Philly is Currently in a State of Emergency; Officials Refuse to Acknowledge

Philly is currently in a state of emergency and it's time city officials wake up and do something about it. We are 7 months into 2021 and Philadelphia has already had over 281 murders. How is it that we are only halfway through the year and there have been nearly 2 thousand shootings.

Compared to the amount of shootings and deaths last year, the city is to beat those numbers by a landslide. I went on social media one too many times this fourth of July weekend to read that cookouts throughout the city had been shot up. According to the Philadelphia Police, over a hundred kids have been shot in "The City of Brotherly Love." Kids! That means teenagers under the age of 18. How can we call ourselves the "The City of Brotherly Love" when are children are getting killed by their neighbors?

Social media has been up in arms the past few days and more and more people realize that Philadelphia has become a warzone. People are crying out for our leaders to take action and do something, but our cries seem to be falling on deaf ears.

I've read stories of people who have lived in the 215 for decades, and they have expressed that they have never seen the city this bad. It's heartbreaking. We're losing our friends, kids are losing their fathers and mothers...all before the age of 5 years old.

Who do we turn to? The ones who were put in place to serve our community has yet to acknowledge how bad things have gotten. City officials tell us that they're trying, but as killings skyrocket to historic levels, we have yet to see any policy changes.

According to Penn Capital, there is what's called  the “Next Gen Task Force" that has been put in place by Mayor Jim Kenny's administration. The idea is to have a bunch of young people from different neighborhoods and communities within the city team up with city officials to exchange ideas and provide resources to help make Philly a better place. Apparently they are placing these taskforce in places where shootings and murders are happening the most.

I appreciate the fact that these officials say that they're "coming up" with these different programs for our community, but like a girl on Twitter known as "@Blackgirlwaves" said, we need more insight from the community.  Leaders say that they're implementing community strategies, but their not getting input from the people you are trying to help.

They were so quick to call the National Guard last year during the looting and the riots, but can't do the same when it comes to the countless lives that being taken every single day. Someone on Instagram suggested that we call the national guard, post them on every single street corner until things get under control. And to be honest, that is something I wouldn't mind my tax payer dollars being spent on.

The way the city is handling this situation isn't like they handled other situations that weren't as serious. The FBI was called in during the capital riots, but in this case it seems as if the bare minimum is being done.

We need lockdowns. Clearly the things that have been put into place to enforce change haven't been working. Maybe it's time for more drastic measures.

We need more action, not just social media posts. These killings need to be wakeup calls for every single resident to get up and start fighting for change....we shouldn't have to wait for other people to do it for us.