"A Tale of Two Cities."

This is a tale of two cities, and not the way Mr. Dickens meant it. Sadly, this tale highlights the emotional roller coaster that being black in A-merry-ca can take you through.

Last night was a great night in our city. Why? Because the "O" man was in my fair city, that's why. He was visiting a very fancy fundraiser put on by uber lawyer Mark Aronchick and some of his closest friends with very deep pockets. I heard from some of my field Negro friends who were in the house that it was a very fancy affair. Over 400 Obamaholics and wannabees paid a minimum of $1,000, and the maximum of $2,300 to be in the same room with his "O"ness. Of course there was the really big money bash as well. This one was a little more personal with just about 75 of the "O" man's closest, ahem, friends. And they dropped $28,500 a pop for a personal audience with his "O" ness.

The Governor was there making nice, so was former Hillary supporter, our fine mayor, Michael Nutter. It was all brotherly love again. Yes folks, it seems that the dumbocrats are trying to unite now behind their nominee.

What a great night in our city. All that money, all that glitz, and all for a black man who could become the next leader of the free world.

Of course Wednesday night wasn't such a great night in our city. It wasn't, because Wednesday night, four animals allegedly forced their way into a woman's home, roughed her up at gun point, and took her ATM card. They then forced her to give them her PIN number, and then proceeded to withdraw a whopping $600 from the poor woman's bank account. This terrible ordeal lasted over four hours for the poor woman. (Which was probably longer than it took the "O" man to dip in collect his cash, and roll) To make matters worse; while two of the animals left with her ATM card, the other two stayed behind and raped her repeatedly while her niece and daughter slept upstairs. Oh, and when the other two animals came back, they raped the poor woman again.

Thankfully, two of the animals were caught. Police are still looking for the other two suspects both described as white males........yeah right. Both described as black males in their early 20s. "One has a thick build, dark complexion and cornrowed hair. The other suspect was described as having a medium build and a light complexion."

I bet they weren't at the fundraiser last night. Or maybe they were, maybe that's what they needed the money for.

Two wrongs....

I know that I should be posting something about the "O" man's victory tonight, and that I should be congratulating you Obamaholics on a nice win. But sorry, tonight I have something else on my mind.

Now I am going to surprise some folks, but I am pretty much a law and order guy. I know I am opposed to the death penalty, and I believe that felons should be allowed to vote. I believe that society should try to find ways to let felons transition back into the mainstream, and yes, I actually defend people accused of committing crimes. But still, I believe that if you commit a crime and you are found guilty, your ass should do the time. I believe that every citizen should respect the law, and police officers who put their butts on the line to protect me, deserve my utmost respect.

Having said that, something happened here in Philly last night that was quite disturbing. Once again some of our boys in blue acted like the gangsters that they are supposed to be protecting us from. If you haven't seen the video yet, I guarantee you that you will soon. [look here and judge for yourself] It isn't quite Rodney King, but it's bad. And let me be fair to Philly's finest, they just lost one of their own (see my sidebar) when some animal decided to take his life with a high powered assault rifle. So I know that they are on edge. Especially since one of the perpetrators of the crime is still on the loose. Still, it's not excuse to make a pinata out of a bunch of shooting suspects, and ignore all your years of training by letting your raw emotions take over.

So Inspector Ramsey, welcome to Philly, you are going to find that this is not D.C., our cops reflect the attitude of our people, and our people have some serious attitude problems. There are all sorts of issues involved here: Race, neighborhoods, the blue wall camaraderie, and law and order. My city is on edge and it's not even summer yet. Watching the reports of that officer's shooting the other night, broke my heart. And hearing that his last words to bystanders was, "tell my wife I love her", damn near had me tearing up.

But then, watching how his fellow officers behaved after this chase, broke my heart all over again.

In Praise of Philly.

"I don't know what it is but I just never got the vibe. Field if you would or if you have summed up that which is black Philly point me in the right direction"


That quote from a commenter,"pamalicious", (who has a pretty *nice blog by the way) got me thinking, and inspired this post.



