The Wronged Man

In many parts of the world, it is the season of joy, peace, and goodwill towards men.

Not in Philadelphia. Here, it is the season of fear, loathing, and deep-seated mistrust.

We have a serial killer on our hands.

What we also have is the mob frenzy, widespread panic, and media circus that follow along with big murder cases. And the victims of that frenzy include more than the poor women choked to death by a homicidal maniac.

Police have dubbed the killer the “Kensington Strangler”, and have positively linked the murders of Elaine Goldberg, Nicole Piacentini, and Casey Mahoney to one perpetrator through DNA evidence. All three bodies were found partially clothed and sexually assaulted in abandoned Kensington lots.

All three victims had histories of drug addiction and prostitution, which authorities say fit the serial killer profile.

These are women who exist in the dark, shadowy fringes of society; often having had no contact with loved ones for months, even years. They have been written off by their families and even police departments, where their missing person files collect dust in old file cabinets. We see them every day, but pay them little attention – that is, until their broken and lifeless bodies are found in trash-filled alleys and weed-choked empty lots.

Neighborhood residents are near panic, and probably should be. A cold-blooded, remorseless killer walks among them, and no one knows when or where he’ll strike next.

Police have blanketed the area, and have arrested more than 120 men and women in the neighborhood in recent weeks on prostitution-related charges. DNA swabs were taken from more than 150 men in an attempt to find the strangler. The Guardian Angels have swooped in from New York to join the search effort. Reward money for information leading to the arrest of the killer now stands at $37,000, and residents have started websites and pages on social networking sites to share information and tips.

And that is where it gets a little dicey. Just ask 24-year old Kensington resident Triz Jefferies.

Someone spread hundreds of fliers throughout the neighborhood with Jefferies' name, photo and address, naming him as a prime suspect. That same flier showed up on Kensington Strangler Facebook pages and was distributed via text message.

Suddenly, Jefferies found himself a prisoner in his own home. A crowd had gathered outside his door, out for bloody vengeance.

Jefferies had good reason to fear. This is the same neighborhood, remember, where just last year child rapist Jose Carrasquillo was captured by locals and beaten to a pulp. When police arrived, they had to save Carrasquillo from being torn limb from limb before arresting him.

The difference? Carrasquillo was stone guilty, and quickly admitted his crimes. Jefferies, on the other hand, is an innocent man caught in the whirlwind of vigilante justice.

To his credit, a panicked Jefferies called the police himself, and was escorted through the angry mob by officers who took him to the Special Victims Unit. There, he was interviewed, swabbed for DNA, and subsequently cleared as a suspect.

That exoneration doesn’t change the fact that someone - perhaps someone with an unrelated grudge against Jefferies - not only deliberately and maliciously put his life in danger, but momentarily threw both authorities and neighbors off the track of the real killer.

Police say whoever tried to frame Jefferies could face charges if caught, but don’t hold your breath waiting for someone to admit to setting him up. More likely, the episode will soon be forgotten; a tangential footnote to a much larger narrative.
That, to me, is an additional crime. Jefferies’ frightening chapter to this story should be repeated and remembered.

If you, or someone you know and love, just happen to be a young black man who vaguely resembles the widely-distributed description of the Kensington Strangler, Jefferies’ story could easily be your story.

What if Jefferies hadn’t had the presence of mind to call police? What if the mob had gotten to him before police arrived?

No two ways about it. Whoever distributed that flier put out a contract on Jefferies’ life, no different than a mob boss ordering a hit on a business rival. Anonymously, and without much fear of retribution, someone tried to have Jefferies lynched.

The mayor, district attorney, police commissioner and concerned neighbors are right – the Kensington Strangler must be brought to justice soon, and people should keep an eye out for suspicious activity. But mob rule and vigilante justice are not a substitute for cooperative investigation.

Just ask Triz Jefferies.

A Better Than Average Week

Even a dedicated curmudgeon like me has to admit things are looking up this week in the ol’ City of Brotherly Love.

We’re all giddy with excitement at the impending return of pitching ace Cliff Lee, whose addition to the Phillies’ staff is nothing short of monumental. The expected starting rotation of Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels constitutes the most feared and dangerous lineup of hurlers since the Atlanta Braves of the 1990’s, when they featured Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, and Millwood.

Some local sports outlets have already dubbed the Phillies’ lineup with the Star Wars-inspired moniker R2C2 – which, knowing this town, is just lame and corny enough to stick. I suddenly long for the good old days of the 1970’s Oakland A’s, whose pitchers – Blue Moon Odom, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, and Rollie Fingers - came with their own built-in nicknames.

But baseball season is still months away, and I suspect some of the giddiness will fade when we get a good look at the Phillies’ 2011 merchandise and ticket prices. Somebody’s got to pay for all that talent, folks.

As I’m writing this column, they’re cutting the grand opening ceremonial ribbon over at the President’s House exhibit on Independence Mall. As you well know by now, it’s been a long and arduous process, with heated passion on both sides of the debate of the historical significance of George Washington’s slaves.

