While it never really went away, City Council’s Special Committee on Gun Violence was reintroduced this week.
By Denise Clay-Murray
During this year’s District Attorney’s race, there’s been a lot of talk about the rate of gun violence here in Philadelphia and who gets to take credit for its decline.
Notice I said “decline.” I emphasize that because while it’s going down, gun violence is still an issue here in the City of Brotherly Love and Put The Damned Gun Down.
As I write this, headlines such as “Police arrest Philly man they say shot four people on SEPTA bus in Fairmount Park,” “Two dead in separate double shootings across Philadelphia,” and “Teen charged with murder in fatal shooting of 12-year-old in West Oak Lane.”
During this week’s City Council meeting, hip-hop artist Qidere Johnson, aka LGPQua, was honored with a moment of silence. He had been gunned down in a robbery on Mother’s Day and was praised for his storytelling that focused on Philadelphia’s youth, their struggles, and their resilience.
Add things like this to the fact that summer is coming, and you see why Council President Kenyatta Johnson presented a newly constituted Special Committee on Gun Violence.
While the gun violence issue isn’t what it was when former City Council President Darrell Clarke, Councilmember Curtis Jones and current Council President Kenyatta Johnson created the Special Committee in 2017, the headlines would indicate that it’s still needed.
“Gun violence is a longstanding and devastating problem in Philadelphia and across the nation,” Johnson said. “Public safety is the cornerstone of a thriving society, as it underpins all social goods, including health, education, and community cohesion. Addressing gun violence is crucial not only for protecting lives but also for fostering community stability and resilience.”
Although many of the original members of the task force have been retained — Johnson, Councilmember Jones, Dorothy Johnson Speight, founder and national executive director of Mothers In Charge, and Bennie Price, deputy chief of Philadelphia Juvenile Probation, First Judicial District,are returning — there are a lot of new members.
Four of the new members — Councilmembers Cindy Bass, Jamie Gauthier, Nina Ahmad, and Jeffrey Young — are members of Council, and thus are able to bring whatever comes out of these meetings and turn it into legislation.
The other new members of the committee are as follows: Adam Geer, chief public safety director, Office of Public Safety; Adara L. Combs, Esq., executive director & appointed victim advocate, Philadelphia Office of the Victim Advocate; Dr. Marquita Williams, interim commissioner, City of Philadelphia, Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS); Assata Thomas, executive director, Office of Reentry Partnerships; and Keisha Hudson, chief defender, Defender Association of Philadelphia.
Other members of the committee include: Shania Bennet, director, Mayor’s Office of Youth Engagement; William Fritze, Assistant District Attorney, chief of the District Attorney Office’s Gun Violence Task Force; Stanley Crawford, founder, president & CEO, Black Male Community Council of Philadelphia; Rickey Duncan, CEO & founder, NOMO Foundation; Stanton B. Miller, MD, MPH, FACS, executive director, Jefferson Center for Injury Research and Prevention, and representative of Philadelphia College of Physicians; Adam Garber, executive director, Ceasefire PA; Jaime (Jalil) Meekins, community engagement and communications manager, Pushing Progress Philly (P3); Chantay Love, co-founder & CEO, EMIR Healing Center; Chief Charles Lawson, chief of police, SEPTA; Archbishop Mary Floyd Palmer, presiding archbishop and president, Philadelphia Council of Clergy, Inc., and First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford, Philadelphia Police Department.
Because of the work they do, this will be a committee that we’ll all be keeping an eye on.
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