This picture was from this Philthy Inquirer article (link). I try not to curse or anything, but my thoughts reading this article and seeing this picture were best summarized as “WTF?”
It’s notable that this Inquirer piece labels Philly “America’s most violent city” (quantitatively true). Alas, I’m sure the folks in Baltimore and Chicago are going to have something to say about that.
I expect that the Inquirer series, which is saying that the Philadelphia criminal justice system is on the verge of collapse, will end with part of the conclusion being that more gun control is necessary for all (despite the clarity of fact that gun crimes are not effectively being prosecuted and punished).
But that’s not the thrust of the piece. The discussion is the inability to effectively prosecute violent criminals in the City of Brotherly Love. I don’t understand why the Inquirer would wait until DA Lynne Abraham is leaving office to trash her record? Perhaps their staff has been too busy between hating Bush and Cheney for 8 years and blowing Obama bubbles for a year and a half or so to recognize what’s happening on the streets of Philadelphia.
During the (real or perceived) good times in the economy, nobody seemed to want to bother talking about the state of affairs in urban communities. Being that the most affected group is Black Americans or African Americans, you’re largely (not entirely) addressing that. Given that any person of European descent who addresses the issues gets put in the PC World penalty box, and anyone within the Black community who attempts to address the issues gets called a sellout or Uncle Tom (vide Bill Cosby) or worse (vide Rev Jesse Jackson saying he wanted to “cut his nuts out” referring to President Obama), it’s difficult to discuss.
When people take the PC shackles off and start talking about the real problems in urban areas without using “crutches” like racism or guns (or the politically correct favorite “it’s socioeconomic” gobbledy goop), you’ll see real positive change. But don’t hold your breath.