What it’s like as a Black cop in Philly | Morning Newsletter
Plus, more on the latest campaign to erase a racist past in Philly.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Happy belated Father’s Day to all the dads out there. If you missed some of the features we published about fathers this weekend, you can find a few of them here:
Tobias Harris’ dad is seeing a lifelong dream unfold.
A Philly-famous boxing promotions company is a true family business.
The way this big, extraordinary family came together was something these dads could have never imagined.
The Barnes honored Black fathers with a unique outdoor exhibit.
— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Over the last couple of weeks, a Philadelphia Police supervisor has been receiving messages from younger Black police officers. They almost all follow the same theme. Here’s one she shared with my colleagues Samantha Melamed and Dylan Purcell: “We’re not OK. Blue doesn’t acknowledge us because we’re Black, and Black doesn’t acknowledge us because we’re blue.”
As protesters marched through the city decrying the police killings of unarmed Black people, Black officers feel caught in the middle, dealing with the justified anger of the Black community and the realities of working as a police officer.
Some of the city’s 2,040 Black officers say the protests have heightened tensions within the department, which has a long history of racism and is currently fighting several discrimination lawsuits.
They make up a high school class unlike any other. The Class of 2020 came of age during a pandemic and a clamoring for racial justice. Here are the stories of 12 of those grads, sharing their hopes, dreams, and the lessons they have taken from a senior year no one could have seen coming.
What you need to know today
Black Lives Matter marches continued in Philadelphia over the weekend. On Saturday, hundreds honored Breonna Taylor, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, and other Black and transgender women and girls who were victims of racial, homophobic, and transphobic violence. Here are some pictures from the march. And yesterday, protests throughout the city called for love, justice, and fairness.
The latest campaign to erase a racist past in Philly is to rename Taney Street. In Camden, Woodrow Wilson High School will be renamed because of the former president’s segregationist views and ideas.
By the end of this week, many of Philly’s suburbs in Pennsylvania will enter the least-restrictive phase of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan. Philly will enter a modified version of those restrictions Friday.
A top Pennsylvania Republican lawmaker is fast-tracking a lucrative gambling expansion. It turns out that it would benefit a major campaign donor.
It was Philly’s tough hospital market, not greed, that ended up contributing to the closing of Hahnemann hospital. The loss of that hospital, which closed about a year ago, is felt especially during the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.
On Friday, Juneteenth commemorations filled Philadelphia and the region. Here’s what they looked like.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
How’s this for a Rocky quote to get your Monday going? Thanks for sharing, @jawn_photography.
Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!
That’s interesting
🎙️This youth rap group is bringing songs of racial justice to Philly’s protests.
🍺Two pioneering Wawa stores in Delco are beginning to add alcohol sales to their stores. And that might become even more common.
⚾The coronavirus outbreak at the Phillies’ training facility gives baseball a reason to cancel the entire 2020 season, writes columnist Bob Brookover.
🍽️Philadelphia’s restaurant comeback has officially begun. So, what will dining out look like in six months?
🏺Museums, public gardens, and other cultural attractions are planning for their summer returns. This is what those visits could be like.
📮A New Jersey artist will send you art in the mail for $20.
Opinions
“Then George Floyd’s murder tripped a wire in my system. A wire that was disconnected for so long, I had forgotten how to feel something that came to the surface all at once: rage. Forty-two years of rage. I’m sick of being reminded that we are ‘different.’ And I can’t breathe, either. I guess I am an angry Black woman, after all. And I’m not hiding it.” — writes Bethany Watson-Ostrowski, the owner of a multicultural catering and event planning company who also works for Vector Group Consulting, about her efforts to not be an “angry Black woman” in the suburbs and how that’s now changed.
The mothers whose sons have died behind bars hope the public outcry for police reform reaches prisons, writes columnist Helen Ubiñas.
Columnist Maria Panaritis writes about a 43-year-old father who kept flashing back to memories of his teachers in Upper Darby while watching his own children go through live-streamed education during the coronavirus pandemic.
What we’re reading
Billy Penn writes about when Rittenhouse Square was Philly’s Gayborhood.
WIRED reports on an “ingenious” plan to make sure that the economy is protected from pandemics.
The XFL’s season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, eventually leading to it all crashing down. ESPN reports how the demise of the XFL will impact the future of spring football.
Your Daily Dose of | A cellist’s tribute
At the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art earlier this month, Aijee Evans offered a tribute. Inspired by the shooting death of an 18-year-old who played the cello in West Philadelphia, Evans performed with her own cello. “It felt like the world had stopped,” Evans said to my colleague Brandon T. Harden. “I felt all the emotions and wanted to put all of it into the music.”
On Juneteenth, Evans performed at City Hall. And watch a video of that performance here.