citizens may be immaterial – in reality (as opposed to in this theoretical context – and the request of a STATE police entity).
I can’t argue that theoretically the premise is absurd.
However, if the question is about Sylvester Johnson’s ability to leverage state resources on behalf of a second or third-class class of people who lack sufficient levers to compel police action on their behalf, THEN, this becomes an interesting discussion.
In other words, I don’t know how to make the Po-Po do their phukkking job. I don’t know how to do that in New York or Cali or Detroit or Atlanta. Aside from firing or losing the balance in the line of fire – in order to expunge the prevailing Psychopathic Racial Personality and starting from scratch, I’m fresh out of solutions.
We still have taxation without representation – as do most citizens. So, from the standpoint of unenforceable rights, the proposition here is full of more potential than theoretical hazard.
Practical hazards are another matter all together.
Comment by Temple3 — September 18, 2007 @ 12:09 pm