Gone to Shit
When I bike home, I go through West Philadelphia to get to my Suburbial Cocoon of Happiness. West Philly is the epicenter of a massive wave of murder this year.
Biking, I can see just how bad the neighborhoods have gotten. Crumbled, burned, abandoned....it's very moving to see how people are living. All of the commuter need to go through West Philly, but in your car you can sometimes block all of that out. Generally, nobody gives you trouble during rush hour, but at night this place is a freaking war zone.
I had some trouble with a 13 year old kid 2 days ago, he whipped a crumbled up piece of cardboard (like a juicebox or something) into my face as I biked by. I was going about twenty miles an hour and paying attention to the SEPTA bus on my left. The little fucker steps off the curb and throws it...releasing it an inch from my face. I thought he was trying to hit me with his fist, and I wish he had. With Bike and equipment my rolling mass is about 250lbs @ 20mph it would have shattered his wrist.
I was lucky and didnt loose my balance or overcompensate and crash....at that speed I'd screw my bike up good. The kid and his friends laughed and took off. It really made me furious because there wasnt anything I could do by the time I stopped....I'm a white man in biking shorts in a black ghetto.
The rest of the ride home I fantasized that I had said something really witty, or chased them home (gosh and really taught them a lesson, whitey). I alternated wanting to punish the worlds' idiots and thinking about the kind of environments that cause and tolerate this. In the end, my job isnt to straighten some inner city kids, my job is to come home safe to my own family. That means swallowing some anger and pride and not contributing to a no-win situation.
The next day I had to take the bus instead of bike. On the way home in the same neighborhood, there was police tape everywhere and the intersection was closed. Somebody ambushed a 28 year old guy sitting at the light in his Honda. Killed him in the daylight and traffic. 4:30 pm. The city's 255th murder of the year.
Bullet casing were all over the place and the car's windows were exploded all over the street. The police had put down those little yellow evidence markers to show where the spent shells had landed. I counted 10 or 12.
Standing on that very corner was a man selling tshirts. The shirts say:
"T.O. SUCKS, DALLAS SWALLOWS"
10 comments:
Wow. That's intense.
It really makes me think twice before I complain about the "craziness" I have to deal with in Harrisburg.
Two deaths this year on our block (a kid was stabbed to death in a fight as he was getting off the school bus and another dude was shot in a car and dumped on the corner at the end of our block).
Regardless, on a city-wide level, that's nothing compared to the daily mayhem of West Philly.
The inspiration behind that haiku earlier in the week is now very clear.
For me the scary part is the brazeness of the kids. It wasnt like he was hiding behind a car, he stepped right up to me.
Further disdurbing is that he had no qualms about going after someone three times his size. He wasnt cowardly picking on retards or old people, he was throwing shit at a complete stranger who could snap him in two. This kids gonna cause some trouble someday.
seeing the 'crime scene' was pretty weird too. Those little yellow cards with the numbers and all the chalk circles and broken glass. Very surreal
I find this all very disturbing. I don't have anything witty to say. I'm just really sad about it. I'm sad for the people who live in the ghetto and know no other life. I'm sad for the victims - like the guy at the light - and their families. I'm sad that anyone and everyone needs to worry about personal safety. Deep sigh.
If you think its bad, just remember I live there. We usually hear gun shots a few times a month. The worst is when 4 high school students beat up a guy on the street at 1:30 in the afternoon and tried to throw him into traffic right infront of my house.
i am adopting phillyguy
Things were bad enough here in good ol' Sioux City a year or two ago that I'd call 911 and say, "Hi, this is Chris. More shots to the west." The operator would say, "Oh, hi Chris. We'll send someone right over..." They didn't have to ask an address or anything - they knew me by voice.
It wasn't like this five years ago.
Regarding the punk - I sincerely feel that this is a case of society NOT making people take responsibility for their actions. He knew he'd never have to face any ramifications for his choice to throw a chunk of cardboard at your mug. Even if you had fallen under a bus and were killed, the boy wouldn't have had to take any responsibility. We've forgotten how this is all supposed to work... You do something, you make a choice, you take responsibility for that action or choice. In my mind, this attitude is doing the famous Republican trickle-down - our children are learning from our government that they can do whatever they want to whomever they want.
This stuff makes me sad.
Philly Guy,
I remembered that you went to Drexel (right?), and I was thinking of you when I wrote this. University City is in West Philly, and overlaps into some of the bad parts.
All,
It's generally frustrating. I think society should demand that adults continue to be responsible for themselves and their children. I realize that these kids are growing up in the worst situations, but you dont need money to teach your kids to be good people.
Sometimes I feel like I should be like some after school movie where I become a 'big-brother' to some inner city kid, and I help him with his homework, and teach him about life. He convinces me to form a baseball team and all sorts of hijinks happen as I teach these kids they are just as good as the rich kids we are playing.
Guiltily I say I dont want to do that. I want to take care of my own kids, and truth be told I HATE baseball.
I dont have any good ideas on what to do. I'm going to keep riding as my biggest threat is still the traffic I ride through. Riding makes me happy.
I'm just going to try to keep making good decisions at every intersection of life.
I agree with Wendy. She has nothing witty to say.
Yeah I'm at Drexel. I live right where the bigger drug dealers start...
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