From time to time in the city, young black males make the news by committing dramatic crimes that shock both blacks and whites, as with the flash mobs. Despite frequent reports of mayhem in the ghetto, the crimes that most upset the city's collective conscience might be called "racial crossover" crimes, in which a white person is the victim of a black perpetrator. Philadelphians take notice, and the stereotype of the dangerous young black man becomes more salient. The victim, a white person who was minding his or her own business, is regarded as particularly undeserving of this fate.
What responsibility do those who interact under the canopy have for ensuring it covers everyone, and for extending it across the city? Keeping an open mind means giving others the benefit of the doubt. It means trying to make others comfortable rather than withdrawing. And it requires treating what happens under the canopy not as "time out" from life, but as a model for it. Ultimately, lessons learned under the canopy can be carried into neighborhoods across the city.
Philadelphia's canopies do not yet encompass the whole city or all its people. Much of it remains segregated, reinforcing boundaries. And even under the canopy, those personifying the ghetto are often met with suspicion. A more inclusive civility that extends beyond the magical but bounded canopies requires changing what transpires in neighborhoods and workplaces as well as in public.
The canopy offers a taste of how inclusive and civil we can be. Even amid bad news, it speaks to the positive possibilities of urban life.
Elijah Anderson is the William K. Lanman Jr. professor of sociology at Yale and the author of the recently published "The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life" (W.W. Norton & Co.), from which this was adapted.