Thanks to local attorney Michael Coard and the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, former mayor John Street, and a host of concerned citizens, historians, and archeologists; the fascinating stories of these early slaves is finally being told in full context.

But what really grabbed my attention this week was City Council’s all day hearing on police misconduct. Fifteen Philadelphia police officers have been arrested – not just fired, but arrested - in the past two years, and the number of civilian complaints is at an all-time high.

Unlike the endlessly painful tedium that hallmarks most council hearings, this one provided an opportunity for both catharsis and education.

It was cathartic for the victims of police violence and abuse, who courageously came out to testify about their own cases, and on behalf of their loved ones. After months, sometimes years, of isolation and official silence while their cases grind slowly through the justice system, they finally had the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Even better was that they got to do it in front of Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and his top brass as well as city council. And it was Ramsey, in his testimony, who provided the education.

Ramsey testified he would begin to implement thorough background checks on recruits, including polygraph tests, and interviews with family members, friends and neighbors. He said he also asked the Civil Service Commission to raise the recruitment age from 19 to 21 and to require that recruits have at least three years of driving experience and an associate degree or 60 college credits, with a minimum C average.

I had no idea they weren’t doing this already – at least the background check and polygraph part. So I took a look at the police department’s website, www.phillypolice.com, and sure enough, they detail the entire scope of the Recruit Background Investigations Unit.

They talk to a lot of people about your past history alright – but apparently not the people who would allow them to effectively sift out the assorted thieves, bullies, cutthroats and sociopaths giving the department a bad name lately. Any effort by top brass to raise the bar for incoming recruits to the exclusion of these goons is welcome, and long overdue.

Also found on the department’s website, and mentioned by Ramsey at the hearing, are the improved methods of filing a complaint against officers suspected of misconduct. Anonymous complaint forms will be available at city agencies like public libraries and recreation centers. There are actually two online forms on the website, one for citizen’s complaints, and one for officers’ complaints against colleagues. (I was about to make a snarky comment about which one gets the most mouse clicks, but that one is just too easy, and even I have standards.)

I admit, though, to being encouraged by the message above the police officers’ complaint form titled: “Integrity Starts With You”. It says, in part, “The first step is simple, but the hardest. Stop protecting and tolerating other members’ inappropriate behavior. There is no justification for their wrongful actions. It’s up to all of us to bring back a sense of professionalism and pride to the Philadelphia Police Department.”

At least they finally figured that out, which is the first step in the right direction.

Truth and Consequences

More than 70 percent of eligible voters don’t bother to cast their ballots on Election Day.

Ask one of them about this curious decision to become proactively inactive, and more likely than not you’ll get a speech about how it doesn’t matter if you vote because all politicians are corrupt anyway; or that the fix is already in so the act of voting is just a hollow formality; or that there are no consequences for not voting, only for voting for the wrong candidate or the wrong party.

If the unfolding events both locally and nationally this week don’t offer them a clear insight as to just how backwardly erroneous this thinking is, nothing will.

A few hours down Interstate 95 in Washington, D.C., we were forced to watch as President Barack Obama caved in to the interests of Big Money when he extended his predecessor’s tax cuts for the richest Americans in exchange for a few more months of unemployment benefits for the poorest Americans.

It was a sad display, and not because Obama chose to chastise his progressive base, who he knew would howl and scream at his administration’s spineless capitulation – but because by couching the decision as “compromise”, he demonstrated that he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, say what lies at the root of his political about-face.

The fact is that this compromise would not have been necessary had the Democrats not lost 63 seats in the House last month. That shifting of the balance of power serves not only to strengthen the Republican agenda - but to effectively water down, if not completely wash away, many of those progressive “Yes, we can!” initiatives in the legislative pipeline.

And those seats would not have been lost if the rank and file Democrats in those districts had seen this week’s surrender – and whatever right-wing horrors are next to come - as a natural consequence of their not voting.

A good part of the blame for both the unconcerned apathy of the Left and the wild-eyed anger of the Right belongs squarely at the feet of the Democratic Party, which has proven lately that when it comes to sleaze, corruption, and looking out for greedy personal interests, it takes a back seat to no one.

And nowhere in America has this proven more true, and for more consecutive decades, than here in Philadelphia.

We’ve become so accustomed to viewing corruption and graft as the way things get done, we can scarcely imagine an alternative. Before you even consider running for office in this town, you have to first seek the approval of party bosses, kiss up to connected ward leaders, grease the right committee people, staffers, and friends of friends; and shake hands with the Devil while begging for financial backing from the fat cats who always, always want something in return.

Last month Deputy City Commissioner Renee Tartaglione Matos resigned, four days after the Board of Ethics found probable cause that she violated the city charter. Renee Tartaglione Matos is the daughter of longtime City Commissioner Marge Tartagione, sister of State Senator Christine Tartaglione, and the wife of 19th ward leader Carlos Matos, recently released from prison after doing time for bribery.

