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by Ron Kaplan - George Holmes
Thursday afternoon, the weather was beautiful and business was brisk. The drug business that is, back on the corner of A and Westmoreland. The Chinese take-out restaurant, which hosted drug sales, had reopened. The code violations which heed police close it, were now corrected. It's as though nothing had ever happened and it's just business as usual.
The anti-drug activists decided this would be a perfect time to surprise the dealers with an unexpected impromptu 'raid.' Perhaps this unanticipated attack might be successful and chase them from the corner. But the results were the same as usual, only a slight interruption in the flow of business, another futile attempt.
As the vigilantes came marching down the street, cheers and words of encouragement from some of the local residents greeted them and spurred them on. But unfortunately just as many greeted them with words of disdain and derogatory comments. Many complained that they were just outside agitators and should go home to their own neighborhoods. All they did here was cause trouble.
It is true that a large number of the activists are not from the local areas. C. B. Kimmens, for one, leads a group called Mantua against drugs. That's in West Philly. There are many more like him who travel to vigils all over the city. No one questions their intentions. We know they are good folks trying to rid the city of this evil curse.
But perhaps we should try to examine some of the underlying causes here. Why are the same people that say they want the drug dealing out of the neighborhood when the spotlight is on buddying up to the dealers as soon as it goes off? Why is that when the activists come, a woman shouts words of encouragement out the window of a house we have had under surveillance and as soon as they leave it's back to business as usual from this known drug house?
Just as the factories and mills once drove the economies of this neighborhood and others like it, they're all gone now. The drug trade drives the new economy here. Are these people really that different from the rest of us? They just want to make a living, support their families and be part of the consumer society just like the rest of us. Unfortunately for them their opportunities are limited. The source of income they have developed for themselves is lucrative. It's not the kind of thing you want to give up easily, especially given the current options.
It shouldn't be any surprise that the locals resent outside agitators and want to be left alone to do their business. Why they were so "polite" as they were when they asked our reporter to get off their property, even though it was the public sidewalk.
What is really interesting is the situation here not that different from the rest of the country. It's just the issues that are different. Just look at how close the last national election was. Half of the people want one thing half want another. Here it seems that half the people see the drug trade as a good thing. It is a good source of employment for their kids where they can make a lot more money than they can anywhere else. The others see it as an evil thing that has ruined their neighborhood and their lives.
Unfortunately the drug trade and the violence that comes with it is an evil thing. It has had a devastating effect not only on the people directly involved, but also on the nation as a whole. And this war will continue with no end in sight until the rules are drastically changed. In the meantime corners like A and Westmoreland will continue just as they are. Sometimes the good guys win a battle; sometimes it's the bad guys. But most of the time it's just business as usual.
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