Whatever Happened to the 2007 "Call to Action" in Philadelphia, Asking 10,000 Black Men to Patrol the Streets to Combat Black Crime?

Attorney Sharif Street, eldest son of then-Philadelphia Mayor John Street, said then that the portrayal would make life tougher for every young African American male in Philadelphia. “I’m not so much focused on the text of the story but more on the imagery of the front cover,” said Street, who was 28. “It damages the quality of life for the average male my age because it portrays us as the enemy of society.”

This quotation comes from the infamous Philadelphia Daily News cover story from 2002, when the paper dared to publish the most wanted criminals at large in Philadelphia society; all were non-white.

It started out with promise...

Organized Blackness went ballistic, demanding retractions and ultimately receiving an apology for a media daring to notice crime does have a color (black).

What's so jarring about Mr. Street's quote about "the enemy of society" being depicted as black, is that crime statistics from Philadelphia clearly indicate that the black community (black males) is the enemy of civilization, the bane of civilization.

Never forget that a 42-page report, published by Public/Private Ventures in early 2001, showed just how dangerous black males are to the fragile civilization whites created in Philadelphia. [Study finds Phila. homicides often black-on-black crimes A report said young, black men accounted for three-fourths of murder suspects and more than half the victims., Philadelphia Inquirer, 5-7-2001]:

More than three-fourths of those arrested on suspicion of murder in Philadelphia - and more than half of those killed - are young, black males, according to a newly published study obtained by The Inquirer.

The study examines 1,460 homicides and 1,038 arrests in Philadelphia from 1996 to 1999.

The study also notes that from 1996 to 1999, African American males aged 18 to 24 made up 2 percent of the city's population, 24 percent of its murder victims, and 40 percent of murder suspects.

Philadelphia is, after all, a city where black people dress as Ku Klux Klansman to hammer home the point of the perilous nature of black-on-black crime. Where a black mayor took to the airwaves and addressed the black community - in his best Under Armour impression - asserting the city was 'our house' and that the "no snitching" mentality had to end. [Street's appeal: Stop the violence The mayor went on live TV to try to reassure the public. He also took on the "stop snitchin' " mentality., Philadelphia Inquirer, 7-18-2006]

To illustrate just what a threat black people present to the civilization whites created in Philadelphia (and hammer home the point Sharif Street demands newspapers censor), it's time to revisit an incident from 2007 our grandchildren will one day learn about as a case study in why the delusion of democracy and racial equality came to a sudden crash.

And to think, it's all in the shadow of where the US Constitution was signed by those Dead White Males back in the 18th century...

The prevalence of black thuggery and violence became such a nuisance to society in 2007, the black police chief - Sylvester Johnson - called for 10,000 black men to volunteer and patrol the streets of Philly.

No, this is not a joke.

The average black male had become such a threat to society, a massive volunteer army of black men was to be assembled by the black police chief of the city to combat a uniquely black problem (that of spontaneous blackness). 

Let's role the ugliness, and read a story that, if you apply reason and logic to understanding it, immediately destroys any notion of racial equality and the concept that judging by content of character should replace obvious pattern recognition via a cognitive ability to discern the skin color of criminals is monochromatic in Philadelphia... [Philly's top cop wants 10K black men to patrol streets, USA Today, 9-13-2007]:

The city's embattled police chief, acknowledging that police alone cannot quell a run of deadly violence, has called on 10,000 black men to patrol the streets to reduce crime.
Sylvester Johnson, who is black, says black men have a duty to protect more vulnerable residents. He wants each volunteer to pledge to work three hours a day for at least 90 days.

"It's time for African-American men to stand up," Johnson told the Philadelphia Daily News, which first reported the story Wednesday. "We have an obligation to protect our women, our children and our elderly. We're going to put men on the street. We're going to train them in conflict resolution."

Train them in "conflict resolution." Isn't that a job for parents, the church, or schools? Why must an army of black men be enlisted to combat the every day black behavior tearing the fabric of civilization from its roots in Philadelphia? [Blacks Mull Call for 10,000 to Curb Violence, New York Times, 9-30-2007]:

...ending in a hilariously black fashion.

The plan to put 10,000 men on the streets for an initial period of 90 days starting late this year is the latest effort by Philadelphia’s black community to curb violence that drove homicides to a nine-year high of 406 in 2006.

Groups of volunteers will be stationed on drug corners and other trouble spots in a bid to stop the shootings and other crimes that have given Philadelphia the highest homicide rate among the nation’s 10 largest cities. They will not be armed, will not have powers of arrest, and will be identified only by armbands or hats during their three-hour shifts.

