Red Hen Exploring Our Conditions: Why Is Philadelphia Implementing Racist Policy This Fall?

Fall 2018 the city of Philadelphia will implement more racist practice with an algorithm based risk assessment. A National campaign lead by Just Leadership USA has joined Philadelphians in advocating for justice transformation versus the mentality of justice reform!!

From Ruben Jones #CloseTheCreek Coordinator:

Because of mass incarceration, Philadelphia is home to five county jails, and one of our priorities is to close as many of them as possible. Our first partial victory came swiftly. In November 2017 we launched the #CLOSEtheCreek Campaign targeting the House of Correction. Known locally as “the Creek,” the building dates from 1874 and is a human rights disaster. In April, Mayor Jim Kenny announced that the jail would be closed by 2020, and by June, it was completely empty. But we’re not done with the Creek yet because the Mayor says he wants to continue maintaining it, at a cost of $700,000 per year, in case the jail population balloons at some point in the future. We’re calling for the building’s demolition. We should be building community, not throwing money at a landmark of oppression.

To create a new normal we have to push our elected leaders to think about change in broad strokes. It will take bold leadership to turn Philadelphia from the most incarcerated large city in America to the “cradle of liberty” it’s supposed to be. Two issues that I am laser focused on right now are the use of risk assessment tools and electronic monitoring. The State Sentencing Commission is considering the use of risk assessment algorithms at the sentencing phase, and we are vigorously opposing their adoption. The data points these tools use to calculate “risk” are racially biased—for example, whether or not you finished high school, if your father was formerly incarcerated, if there’s any kind of mental health concern in your family. Their adoption would have a devastating impact on people of color in poor communities who come into contact with the criminal justice system. The Sentencing Commission held public hearings in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, and we flooded the hearings with concerned citizens, lawyers, community activists, people with lived experience and business people. We demanded that the Commission not implement such a Draconian measure. Because of our opposition, the vote was postponed. Now we need to get them to take it off the table completely.
The increasing use of GPS ankle bracelets to electronically monitor people on probation is a growing threat to individual privacy and it’s also intrusive for communities that are directly impacted. The case of rapper Meek Mills put a spotlight on this issue. When he was released from jail for an alleged probation violation, he was released to ankle monitoring. We celebrated because at least he was out of jail. But there are a thousand Meek Mills in jail across the city, and 60 percent of them are there as a result of violating probation, not because of a new crime. If you have hundreds of people in a specific neighborhood who are monitored electronically, that means the community as a whole is under surveillance. We are pushing back against the expansion of this technological “fix.” As the era of mass incarceration draws to a close, instead of concrete prisons we are going to end up with electronic prisons, or “E-carceration” if this trend continues. That’s something we draw a hard line on, and the city knows it.
https://www.justleadershipusa.org/a-new-normal-in-philadelphia-a-dispatch-from-the-field/

But Philadelphia may have reached a tipping point. The city is in the midst of what could be a pivotal phase of reform, now helmed by newly-minted mayor Jim Kenney. The magazine Philadelphia has called Kenney, “Mr. Criminal Justice Reform,” citing his record as councilman, which included championing the decriminalization of marijuana in Philadelphia, which he called a civil-rights issue, and campaign promises to eliminate cash bail for some low-level defendants and to give convicted felons a second chance. Kenney’s candidacy was compared to that of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio: Both are white, but ran on a populist platform preaching racial, economic, and criminal justice reform. On his first night as mayor in January, rather than celebrate with an inaugural ball, Kenney took the festivities to the streets with a block party. He aims to be a mayor of the people, addressing issues that have plagued the city for decades, including overcrowded jails and tense relations between police and residents.

In the post-Ferguson era, where tensions between police and residents have risen in cities across the country, Philadelphia is no exception. Amid a rise of officer-involved shootings in 2013—before Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri—then-Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey requested that the Department of Justice conduct an investigation into his own department. The DOJ report, released last March, found that there were at least 394 officer-involved shootings between 2007 and 2013 in Philadelphia. In 2013, the Philadelphia Police Department fatally shot 11 civilians. The median age of victims was 20, and over 80 percent were black. The most recent high-profile case was that of 26-year-old Brandon Tate-Brown, who, on December 14, 2014, was fatally shot by police officers after being pulled over, allegedly for driving with his headlights off. The story that followed is all too familiar in cities across the country: The community erupted in protest, demanding justice for his death; the officers involved were not charged.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/a-reckoning-in-philadelphia/472092/

If there is truly a nation wide shift in the thinking of policy makers why isn’t that shift being reflected in the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection city council? Clothespin is for hanging the laundry but birds nest on top of ours?? Is the Philadelphia pretzel twist of complexity or connectivity? So many visit the cracked cooper, tin, lead, zinc, arsenic, gold and silver liberty bell while walkin on the lessons of human rights. Soo many enjoying the freedoms while soo many more are wanting a way out of the tangled webs of delusional race mentality.

Here are 5 interpretations of the Eagle. Benjamin Franklin hated the bald eagle as a symbol for our country because he see's the bird as a lazy theft (who stole this country). You can see the full display at #RareBooksDepartment, Philadelphia Free Library 1901 Vine St.
til September 15th. There is a free tour 11am everyday except Sunday, where you can see Edgar Allan Poe Raven aka Grip!!