What is it about Philly that I love so much? I know I am always ripping my hometown, and lord knows I talk about more negative shit than positive (my running Killadelphia murder count is a good example), but honestly, I love my hometown. For every reason I can give you to hate the place I can give you two to love it.




"Pamelicous" says her Mom still lives here and she is dying to get her out. My question to her would be why? If her Mom has been here all of her life she probably understands the city,and what makes it tick. To love Philly you have to understand it. It's why most outsiders don't get it. It's why they look at the old buildings, the trash, the grime, and say get me out of here. They look at some of our old stark and bleak looking city blocks, that look like an old Eastern European City, and they wonder, what gives?




Here is the deal: Philadelphia has a soul like no other city in A-merry-ca. I know because I have traveled and spent some time in damn near every large city in this country. And none of them, not Los Angeles, not Chicago, not Houston, not D.C., not Atlanta, have Philly's soul. Notice I excluded New Orleans from that list, because they do have Phily's soul. That is (or at least it was before Bush's storm) a real city. I worked in L.A. (first job out of undergrad), and with all due respect to my man Cobb and the other Angelistas, L.A. is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there anymore. Too far from shit, too much smog, and too many phonies. Atlanta? I know it's supposed to be the new black mecca but it's just not my cup of tea either. Too new, too shallow, and too close to the rest of Georgia. And although I do love cities like Houston and Miami, I am sorry, they are just too damn hot and sticky for my taste (I don't live in Jamaica now for a reason ).




Give me my adopted home town of Philly right here in the Northeast corridor. When you think Philly, you think Philadelphia International, Doctor J, the Liberty Bell, Cheese Steaks, and the Declaration of Independence. But Philly is so much more. For instance, I am a couple hours from D.C., just an hour and change from New York (two cities, by the way, which I happen to love). I can drive to the beach (or as we say here in Philly, the shore) in an hour, I can drive to the beautiful Pocono Mountains in about the same time, and I can catch a direct flight home to Jamaica or damn near any city in the world, right out of Philly International Airport.


There is so much untapped potential here that it's scary to think about. Hundreds of first class universities within a stones throw of each other. Including three of America's best; Penn, Swarthmore, and Princeton. I could go on and on. A world class arts program and orchestra, great restaurants, a diverse international community, five sports teams, big five basketball, unique neighborhoods, each with their own vibe.-- If you ever come to Philly make it a point to go to Manayunk. You will think you are in some quaint German Village in the Bavarian mountains--- South street, our Avenue of the Arts, (screw Broadway) The Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which is a pretty damn good knock off of the Champ De Elys in Paris. Great Jazz (Coltrane made his home here). Our Mural program is a must see in the neighborhoods, Boathouse row (sorry Baaastan, the Cambridge doesn't have shit on the Schuylkill), you get the idea.



Now there is bad shit too. The people here can be pretty edgy with very high bullshit detectors. Most of our white folks here come from three major ethnic groups, and they have zero liberal guilt. They don't think they had a damn thing to do with slavery, and they damn sure aren't going to be sympathetic to black folks and our struggle because we happen to look a little different. They will tell you how white folks really feel about us black folks, and I like that. Many of them are poor just like us black folks are. (Philly is the first place that I saw a white bum in A-merry-ca) They struggle for shit just like we do, and they fight us for their piece of the pie with unapologetic openness.


People who live and breathe this city get all of that. We understand the nuances of the people, and we love it. When we step outside the door every day we know what to expect. We know where we can and can't go, and we know what it takes to survive here. In many ways, Philly is like a Third World Country. (Which is probably why I love it so much). There is great wealth, and great poverty, and if you know the right people, you can get damn near anything done that you want to. The political parties are the biggest employers, and the taxes are high. But every Philadelphian understands that, and we chalk it up to cost of doing business. None of that self righteousness that you see in other cities. Here, we are corrupt, and we know it. And as long as our politicians deliver the goods, they will get elected every time.


