Prennis Jr. and his friend walked hurriedly down a South Philadelphia street, on their way to the pizza shop to pick up a called in order. On their way back to a friends house they noticed a block party happening in the neighborhood with music and dancing, so they decided to take that route back and join in on some of the fun. The naivety of childhood did not allow them to realize they were amongst a block full of whites, in a part of the city that is known for its hostility towards black people. But as well all know, it should not have mattered. They should have been able to walk down that street without fear of racial intimidation or violence. Unfortunately they were immediately noticed and targeted. They were told that they were in the wrong neighborhood, they were called niggers and threatened. When the two teens spoke up for themselves they were surrounded by a crowd of white kids and adults alike and threatened with violence. Young Prennis had barely enough time to whip out his cell phone and contact his father who was around the corner. Prennis Sr. arrived on the scene promptly and this is where an already bad situation turned worse.
As Prennis Sr. arrived on the block where his sons were being threatened, taunted and insulted, he explained to the two adult men involved that his son and his friend were both good kids and that they were not trying to cause any trouble. The two men explained that they should not have been on that block and that they were in the wrong neighborhood. Details from this point on are a bit sketchy, however we do know that at some point during the conversation one of the men said “I’m sick of talking to this nigger,” at which point point he brandished a gun and struck Prennis Sr. with it. From then on it became a free for all. Two teens and an adult male were defending themselves against what turned out to be two, white, off duty policemen and a mob of angry white residents. During the attack one of the women involved pulled out a knife and stabbed Prennis Sr. repeatedly in the back. doctors later said he almost died. Somewhere during all this drama Prennis Jr. and his friend called the cops. When the police arrived they arrested Prennis Sr. and his brother, who arrived on the scene the exact same time as the police.
Prennis Sr. and his brother are being charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and obstruction of justice, trumped up charges that are being taken to trial. No charges were filed against any of the white residents involved in the attack. Prennis Sr.’s brother is still incarcerated, as he has not been able to afford to make bail. A working class family that is already struggling to make ends meat is now forced to pay an attorney, medical bills and bail for walking down a ‘white street” in a white neighborhood.
Unfortunately this narrative is not an example of some bigger point that I am attempting to make, or story out of a civil rights history book. This story happened to a close friend of mine, in the city in which I live, during the summer of 2010.
There are those who claim racism is dead and that the angry black man, who demands equal rights and justice for his people, are exaggerating the disparities in which we face. We live amongst many individuals who claim that justice does in fact exist for blacks in the same way in which it exists for whites and that we (black people) should stop complaining and be thankful we have a black president. We should be thankful despite overwhelmingly disproportionate unemployment rates. We should keep quiet despite overwhelmingly disproportionate incarceration rates. We should be happy despite failing schools in our communities and countless acts of violence by cops against our people, nationwide!
The city of Philadelphia has long been labeled one of the more racist cities in the north. And for good reason. From incidents such as the MOVE bombing in the early 80′s to the notoriously racist police commissioner turned mayor Frank Rizzo, and his many acts of violence against black people. In a city that has elected to black mayor’s in the last 12 years, half of it’s city council being people of color and the majority of the Philadelphia Delegation of the PA House of Representatives as black people, you would think that blacks in this city in 2010 would not have to face such heinous acts of racism. It is clear that justice for black people in this country is a coin toss. It may or may not happen.
It is seriously time that black people be sick and tired. And not just sick and tired of the unfair treatment, but sick and tired of not doing anything about it. There has not been one thing that blacks in this country have ever obtained in the history of our existence in America, without having to fight hard to obtain it. These modern times that we live in are no different. In fact the fight for equality in America is as tough as ever, as we face Tea Party influenced politics, a black president that has to tread lightly as to not seem like he’s doing too much for his people, negative influences on our children by the hip-hop culture and other forms of media and the tremendous affects that the crack epidemic is still having on our communities. This incident which occurred should not be taken lightly. Remember Sean Bell and Oscar Grant. Remember the Jena 6! We have to stop waiting for it to hit home before we act. If not we are part of the problem!
