Back in October this hit, Philadelphia police will no longer pull people over for minor traffic stops that disproportionately affected Black drivers/ Business Insider. I have known about this change since it's beginning. I chose to wait to comment on this because I had to find my balance to be able to write about this emotionally charged headline MSM decided to use. I had to reign my full self in and make sure I got all my own emotions out of the way to be able to keep this as factual and real to bring perspective to many areas in one blog.
IF you have never had the opportunity to visit Philadelphia, but you watch the news or have the Citizen APP, then you would believe this is the vibe of Philadelphia all day, ever day, in every part of Philly...🥴👇🏾
With all of the shootings and armed robberies this city sees many might think, how would the police have time to do any routine traffic stops anyways? Well let me tell you something, since moving to the city back in March I have noticed no one obeys traffic laws even with the police being very present in numbers while not engaging. I have also witnessed my phone blowing up with citizen app alerts while I'm combing the city and visually watching mom's on walks, people shuffling to their next job or the gym, people performing on the streets or cutting hair for the homeless and I think, had I not had the app I would have never known that on some side street there was a guy going off with a gun. (Hmmm what we choose to report or focus on is what will seem to be the main tone of an area.)
When I first arrived I thought it was a here and there disobeying, but once you sit somewhere for any length of time and truly allow yourself to observe everything around you...well you learn a lot. Now nine months later I can honestly say the majority of Philadelphians and those that visit from across the bridge from New Jersey do not obey traffic laws. You either go with the flow or get ran over! The more interesting observation is no one was being pulled over and a lot of these offenses would happen right in front of police officers even before this revision went into effect. It's not like the city is short on cops because they're everywhere all day long. You cannot drive two blocks without a cop popping up in traffic ahead or behind you, or my personal favorite one parked just chilling keeping an eye on things, or scrolling their favorite feed. Still yet nine months later and I can honestly say I have only seen 2 actual traffic stops by the police. The first was a month after I arrived and I'm almost convienced it was actaully a hit and run they had to respond to. The second stop was actaully today on one of the busiest routes through the city, Roosevelt Boulevard. They had to have done something huge to get pulled over on this road, there truly is not a safe or practical place to conduct a traffic stop on this boulevard, yet there was one happening today.
When this story hit and the law went into effect in October of this year, that headline got me a lot in my feelings, so I can only imagine how charged up it got those that think the cops mainly stop blacks. Even though I usually think from a bigger picture view most of the time, this happened when I was in already wrapped up emotionally in a lot of ways about many different situations...most being personal, still yet I couldn't say this next truth without coming off wrong. Here is why it got me, if you are not from here, don't live here, haven't come for a visit or haven't just taken a moment to check statsitics out, then you might take that headline and put it in your arsenal to back your feelings further on how the police are always targeting blacks. WELL let's look at this from a statistical point of view.
PHILADELPHIA POPULATION BY RACE (2021):
Black/African American: 42.13%
White: 40.66%
Asian: 7.24%
Other Race 6.49%
Native American: 0.36%
Native Hawaiin or Pacific Islander: 0.05%
Now, after learning this very clear fact from census numbers and from my own two eyes seeing this black driven city every day, how are minor traffic stops disappropriately affecting blacks when blacks are the greater race?
That fact alone is why I had to take a moment before dropping this one. It is headlines like these that get the people emotionally stirred up before they even get into the meat of the facts. And when so many are still learning how to not get caught up in the shallow, it is headlines like these that keep real progress from moving forward. Emotions will get you stuck, I encourage those that struggle with moving past emotion to lay back and let your feet lift from the quicksand of bulls*** and back stroke your way through to the facts and then work from there. Get rid of those feelings and get to where they don't want you operating from...true balance which is logic and love. One not out weighing the other, looking at all sides with true clarity.
If you actually take the time to read the full article you find they are simply going to start relying more heavliy on mail citaitons. You see, someone is truly always watching if you are here in the city. Every where you look there are cameras that belong to the government, on top of the cameras we as consumers have placed about. That fact alone makes me shake my head, they plainly say they'll use this method more, yet these same cameras must not work when drive bys happen because if they did then why does this city have so many unsolved homicides? Last week they finally used them to catch a gun crime suspect, yet those cameras seem to magically never miss a thing when it comes to the city making money on a moving violation. 🤷🏽♀️#thingsthatmakeyousayhmmm
Yes, Philly has a very wild side, and no it is not solely on the West side or even the North. It is evenly wild in every crevise of this city. You have the best mixed in with the worst, and all in the same block. Yet daily millions seem to walk around and never encounter the bull💩 side that MSM tries to sell as the way of Philadelphia.
As always I encourage you to travel and travel as much as you can while you can. Travel will teach you what a book or a blog can only scratch the surface about. Travel will give you the truest perspective of a place and if you dare to move past the fear they so careless paint, you might find yourself in a very cool and vibrant place.
Link to one of the articles surrounding this matter. There are many and the one mentioned above is from Business Insider.
Erica Parrótt/These Are The Times
https://www.youtube.com/c/ericaparrottthesearethetimes
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