‘I want to be able to heal’: Kensington residents begin yet another recovery
Pastor Adan Mairena says it’s one thing after the other for Kensington residents, who have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus.
Pastor Adan Mairena says it’s one thing after the other for Kensington residents, who have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus.
Block upon block of red brick rowhouses still line Kensington’s streets. Increasingly, new construction does too, and lots of it.
“We can’t just focus on the victims of violence, or just focus on people who are using drugs,” said researcher Joe Friedman. “We also have to focus on the people who are heavily incentivized to sell drugs, have very few other options, and then as part of doing that, violence is just the natural, logical thing that’s baked into the system.”
When Semaj O’Branty was shot in the back of the head while walking home from school in Philadelphia’s Frankford neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, he became the third young person to be caught in the crossfire in as many weeks.
The ruling made waves across Kensington, with a mix of emotions coming from people who live in the neighborhood most directly affected by the crisis.