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Black Cops in West Philadelphia
Article by Urban Politico
The Urban Politico is a collaboration of four writers, who hold each other in high esteem, to address social, political and other issues which resonate within the populations in which they feel most connected; race, age, socioeconomic and political status, personal experience and any other identifying factor that can join us, rather than divide us. The Janitor is an attorney in NYC and he and Godson worked together as organizers on the 2008 Obama Campaign. Godson, a published author, is currently Chief of Staff for a State Representative in Philadelphia. The Fed, as the name implies, is in the Federal Gov in Washington D.C. and works with law makers on the Hill. These 3 writers share very similar views on many issues, however, all 3 have a different perspective. This blog will be a platform that will bring forth many new and fresh ideas and concepts that are extremely noteworthy.
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That is terrible. And if my kids called me and told me there was trouble I would have had the police meet there too, but clearly that didn't help in this case.
Peace, Love and Chocolate
Tiffany
Wow! That's crazy! I'm def sorry to read something like this. But it makes me sorrier to read about the amount of kids killed in the streets of Chicago over the summer being reduced to a sound byte or a press clip. IMO police brutality is comprised of isolated cases that the media (both mainstream and exclusively black) tries to pass off as a regular occurrence. Does it happen? Of course it does! Is it tragic? Absolutely! But yet our community gets conveniently quiet when our own are gunning down kids. We reduce ourselves to making excuses when a father kills his own son in cold blood.
In a perfect world, the exclusively black media would stop trying to profit off of things that don't matter (IE why black women are single and not having kids) and put that attention on restructuring the neighborhoods where a 10 yr old can't even walk to school without worrying a stray bullet. I was just reading the other day about how black women are more likely to be violently killed by a close family member or intimate partner than any other race. So for me, violent crimes against ourselves is an epidemic, NOT police brutality
police brutality is bad but Crips and Blood brutality is infinitely worse. If we are going to marshal our resources let’s get to and fight the walking shit stains within our community before we worry about the police outside of it.
Bingo – I wish folks spent as much time talking about black on black crime than the unfortunate, yet statistically infrequent police brutality situations. Homicide stats show that a black man's #1 enemy is another black man, not a police man. I think I'm simply decensitized to police brutality. Folks have to understand that a police, no matter the color, is in a position of power and that can go to anybody's head. That's symptomatic to the profession…add a lil' racism in there, yeah some stuff is going to happen here and there.
I’m a white person. I found this blog because I was looking for some black organization that would want to hear about racist comments that the police made to a friend of mine, and then I read this story and the comments with it, and I got interested in it. You folks are talking about cleaning up your own community before you worry about police brutality. If you think about it, you’ll realize the police are largely responsible for the problems in your community. I can remember, prior to 1980, that white people used to deal with their community problems by calling the police whenever somebody was breaking the law, and the police would actually come and do something about it. The black community has never had that, though. Criminals just run rampant.
In the white community, things have gotten steadily worse and worse, and now the police won’t even come out at all. They do seem motivated to come out in some situations, though. If you look at when they come out, it’s when they think they can stir up more racial conflict by coming out. Just look at the incident described above. Look at who was involved in it. Two off-duty police officers! Did they just happen to be at the party, or did they instigate the whole thing?
And now, let me tell you what my friend said. She’s white too, and her (now ex-) husband is white. About two years ago her husband was on steroids and he was beating her up. She called the police on him several times, and they said, “Is your husband a black man? Because only a black man would be guilty of spousal abuse. A white man couldn’t do that.” And then they’d refuse to come out and help her.
Hey, my name is Jenn and I would like to give my support to all of you who have experienced prejudice from white people. I am white, and when I hear about something like this happening in my country, I feel ashamed and disappointed that whites still pull this racist, extremist bullshit. As a civil rights activist in the Burlington Vermont community, I extend a hand in solidarity.
I am a tri-racial mix who looks Sicilian and I lived in the hood in Philly for five years. I am in my 30′s. I a Muslim and most of the people I am close to are not white. However, you may not like what I have to say even though it’s very true. In Philly, the white male policemen stink. However, the black police, especially the black female police, are much worse towards black men than anyone else. It seems many of the female (especially black female) police there are either open or closet lesbians who hate men, especially black men, and want to get back at them for whatever just because. I know this is not a politically correct thing to state, and I really don’t care. It’s true. The more it makes you mad, the more true to you it really must be but you don’t want to admit.