I grew up in North Philadelphia in the 60s and 70s, a time in the Black community when being in the community meant attending predominantly Black elementary, middle, and high schools. Most can remember visiting friends’ homes where there was actually a father in the house, and most fathers had decent jobs, be it in manufacturing or public service. Rare was the single mother working two jobs or long hours like it is today.
In 1960, three-quarters of Blacks were born into a family of a married couple. Today only one-third of black children have two parents in the home.
One cause of the decline of the Black family was the result of the relocation of good jobs from urban areas, which threw many working men into unemployment causing stress on the family finances. Underground methods of earning money arose in urban communities, and crime increased. Organized crime by low-level street gangs began to take control as cocaine sales and use strangled Black communities all over the country.
Today, we are dealing with an even harsher problem of community violence and the restraint, repression, and lack of funding needed in each community to combat the violence by the more powerful.
As our City mourns the death of Temple University’s Police Sergeant Christopher Fitzgerald we also mourn the deaths of so many of our young people murdered at the hands of other young people who look like us. The Black community is once again grieving the death of a young Black Man!
My question is. Why isn’t more funding distributed into the Black Community to well-deserving individuals and organizations to combat this violence epidemic?
Wednesday, March 8, 2023, Lt Governor Austin A. Davis led his first Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency Meeting; and the Commission approved a $1.8 Million grant to Temple University for gunshot detection, license plate readers, retention and recruitment bonuses, training, and CCTV cameras.
In case you did not know: Temple’s FY 2022-23 budget is 7.3 million dollars, 6 % higher than last year. Temple University’s operating revenues FY 2022-23 are $1,236,821,000.
Do they need the $1.8M more than many of our community-based non-profits–who have been doing violence prevention and intervention for years without a budget?
A lack of funding within our communities is a form of violence. All violence is not committed with a gun. Violence was used and is still being used to prevent Blacks from fully participating in the United States’ economic system. Often, government and institutional policies kill just as effectively as a nine-millimeter semiautomatic. Policies and practices that kill dreams are violent. Policies that kill hopes and aspirations are violent. Policies that allow neighborhoods to die are violent. Therefore, we must understand that economic and financial violence is unethical, immoral, and unjustified; and it must be stopped and eradicated from our communities.
Homicide is the third leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24. Each day, approximately 12 young people are victims of homicide and almost 1,400 are treated in emergency departments for nonfatal assault-related injuries.
Youth homicides and nonfatal physical assault-related injuries result in an estimated $18.2 billion annually in combined medical and lost productivity costs alone.
In total, there were 516 homicides in 2022, an 8% decrease from 2021. To date, there have been 81 homicides in 2023, an 18% decrease from 2022, but one homicide is too many.
We must hold accountable government bodies and financial institutions who contribute to the downward social and economic spiral of struggling communities by refusing to make necessary investments in minority communities. Such practices often lead to despair and violent anti-social behavior.
LuQman Abdullah, a lifelong Philadelphian, a survivor of gun violence, a public servant, a father, a community activist, a non-profit consultant, and someone who has lost too many people I care about to gun violence. “I believe strongly that we must — and we can — change our city’s gun violence culture.”
