Listen before you call him an idiot!

The Saturday of Labor Day weekend in 1970 had two big events in the Philadelphia area. An anti-war rally was held at Valley Forge featuring Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and a young speaker named John Kerry. Most of my focus, however, was on north Philly, because that same day on Temple’s campus the Black Panther Party was hosting their national convention. Tensions were extraordinarily high in Philadelphia late that summer. On August 29th, Fairmount Park Police Sgt. Frank von Colln was murdered by 5 members of the Black Panthers while sitting at his desk at 63rd and Catherine, 2 other cops were shot by the Panthers that same day in West Philly, and these shootings came a few days after 2 other cops were shot. 5 cops shot in one week!

I graduated from the Philadelphia Police Academy on Friday September 4th and was assigned to the 18th District. 6 days before my 20th birthday. You may remember that I wrote back in March that my self-described duties as an “armed social worker” eventually gave me a very unique insight into poverty, crime, education and the importance of a community support structure. 40 years ago today I found myself sitting on a police bus as part of a tactical response effort put together by Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo. With riot helmet and baton in hand, I sat and wondered to myself how I might possibly make a difference when whole communities seemed at odds. Black – White, Young – Old, Anti-war – Pro-war.

As in the Buffalo Springfield song…
“There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong …
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say hooray for our side”

Today’s animosity in social and political discourse is getting in the way of the kind of collaborations our communities need. These tough economical times will not allow bottom-less pockets of money. Times require that we establish wide-spread community engagement to determine what communities can be and what they might accomplish. We need to have our best ideas identified, discussed and evaluated without politics getting in the way. We should be demanding that our elected leaders demonstrate what they have accomplished, not what they can’t be blamed for. A lot has changed in the past 40 years, but unfortunately a lot has stayed the same. If we spent as much time trying to understand the other guy and his or her ideas as we spend figuring out how to label him, we’d be better off. Finding common-ground with your opponent could be a powerful tool, but you have to give a little to gain a little. You have to be ready to give up your held-fast beliefs to gain a better understanding of other ideas and possibly a stronger more-diverse collaborative. Stand up and be heard, but listen to what the other guy is saying before you call him an idiot.