See, I read your comments. I know what you think.
It's "those animals" killing each other, not "us."
Well, consider the murder of pizza delivery man Ron Anderson.
Anderson, a husband and father of four, studying for his real estate license, thought he was delivering a pizza, some cheesesteaks, and wings to a Southwest Philly home Tuesday night.
Instead, the "big guy with a big laugh and a boyish smile," as my colleague Mike Newall described him, was ambushed and killed by a pair of assailants who ran away without even taking his money.
Here we are, six days into the new year, and already Anderson is the sixth homicide victim of 2012.
He may not have been your son or my son, but we should care precisely because he was somebody's son. He was "us." Those who killed him were criminals, but not animals. Animals can't be criminals. Only people can.
Tearing the social fabric
Too many guns, too many slights, and not enough hope are wiping out an entire generation of African American men. It's an epidemic happening in big cities all over the country, one Mayor Nutter is determined to tackle in his second term.
On Wednesday, after touring Point Breeze, a high-crime neighborhood in South Philly, the mayor said, "The general public, the press . . . there seems to be a general feeling that bad people kill each other and that's just the way it is.
"If there were planes crashing and trains derailing, we'd be doing something about it. If there were bags of spinach that were toxic, we'd pull them off the shelves. This rips apart the entire social fabric of our city."
A mother speaks
