Can we appreciate the redeemed among us?

By Adan A. Mairena

In 1957, W.E.B. Du Bois, civil rights activist and founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, asked, what shall honesty do in the face of deception?

For several days now, some of us in West Kensington have felt as tired as Jacob must have felt the morning after he had an all-night wrestling match with what we think was an angel (Genesis 32:22-31). Years earlier, Jacob fled his home after tricking his father Isaac into giving him, instead of his brother Esau, his blessing - the family's birthright and inheritance. Given his deceit, Jacob ran from Esau (Genesis 27).

This time, however, Jacob is confronted and does not flee. Instead, he wrestles with the stranger, demands a blessing, and receives it.

Before departing, the angel tells Jacob, "From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won" (Genesis 32:28).

I reside in a part of the city known as 19122, an area that has been labeled a food desert because of limited access to fresh food and produce. I believe 19122 is also a job desert, an opportunity desert, a safety desert, and, ultimately, a hope desert.

Like Jacob in the desert, we have been wrestling with a socio-economic structure that has kept us down and defeated ever since the factories on the American Street corridor closed and evacuated after World War II. Not dealing head-on with poverty and failed governmental policies on the poor has also contributed to our dour existence. Although the surrounding area is not Berlin or Japan in the late 1940s, our empty lots and broken-down buildings, many on the verge of collapsing, resemble the losing side of a war zone.

Amid all this, something happened recently to our community that has further hurt our souls. It has made us both angry and sad, though not defeated. Like Jacob, we may be limping along, we may be a little down, but we are not out of the fight.

What happened made me ask myself: Am I lying to the people in this community? Am I lighting the torch of opportunity and hope for this community - encouraging them to earn an education and work hard - only to see their dreams drenched in kerosene, lit up, and torched, with only a pile of ashes remaining as a witness to what could have been? Am I a hypocrite proclaiming redemption and restoration, forgiveness and healing, only to see this community continually marginalized and cast out, and not redeemed but instead the recipients of revenge?

What happened last month was this: My friend Edwin Desamour had to resign his appointment to Mayor Nutter's Police Community Oversight Board, which will implement recent recommendations from the U.S. Justice Department.

When he was 16, Edwin was indirectly involved in the death of Sean Daily, a police officer's son, and served 8 1/2 years in prison. Edwin often shares his sorrow for being part of something that took another person's life, and he carries that emotionally painful burden on a daily basis. My heart breaks with Edwin's every time he shares his story. We agree that the loss of any life is not God's desire, and we concur that we don't just "move on" from something like that. The life-snatching violence of North Philadelphia permanently scars all who live there.

Today, Edwin, after earning a college degree, is the founder and executive director of Men in Motion in the Community (MIMIC), an organization in West Kensington that mentors youths, especially young black and Latino males who live in the shadows and challenges of the hard life of North Philadelphia. MIMIC works closely with law enforcement at all levels and serves as a bridge, broker, and interpreter among the cultures of the community, especially between disenfranchised male youths of color and the police.

Edwin is now married and a father of four. He has lived a redeemed life since his release from prison and is a prime example of transformation and of how we can all be restored in spite of our past. Still - and here is where my heart breaks - Edwin's appointment to the police oversight board provoked a strong objection from the police community. As a result, Edwin, who is the type of person we absolutely need on a board looking at police use of force and other reforms, resigned, and his resignation was accepted.

To add insult to injury, an article about Edwin's resignation included a picture of Eric Desamour, Edwin's brother, describing Eric as a "former drug dealer." Nowhere in the article is it stated that Edwin has changed his life and that Eric had stopped dealing drugs decades ago. Eric, after long years of faithful commitment to his church, is now pastor of Bethel Church, one of North Philadelphia's strongest faith communities ministering in the trenches of hopelessness and despair. Eric, like his brother, has also been redeemed and restored and now restores communities that most of society ignores.

Edwin, like many of us in West Kensington, like many of the Jacobs throughout time, continues his tireless work in the defeated war zones of Philadelphia. Edwin has received the redemption of our creator God, the state of Pennsylvania, his community, his peers, and his colleagues. Who are we in the rest of society not to redeem him?

W.E.B. Du Bois asked, what shall honesty do in the face of deception?

This is what we do: We speak honesty in the face of deception.

And here is a truth that we here in West Kensington ask you to consider:

For continuing to punish a redeemed Edwin, and others like him, perhaps it is Edwin who is redeemed and not the rest of us.