Who are we?

For all of you whose lives have been touched by violence, this is a safe space for you to share your views, experiences, hopes and fears about the danger and violence that consumes so much of your day. Ask questions, vent, tell us who you are. We’ll make sure your voices are heard by those who run the city, community leaders, reporters, politicians, and anyone else who can, with your help, make a difference in your life.

A quick look around:

The Wall

The Wall is a space for you to leave a comment– anything you’re thinking about, worried about, or want others to know about.

Fast Facts

Poke around here to find out the truth about violence.

Incident Map

This interactive map is an online memorial to those who have lost their lives to violence. Here you can post your own marker for someone you want to remember.

Digital Shorts

Check out these short videos produced by our Philly Flash Productions crew to hear about what is going on in Philly.

Important Discussions

Speak your mind! This page gives you a list of topics you might want to talk about. Click on the subject you have an opinion on and tell us what you think.

Special Thanks to Mayor Michael Nutter, Dr. Eileen Weissman, Everett Gillison, Betsy Linehan RSM, SJU President Father Gillespie, all SJU faculty, staff, students, and our neighboring community members for making this evening of remembrance possible.

On Monday, March 11th, PYSP invited Corporal Brian P. Haughton, Officer Robert Monahan and two other officers from the Philadelphia Police Department to visit with two 10th grade classes at Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School (MACS) on North Broad Street with the goal of breaking down barriers that exist between young adults and law enforcement in Philadelphia.

Prior to that day, the MACS students submitted anonymous questions they wanted to ask of the officers, which began an open dialogue and Q&A on what it’s like to be an officer in Philadelphia, racial profiling, advice for teens on how to best interact with police, stop snitching, community stereotypes of the police, and the reality that many citizens in Philadelphia suffer from some form of PTSD as a result of the violence they witness in their everyday lives. The students also had an opportunity to give advice to the officers, offering suggestions on how the police might approach teenagers differently to improve community relations.

In an anonymous post-survey, students were asked whether the class changed their view of police officers, out of which many gave positive responses, highlighted below:

“It did change, because I didn’t know their side, & how much they care”
“I don’t think the cops are that bad because they just want to keep us safe”
“It changed in a positive way because they wanted to know how we feel”
“Mine changed in a positive way because now I know what they deal with”

Students were also asked to list what they may have learned from their discussion:

“I have more respect for their jobs”
“I learned when the police tell somebody to get off the corner, they are not trying to be disrespectful but trying to save your life”
“They go through a lot to protect us”
“I realized how many things they do for us”
“I learned they do care about us”
(I learned) “to be a bit more respectful”

PYSP would like to thank the Philadelphia Police Officers and students from MACS for their willingness to participate in this open and honest discussion! We hope to continue holding these conversations with other groups of young people in the future.

The Richard Johnson Center for Anti-Violence hosted Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate Magazine and contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. Bazelon discussed her newest book Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Discovering the Power of Character and Empathy. Released on February 19th, the book focuses on the devastating consequences of teenage bullying and offers thought-provoking solutions for parents and educators. Bazelon later presented at Philadelphia’s High School of the Future where students across Philadelphia, parents, and members of the school district were able to ask questions and comment on their concerns with respect to Bazelon’s expertise. Hosting Bazelon was a collaborative effort of RJC, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s Office of School Safety Advocate, and the School District of Philadelphia

by Amanda Sapio ‘13

PHILADELPHIA (Feb. 18, 2013) — Teenage bullying has become increasingly prevalent among students with the accessibility of the Internet and social media. Parents and educators are faced with the challenge of controlling this issue every day in schools across America.

The Richard Johnson Center for Anti-Violence at Saint Joseph’s University will host Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate Magazine and contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 11:30 a.m. in the North Lounge of the Campion Student Center. Bazelon will discuss her newest book Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Discovering the Power of Character and Empathy. Scheduled for release on February 19, the book focuses on the devastating consequences of teenage bullying and offers thought-provoking solutions for parents and educators.

Later that day, Bazelon will visit Philadelphia’s High School of the Future (4021 Parkside Ave.) from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., to meet with teachers, parents and students from Philadelphia district schools. The Richard Johnson Center worked in collaboration with the Philadelphia School District and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s Office of Safe Schools to host the event.

Bazelon grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Yale University in 1993. After completing Yale Law School in 2000, she became editor of the Yale Law Journal. She was nominated for the 2011 Michael Kelly Award, which honors a writer whose work exemplifies “the fearless pursuit and expression of truth.” She was also a finalist for the 2011 Online Journalism Award from the Gannett Foundation.

The RJC staff held a citizenship workshop at the Gesu School to address what it means to be good citizens in order to proactively combat the many forms of bullying. Gesu students are also sporting our Cyber Citizenship t-shirts that proudly say “If You Can’t Say it to My Face, Don’t Say it in Cyber Space!” We began this journey against bullying in Spring 2012 as part of The Bully Project: 1 Million Kids – Philly when the makers of the powerful and timely documentary “Bully” shared its series of testimonies with the nation. Here at RJC, we were proud to facilitate sending over 1,200 Philadelphia students to see the film for free and the Gesu School was in that lucky number. Our commitment to Gesu and our city’s children is evident as we will continue to help build our Philadelphia community.

Guns are Children’s Worst Enemies – January 22, 2013 Daniel Taylor for the Inquirer

On Dec. 17, three days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, my 11-year-old daughter asked me if I had heard about the teacher who hid her students in a closet while telling the gunman they were in gym class. “She was killed,” my daughter said, her eyes waiting for a response from me.

“I heard,” I said delicately. “She gave her life to protect her students.” I kissed her on her forehead as she opened the car’s passenger-side door, and watched as she walked up the stairs to her school. She glanced back at me for a second before the heavy door closed behind her.