They will be trained in conflict resolution, and are intended to be peacekeepers and mentors rather than law enforcers. Each patrol, however, will include a police officer.
Organizers, including Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson and the music producer Kenny Gamble, say they are open to volunteers of any ethnicity but are appealing mostly to African-Americans because some 85 percent of Philadelphia’s shooting victims are black.

 Life in Philadelphia never got any better, with black males continuing to engage in a full-frontal assault against the cradle of the American Experiment (the Liberty Bell resides in Philly); Mayor Michael Nutter has publicly denounced black males twice, and publicly denigrated white people for noticing the type of society blacks create once (Being White in Philly...).

So what happened to this army of 10,000 black men who would patrol the streets of Philadelphia like some bastardized version of a Marvel/DC Comics vigilante?

Well, initially the buzz was good. Uniquely black iconography was rolled out to entice black men to rise up and save their community from being forever judged by the white standards of civilization they can never hope to match, sustain or replicate.

A lot of people signed up online to join the army, and even more arrived at the first orientation meetings, quickly devouring the free coffee and donuts.  [A violent city turns to volunteers: In Philadelphia, thousands answer a call to help patrol streets., Los Angeles Times, 10-22-2007]:

A month after civic leaders and the police chief in this crime-plagued city called on 10,000 black men to patrol the streets, thousands arrived Sunday by foot, car, motorcycle, bus, in wheelchairs, with sons and nephews in tow.

"Sign up here!" a volunteer shouted to the long line of men that circled Temple University's Liacouras Center. "Be a part of history!"

In addition to the 6,000 already registered online, more than 7,000 men showed up wearing suits, fraternity letters, job uniforms and T-shirts emblazoned with the faces of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and the words: "Stop the Violence."

Sadly, the initial enthusiasm was drowned out by the inability for black individuals to collectively organize on their behalf. A mere 50 people showed up for the first patrol in December 2007. Even NPR was forced to admit the entire scam of 10,000 black males creating a volunteer army to rid Philadelphia of crime and misery (all a byproduct of a black population) failed.

And it took less than six months for this failure -- the complete collapse of the "Call to Action: 10,000 Men -- It's a New Day in Philadelphia" -- to become glaringly obvious, with only four patrols totaling 200 black men ever been sent out to keep Philadelphia safe from wanton black criminality. [They're still waiting for the call:Seven months ago, 10,000 men stepped up, eager to help rid the city of crime. So what happened?, Los Angeles Times, 6-31-2008]:

For El, a 58-year-old carpenter who lost a son to Philadelphia's street violence two years ago, the mayor's expressions of concern are not enough. The city could have prevented such problems from escalating, he said, if it had worked closely with the 10,000 men who wanted to help.

Groups of volunteers had gone through safety training. El, who received a certification of completion on Jan 26, was appointed as a squad leader. Then he heard from some men who had not been contacted by organizers. When El brought the issue up, those in charge blamed technical problems. So he pressed on, knocking on doors with about 30 other volunteers, handing out fliers asking others to join. Cold weather cut down patrols. Once-eager volunteers drifted away.

This month, El told organizers he too was quitting.

"People don't want to see progress," El said. "I am fed up. . . . I see people dying in the community."

Tyrone Johnson, 53, who attended the 10,000 men orientation last year, said of [Sgt. Stephen] Liczbinski's death: "We knew something like this could have been prevented. Maybe one of those guys who did the shooting could have been one of the guys we talked out of crime."

Johnson, a chef, remembered the excitement he felt at the time, the hope that maybe his city would finally shed its nickname: "Killadelphia."

But after the first meeting, he didn't hear anything again.

"I know I'm not the only guy who went there and is still scratching their head like, 'What happened?' "

The Call to Action headquarters is on the corner of Christian Street, three miles from City Hall. It sat empty one recent Friday, screensavers displayed on computers, message buttons flashing on phones, paper cups stacked amid clutter. Purple fliers, left over from promotions for the October gathering, papered the windows. No one picked up calls to the main phone line throughout the week.

 Those phone calls were never answered.

An attempt to raise an army of 10,000 black male volunteers to combat black violence in Philadelphia, greeted with media jubilation when it was announced, petered out with only a few hundred blacks ever engaging in patrols.

Imagine an army of 10,000 white males volunteering to combat black violence in Philadelphia (being called up by a white police chief, understanding the "Call to Action" experiment of black men showed their true apathy... such an announcement would bring the world to stand-still, the media declaring the return of the KKK/Nazis/Founding Fathers to the very city that gave birth to the American Experiment.

It's only fitting all of this transpired in the city where, in 1787, 55 white male delegates representing 12 independent states gathered to engage in the Constitutional Convention that would birth the U.S. Constitution.

In 2013, black males continue to rip at the seams of a piece of parchment that was never designed to protect their liberties in the first place...