10,000 Men Itchin’ to Get Busy
Yesterday’s “10,000 Men: A Call to Action” pep rally at Temple’s Liacouras Center was a success. We think. Most who attended say that, although just a little more than 8,000 people showed up — with numbers dwindling as the three-hour event started creeping closer to Eagles kick-off time — the takeaway appeared to be positive.
The idea is generating national attention. The execution, however, is still vague: The tactics to be employed by the volunteers pledging to give up three hours a day to patrol some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in the city have yet to be determined. Calls to the 10,000 Men hotline were not returned, and, according to the person answering the phone, the group’s official media representative was absent. She said she would call back once she found a “working number” for that individual.
One attendee we spoke to told us that what is definitely known is that the efforts will be more Town Watch-y than Death Wish-y. While it may have appeared in the beginning that police commissioner Sylvester Johnson was deputizing citizens to start ju-jitsuing gun-toting gangsters in West Philadelphia, that’s not the case. This is to be a peacekeeping, Quaker-like approach, one striving to put more positive role models, not vigilantes, into black communities in peril. However, there still appears to be some questions about how long the movement will actually last and what will constitute its being considered a success, a failure or a dog-and-pony show adding up to a colossal waste of time.
Some highlights from yesterday’s event, from an attendee:
• “The media is the enemy” was a pervasive theme — one that was echoed by most of the organizers and by speakers Rep. Bob Brady and Rep. Chaka Fattah. It’s suspected the “media” in question in this case is the Daily News, which has published a few editorials suspicious of the program’s overall effect.
• Fattah showed up in a white T-shirt. Even though it was specifically requested that attendees wear black. Especially ones who were scheduled to speak.
• Michael Nutter showed up late. And when he spoke, he spoke briefly, and the response was tepid.
• Mayor John Street brought his A-game. The attendee said that regardless of what people think of him as a mayor, Street in preacher mode was quite effective and uplifting.
• Dick Gregory sat on stage front and center the whole time but said nothing.
• When one speaker finished his speech with “Vote for Barack Obama,” he was met with a small spattering of applause — and a few boos.
“Orientation” meetings for volunteers begin this week, with the hopes of getting patrols deployed soon after. The next question is, if this doesn’t work, then what? That’ll be Michael Nutter’s problem.
A Legion Responds [Inquirer]
Yesterday’s “10,000 Men: A Call to Action” pep rally at Temple’s Liacouras Center was a success. We think. Most who attended say that, although just a little more than 8,000 people showed up — with numbers dwindling as the three-hour event started creeping closer to Eagles kick-off time — the takeaway appeared to be positive.
The idea is generating national attention. The execution, however, is still vague: The tactics to be employed by the volunteers pledging to give up three hours a day to patrol some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in the city have yet to be determined. Calls to the 10,000 Men hotline were not returned, and, according to the person answering the phone, the group’s official media representative was absent. She said she would call back once she found a “working number” for that individual.
One attendee we spoke to told us that what is definitely known is that the efforts will be more Town Watch-y than Death Wish-y. While it may have appeared in the beginning that police commissioner Sylvester Johnson was deputizing citizens to start ju-jitsuing gun-toting gangsters in West Philadelphia, that’s not the case. This is to be a peacekeeping, Quaker-like approach, one striving to put more positive role models, not vigilantes, into black communities in peril. However, there still appears to be some questions about how long the movement will actually last and what will constitute its being considered a success, a failure or a dog-and-pony show adding up to a colossal waste of time.
Some highlights from yesterday’s event, from an attendee:
• “The media is the enemy” was a pervasive theme — one that was echoed by most of the organizers and by speakers Rep. Bob Brady and Rep. Chaka Fattah. It’s suspected the “media” in question in this case is the Daily News, which has published a few editorials suspicious of the program’s overall effect.
• Fattah showed up in a white T-shirt. Even though it was specifically requested that attendees wear black. Especially ones who were scheduled to speak.
• Michael Nutter showed up late. And when he spoke, he spoke briefly, and the response was tepid.
• Mayor John Street brought his A-game. The attendee said that regardless of what people think of him as a mayor, Street in preacher mode was quite effective and uplifting.
• Dick Gregory sat on stage front and center the whole time but said nothing.
• When one speaker finished his speech with “Vote for Barack Obama,” he was met with a small spattering of applause — and a few boos.
“Orientation” meetings for volunteers begin this week, with the hopes of getting patrols deployed soon after. The next question is, if this doesn’t work, then what? That’ll be Michael Nutter’s problem.
A Legion Responds [Inquirer]
The Sylvester Johnson/Millions More Movement October 21st block party (also known as “A Call to Action: 10,000 Men”) 
Police commissioner Sylvester Johnson has been (metaphorically) slaughtered for his mishandling of the police department and his seeming general apathy toward the city’s murder rate. Yesterday he offered support to a plan that, at the very least, shows slight concern. But what it doesn’t offer, again, is a real concrete solution. 
Philadelphia’s prison system has reached dangerous levels of overcrowding, and the city solicitor says the city needs another prison to keep up with its plethora of convicted criminals. According to the Inquirer, the prison population hit 9,123 on August 6th, which is more than double the average of 4,000 inmates in 1980. 
Stevie “S-Five” Johnson, grandson of Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, continues to promote his horrifying hip-hop career, oblivious to its undermining effects on his family and the city. Last night on FOX News’ “The Big Story With John Gibson,” S-Five explained once again why his sometimes anti-snitchin’, pro-violence lyrics shouldn’t be misconstrued by the city or his law-enforcement family.
Department store namesake Steven L. Strawbridge has pled guilty to child pornography charges and faces up to four years in prison. Strawbridge, 63, was once vice president and treasurer of Strawbridge & Clothier, the Northeast mall staple that always smelled of cheap pants suits and lemon disinfectant. 
The newspapers from across the pond have just started to release their fawning tributes to Paul Lavern Ritch, who was stabbed in the heart outside of a Margate nightclub when trying to break up a fight early Sunday morning. Ritch, 37, is being referred to as a “true gent” by the Wales local news.
Britt Reid, the troubled, 22-year-old son of Eagles head coach Andy Reid, pled guilty to a felony gun charge at a Montgomery County courtroom this morning. The charges stem from the bizarre January 30th incident in which Britt flashed a gun at a passing motorist in West Conshohocken. 