Earlier that month, I took care of a 2-year-old boy who had pulmonary tuberculosis. He was tested because of several factors that put him at high risk for TB, which in the last century killed tens of thousands of Americans, especially children. Today, only a few hundred Americans will die of this disease, due to intense public health efforts.

TB and guns? I’ll get back to this.

In 2010 there were 6,570 gun-related deaths of children, 18 a day, a small classroom of innocents. This is 15 times the death rate from infections and twice the death rate from cancer. Children of color constitute 63 percent of these gun death victims. As a nation, we have invested billions in research and developed weapons to target specific cells based on a child’s individual genes to prevent and treat infections and cancer. Not so for guns and kids.

Over the last half-century, through regulations and hard science, we have successfully reduced our children’s exposure to toxic air pollutants and water and food contamination. With tighter regulation of the cigarette industry, we have reduced their inhalation of secondhand smoke. Yet, inexplicably, we continue to poison our children’s cultural environment through various “entertainment” media that, in a child’s first 18 years of life, expose a developing brain to 16,000 murders and 200,000 violent acts on television alone.

We allow 40 percent of Philadelphia’s children to live in poverty, in areas where exposure to violence is common, making them more likely to fight first as they get older.

In a 2001 study of 7-year-olds, done in the area around St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, 75 percent had heard gunshots, 61 percent worried they might get killed, 10 percent had seen a shooting or stabbing inside the home, and an unbelievable 18 percent had seen a dead body outside. Toxic.

As a mother with a seriously ill child, who studies and teaches about violence, I hope you will permit me to write about Sandy Hook.

Sometimes we sociologists have useful insights. I hope you will indulge me by allowing me to share some of what we scholars know about rampage school shootings.

Many people have emailed me to ask about rampage shootings and how to speak to their children. First, I would assure older children who are worried that the man behind this incident was captured and that their teachers and parents do everything in their power to keep them safe. This sort of tragedy, while hor
rifying, is actually quite rare.

We have learned a great deal in the wake of Columbine, and every school I have worked with has drills with students instructing teachers to barricade themselves into classrooms and hide their children against the wall away from a gunman’s line of vision. We have such protocols and procedures here at Saint Joseph’s University and for years our own ERLDC led the way in getting training to first responders and schools.

Social media is also a powerful tool and teachers and staff will get emergency alerts when there are threats to students and the school. Also, elementary schools have cameras and security protocols. As the details emerge in this case, I suspect that the alleged shooter will have had access to information and ways to circumvent security because his mother was a teacher there.

I also suspect we will soon learn that some of the adults who died today sacrificed themselves to save their students.

I recommend folks check out Kathy Newman’s book Rampage for a very substantial academic analysis of these exceedingly rare occurences. Some of the highlights of Newman and her students’ findings are that the rampage shooters imagine that their acts of violence are magical solutions to their social conflicts. And that most of these shootings happen in semi-rural or rural areas because the schools themselves are the targets of the shooters’ rage. Indeed, the shooters seem to use the shootings as a hybrid suicide/theatrical assault on the people and the community they blame for their pain and isolation.

I am sure there will be a huge call for gun control, I am afraid to say it will not go anywhere, politicians are simply too fearful of the lobbyists and the influence they wield. Politicians have acknowledged this to me off the record on more than one occasion. But also, it doesn’t matter, since there are so many guns in the US it would take decades of interdiction to make a dent in the guns out there. But, while people will be haunted by the images of children holding hands walking out of Sandy Hook, I would like to remind folks that the far more frequent targets of gun violence are poor, black, males living in segregated cities, not affluent/rural suburbs.

Just this Monday, in my own beloved Philadelphia, a 4 year old was shot, while sitting in a car. His father was the target.

I will not make any further comment about the issues of race and poverty, but I would encourage people who are horrified at this violence to focus on the most frequent context for youth violence and force politicians and our society to deal with the social realities that have made Philadelphia and Camden some of the most deadly cities in the nation and the planet.

A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” Jeremiah- Thanks to Father Chris for reminding of this beautiful passage that is just so appropriate

The Richard Johnson Center for Anti-Violence was excited to host Deputy Ross’ visit to Hawk Hill for a Q&A titled “Fighting Crime and Seeking Justice in the City of Brothery Love” See his visit featured on NBC 10 news.

The Richard Johnson Center for Anti-Violence recently received a 2012 Social and Pastoral Research Grant in the amount of $5,650.00 from the Jesuit Conference! The grant will assist the RJC in its continual work acting and educating on the “faith that does justice,” by supporting a project that recognizes the Center for listening to the poor and marginalized, while reshaping attitudes on controversial social issues.

The program involves the production of testimonials by eight prison inmates at Pennsylvania’s largest maximum security prison, located in Montgomery County. These inmates were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for crimes they committed as juveniles. Saint Joseph’s University students will collaborate with inmates on their testimonies, and following the development of these testimonials, the Richard Johnson Center working with SJU filmmaker Deron Albright, will film the narratives of the testimonials, creating a multimedia performance series combining research, oral histories, and performance. The result will be a filmed project/installation that will be screened publically, and remain on “permanent display” within the Richard Johnson Center’s social media community, the Philadelphia Youth Solutions Project. Narratives and performances will be shown to students in Philadelphia schools to inspire youth engagement and youth citizenship on the issues of youth violence and juvenile offenders.

PYSP worked with students from Mastery Charter Thomas Campus, Girard Academic Music Program, and Grace and Style Dance Studio to perform this Phlash Mob for Peace in LOVE Park as a response to Philadelphia’s violent youth flash mobs from last summer.