I know I talk about them like dogs from time to time, but I love the people here. I wouldn't want to pick a jury anywhere else, because I understand them, and they know that. We have a trust factor with each other than only someone who has lived here and connected with the city can understand.


So "pamalicious", I hoped that helped. There is so much more, but in order to experience it and really feel it, you have to live it. Next time you come to Philly to visit your Mom shoot me an e-mail, and I will try to make a little of that happen for you.


Mayor Nutter I will be expecting a check soon.

*The blog I featured earlier on the link was "Mamalicious" and not "Pamalicious".

Sorry for the mix up ladies :(

It's Never Sunny In Killadelphia.

Hello Reverend T.D.Jakes, welcome to Killadelphia. Nice of you to visit and grace us with your presence. I see you had over 5,500 faithful people come to listen to you at Enon Baptist Church on Sunday. Apparently you had a rally with the good folks from the church to pray for us and deplore all the killings we have been having in our fair city lately. Thank you for that.

Let's talk about those killings shall we: As of the time of me writing this post, we are up to 104 and counting. (Now that could change before I finish this post)The most of any city in America. Any city! That includes New York, Los Angeles, and Houston. Cities that the last time I checked, are all larger than Philly. The latest killing comes to us by way of the Kensington section of town, where a woman's body was found beaten and with a plastic bag wrapped over her head. And, of course, there was the usual random shootings and assaults. "It was a gory night" said one poor overworked police officer. Yeah but no different than any other night here in Killadelphia, lately. Honestly, I have become almost completely numb to this sh*t.

Well I was almost numb to it; and then I read an account from a police officer who was in the middle of the chaos and it woke me the hell back up. The officer tells it like this: "Fourteen year-old Tarton George was dead,the victim of an apparently calculated drive by shooting at 10:20 PM, in North Philly. The doctors at Temple had cut open George's 21 year old companion,whom police have not identified, and were messaging his heart when his younger brother began to tell police what happened.

The boys mother cut him off and loudly warned her son "not to say a f*****g word. Don't talk to the f*****g cops," another police officer quoted the woman as saying. "We handle this our own way." "I couldn't believe it," said one of the officers who asked the Philadelphia Inquirer (from where I got this story) not to identify him.

Then moments later four young men ran up to the victim's brother and told him to "say nothing to the cops." The scene, according to those who were there, grew even more surreal. The Mother of a third shooting victim arrived and told the police: "I know who did it, and he's in this crowd." As the woman looked around for the gunmen, the crown berated her and told her to keep silent, the officer told the Inquirer. "People were telling her to be quiet and saying,'We'll get you bitch.'" The cops then called for reinforcements.

"How are we supposed to end this when we're up against these kind of societal values?" "It's discouraging and an absolute disgrace" said another officer, Sgt. Anthony McFadden.

Officer, I couldn't agree with you more. And true confessions; I battle police officers on many a day in court on behalf of my clients, but I feel for some of these guys out here grinding on these mean streets while trying to keep us safe and protect their necks at the same time. I have to honestly ask: What the f**k is wrong with our people? Why don't we value each other's lives? And what is it with this ignorant ass culture we have created where it's OK to protect those who take the lives of our children? I am sorry, but this ignorant sh*t has got to stop. We are destroying each other, and some of these mothers and adults who were charged to protect their children, are no different than the ignorant ass criminals who are out here doing this sh*t. Sorry, but I have to keep it one hundred percent with you: Many of these mothers and guardians benefit from the criminal enterprise of their children, and far too often they know exactly what's going on. Yet, they don't weep and moan until it's their own child's blood dripping on the street.

Personally, I am sick of the bull sh*t. Sick of the rallies; the teddy bears on the corner; sick of the Mayor and his empty ass statements; and sick of our do nothing police chief whose sorry ass should have been fired about fifty murders ago.

"If I was the devil I wouldn't even come to Philly with all these preachers, and powers you've got"

Sorry Reverend Jakes, the devil is already here.