She admitted to nine violations of the charter involving political activity, including accepting checks for street money, and actively campaigning against State Rep. Angel Cruz, a political enemy seen as a threat to her sister’s Senate seat. Cruz, by the way, has enough problems of his own, with the Pennsylvania Attorney General breathing down his neck for alleged violations involving improprieties with his nominating petitions.

The City Commissioner’s Office is the taxpayer-funded entity charged with overseeing Philadelphia’s election process, and making sure our elections are fair, legal, and unsullied by corruption. (I tried to type that sentence with a straight face. I really did try.)

For me, though, here’s the worst part: we, the voters and taxpayers, barely bat an eye when we hear these things. State liquor store warehouse employees selling booze off the loading dock; clerks at Licenses and Inspections giving trade licenses to whoever comes up with enough bribe money; agency heads fixing parking tickets in exchange for free food – and we just shake our heads, sigh, and turn to the sports page.

Our political system – corrupt, venal, and self-serving as it may be, is wholly dependent upon our sense of right and wrong to keep it running or to trade it in for a new model.

For what we end up with, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Know When To Hold ‘Em, When To Fold ‘Em

A couple of weeks ago we covered the controversy surrounding McFadden’s bar, an Old City nightspot being sued by an employee for racial discrimination.

As expected, Philly’s blogosphere was set on fire by the folks who love to scream “race card” whenever an incident involving racism hits the news.

Here’s how it works: You’re denied a table in a nearly empty restaurant, or a real estate broker steers you to a neighborhood where you’ll be ‘more comfortable’, or a bartender serves you a drink, but breaks the glass afterward. (In case you’re tempted to label these scenarios as wild or impossible, each has happened to me at least once in my lifetime. If you’re a person of color, I’m willing to bet you have a few stories of your own.)

Anyway, you complain to the proper authorities about the discriminatory treatment, hoping to find a solution which serves the cause of justice and human decency. What you get instead are a never-ending lineup of doubters, naysayers, and people who will tell you that you’re being too sensitive, or that you’re just looking for problems where none exist; or more likely, that you’re just angling for a frivolous lawsuit and a quick payday.

In other words, you’re playing the race card.

It’s become another all-purpose catch phrase used to belittle the complaint, and cast doubt on the motives of the complainer. And no, it doesn’t matter whether the complaint is valid or legitimate – in fact, blaming the ‘race card’ works best when the racism is most obvious.

Take McFadden’s, for example.

There was plenty of huffing and puffing on local blogs and comment boards about McFadden’s newly restrictive dress code – hats, white t-shirts, team jerseys, baggy pants and gold jewelry were forbidden at the Old City location, but not the McFadden’s at Citizen’s Bank Park.

Also a hot topic was the motivation of the complainant, Michael Bolden, an African-American bartender at McFadden’s who happens to hold down a day job as a lawyer. Well, that was about all the ‘race card’ throwers could stand, and all the information they needed.

After hearing that tidbit, it didn’t matter one bit whether Bolden was deliberately given duties and shifts designed to keep his black face away from the front of the bar, where he might upset the patrons’ delicate sensibilities. It also didn’t matter that the bar’s managers made that fact crystal clear in internal memos and text messages like, “So let’s get back to basics and make the necessary changes by fading away that clientele from the bar and behind the bar”, in reference to McFadden’s Alternative Wednesday’s promotion. Those “basics” presumably being to discourage any alternatives to the bar’s whiteness.

And it especially didn’t matter if that same manager, identified as Walt Wyrsta, sent another text message openly saying, “We don't want black people, we are a white bar.”

What matters is that Bolden is Black, and had the audacity to point out an incident of racism. Therefore, he must have played the race card. Further, Bolden is an attorney – which in itself is proof that he’s just looking to make a fast buck.

So with a smug, dismissive keystroke, the bloggers and comment posters waved off the whole shameful affair, going back to their usual routine of living in their mom’s basement and hating everyone with dark skin.

Then a funny thing happened this week.

The owners of McFadden’s and Bolden reached a quick and amicable settlement, but with an interesting turn of events. Bolden asked for - and received - no money whatsoever. That’s right, not one dime.

Leaves the “he’s just playing the race card for a fast buck” crowd twisting in the wind, doesn’t it?

As part of the settlement, McFadden's will hire an outside human resources firm to establish equal employment policies, and will institute mandatory anti-discrimination training programs for all of its employees. McFadden's will also monitor its hiring, promotion, work assignment and termination decisions, and submit written progress reports to the court for one year.

As a bonus, McFadden’s also fired Wyrsta, although that wasn’t part of the settlement.

So could it be that Bolden was actually telling the truth about McFadden’s racist policies? Could it be that he really was interested in seeking justice and fairness for himself and future employees, and not just hard cash? Could it also be that McFadden’s owners, seeing that further resistance would only cause more damage, quickly agreed to right the wrongs?

Could it be then, that ‘playing the race card’ is more often simply a matter of playing the cards you were dealt?