By Christopher Harper
I spent nearly 16 years in Philadelphia. I enjoyed an occasional trip to watch the Phillies or the Eagles. The museums are excellent, notably the Barnes and the Constitution Center.
Although I’m not partial to cheese steaks, the restaurants are terrific. I particularly enjoyed a Brazilian restaurant in Center City.
I could put away my car and take rapid transit to most places I needed to go, although I’ve seen better systems in other cities like New York and Chicago.
The people of Philadelphia can be a bit hard-edged, chip-on-the-shoulder types, but I’ve seen that in many other cities where I lived.
So it angers and saddens me that the city that saw the creation of the nation and served as its capital for a while is being torn apart.
About five years ago, I realized that the city was in trouble. It happened on the Temple campus, where I taught. I stopped by the local Chinese takeout to find a group of young teenage women stealing soft drinks from the shelves. The women weren’t old enough to be college students and probably came from a nearby high school.
As 20 customers stood by, I grabbed one of the girls and asked the owner to call the campus police. He declined and told me to let her go.
As I stepped outside, five girls surrounded me and started to spit and harass me. No one stopped to help me, even though the harassment and taunting were obvious to the dozens of people passing by. No one wanted to get involved.
Fortunately, I hold two black belts in martial arts and easily frightened the girls with two quick demonstrations of my abilities without hurting anyone.
Before the girls fled, they threatened to bring their fathers back for a beatdown.
When I wrote about the incident on this website, I was ostracized by several fellow faculty members because I was a racist.
I also got a call from the campus police. I expected questions about the incident or an apology. Instead, I got a threat that I could be fired if I followed through on my suggestion that people on campus should be allowed to arm themselves.
When the looting came in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, it was apparent that it was time to leave Philadelphia, especially when the rioters got away with their actions and paid $9.25 million because the cops used tear gas!
The recent looting happened when a judge dismissed charges against a cop who killed a Black man wielding a knife.
Even though the interim police chief correctly described the looters as “criminals,” I doubt many will be held responsible for their actions.
It’s worth noting that Philadelphia, like many other cities I’ve lived in and won’t visit again, like New York, Chicago, Washington, and San Francisco, is run by Democrats. As Philadelphia elects a new mayor this year, I hope at least some of the voters realize that something has gone wrong in their city and won’t be fixed by the current crew that runs the place.
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