sex, drugs & race in philly: if it was some white kids that got shot, would the problem be solved already?

September 10, 2007 (from philly.com)
Where are Philly businesses on violence?


Headinthesand.jpg: no the picture didn't copy, but the thinking sure did.

Phil Goldsmith, former managing director of the city of Philadelphia, and now chief of
Ceasefire PA, recently spoke with Inquirer columnist Monica Yant Kinney about
businesses stepping up to helpaddress the worsening problem of violence and guns in
Philadelphia. Not usually one to hold his tongue, Goldsmith opened fire (sorry) on
business people for being more talk than action. Yant Kinney gaveus her unpublished
notes on th short conversation, printed here with Goldsmith's permission:


     Yant Kinney: What will it take to get outcry from the business
     community and/or the rest of white/powerful Philly about the
     violence? Will it really take the shooting of a kid from Penn?

     Goldsmith: Unfortunately, the answer is yes. If the homicides were
     occurring in Center City, God forbid, as opposed to where they do
     occur, you would have a much more engaged business community, a much
     different rallying impact. ... The business community, the Chamber
     [of Commerce] is actually on record in favor of one gun per month.
     They’re in favor of reporting lost/stolen [guns]. It’s one thing
     being in favor of something. It’s another actively getting your
     constituents involved.


     Yant Kinney: Has the business community been asked to get involved?

     Goldsmith: I don’t know if they’ve been asked, but I don’t think they
     have to be asked. My point is, what’s going on in Philadelphia, as
     well as in Reading, as well as Lancaster, as well as Allentown, this
     is just not a Philadelphia issue. It’s having an economic impact in
     the city. When Philadelphia makes the national news as it has, the
     past several months, there’s no way in the world that helps the
     business community, economic development or tourism in that city. It
     shouldn’t take having a white kid killed in Center City to galvanize
     the community in this city. It shouldn’t be that difficult for people
     to connect the dots. They know what to do if they want tax breaks.
     This is as important to the vitality of this city as well as the
     livability of the people who live here.”


Goldsmith also said, in a paraphrase from Yant Kinney, that the first thing businesses
and universities ought to do is have a "more vocal role" in Harrisburg, where legislative
efforts to fight the problem consistently have faced impasses or been watered down.


We intend to ask the Chamber for response. Yes, the Chamber, led by Joseph Frick of
Independence Blue Cross, and some other business people have been speaking up and
taking some action about the violence and the need for busineess community involvement.

But are they the exceptions?
Tell us: What other business people are really stepping up? Funeral directors?

Yes that is the question, isn't it? Why does it take the blood
of the privileged to fight the right fight? If those same folks
were suffering in Dafur, if there was oil we could grab there,
we'd be in there solving the problem. But no money can be made
in the ghetto, they think. More aptly, there is no money they
are willing to share that they make out of the ghetto. They
rape you and me for our gold and dollars, but give very little
in return. Substistence is not enough. Handouts are not enough.
The time has come to create life for all Americans to prosper in.
Yank your stupid fuckin' head out of the sand! (b4 its too late)