Letters to the Editor | May 14, 2024

As I read about the effort by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker to rid Kensington of an encampment, I shook my head in disbelief. Where was the necessary planning and demonstrated humanity as the lives of terrified human beings were uprooted?

City officials had assured all that this action would be led by outreach teams, but as police cleared two blocks, no social service workers were on hand to support and direct those frightened and confused, scattered and clueless about where to go. Chief Public Safety Director Adam Geer called the Kensington dismantling “a good day.” But for whom? Surely not those in the encampment, forced to flee on foot, with their meager rain-soaked belongings, not knowing where.

A neighbor, John Cacciola, was quoted as saying he’d been “sold a false bill of goods.” As reported by The Inquirer, Cacciola had been assured that those in outdoor encampments would be moved to treatment facilities and shelters. Instead, they were pushed into residential streets such as his, with no social workers available for direction. Does this ill-planned action remind you of our mayor’s refusal to respect the endorsement of professionals whose lives are devoted to supporting hope and direction for substance users? They were overwhelmingly united in their endorsement of overdose prevention centers, where trained staff can oversee those using drugs — which has been shown to decrease overdose fatalities — and subsequently lead those living with addiction to treatment.

Could Mayor Parker’s disregard for human frailty reveal her Achilles’ heel: Does she see herself as always right about everything, requiring no input from others whose experience can contribute to the success of her office?

SaraKay Smullens, Philadelphia

I applaud President Joe Biden’s decision to withhold weapons from Israel that could be used to offensively attack Gaza and Rafah.

Shouldn’t we be horrified by how Israel is bombing Gaza and intends to bomb Rafah just like we’re horrified by how Russia is bombing Ukraine? Bombing apartment buildings, schools, and hospitals and killing innocent citizens is not the American way. I get the desire of Israel to find the Hamas terrorists who invaded its country and killed innocent people. But I doubt any amount of indiscriminate bombing of Gaza and Rafah will eliminate Hamas. And in the process, thousands of people are being killed and driven from their homes. Meanwhile, hostages continue to be held by Hamas.

Killing thousands of people in Gaza in the hopes that maybe some of them are Hamas terrorists defies rational thinking. If several hundred terrorists from Canada or Mexico crossed the U.S. border and killed innocent people and took others to hold for ransom, would we answer with a bombing campaign that destroys Montreal or Mexico City? Of course not.

President Biden’s unwavering support of Israel considering how that country is responding to the attack by Hamas terrorists must have limits.

Paul Greeley, West Chester

Sometimes in the middle of social upheaval, it’s necessary to step back and take a broader view. We are in such a time now. University leaders, politicians, and journalists are falling over themselves to find a TV camera where they can decry protesters on college campuses. Is anyone listening to the demonstrators? Or is everyone too busy calling on law enforcement to round them up and put them in jail?

Anyone who’s actually studied history knows better. Slavery. Women’s suffrage. Native American rights. The civil rights movement. Vietnam. The global campaign against apartheid. All involved protesters who faced the prospect of jail, beatings, or worse. But that didn’t end the social need for those changes.

The loudest voices today for “law and order” have forgotten one thing: Social change is always preceded by social unrest. Always.

Barry Adams, Malvern

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