One of my best friends, Sammy bought a house a couple years back in Fishtown, an up-and-coming neighborhood on the outskirts of downtown. He’s been rehabbing it, spending his blood, sweat and tears to build it out to something nice. Every so often, something jumps out and reminds him – he’s a pioneer here. Poverty and violence persist still in this area of town. It’s getting better. But then he emails me when something like this happens:

“monday night a dude tried to rob me, my neighbor beth, her friend maureen, and my buddy steve. we sit in beth’s livingroom with the front door open every night, drinking beers. black man around 40 165 lbs 5′11″ at 8 pm walked in and told us not to move and to give him our money. all four of us immediately stood up. i said ‘are you fucking kidding me’, to the reply ‘i’ve got a piece.’ dude obviously didn’t have a gun, but apparently had a small (brand new shitty little) knife. i cornered him in the doorway, as he wasn’t about to get any further in the house, and began to tell him ‘everything’s okay, i’ve got money right here, all the money, just calm down, you can take the money and leave, it all be over soon.’ i began counting out the $83 bucks i had in my pocket. he didn’t trust me, thought i was tricking him. the girls were leaving the room and calling the cops. dude didn’t take the money and wasn’t looking at me, seconds passed. Steve was directly behind me, ‘that’s it you have to leave right now’, pushes past me slamming the guy against the screen door.

Read more after the jump…
the guy pops the screen door open and falls out into the street. steve kicks him in the head and begins to pummel him while the guy kicks and fights back. steve tries to tie the guy up in his own shirt, but the dude pulls the knife (in his left hand) and starts stabbing wildly. steve pulls back, still with a complete grip on the dude and magically avoids ten stabs to the chest. one swipe catches steve on the cheek (he’s totally okay). the dude backs away amazed at what happened, looking horrified at what was supposed to be a simple robbery, seeing steve covered in blood with a gash in his face. i pull steve in, who was ready to kill the fucker at that point, lock the door, look at his wounds clean him up. the cops were there in 2 minutes and they were amazing to us. we were questioned, steve got cleaned up and sent to the hospital (alot of stitches, but in that sexy pirate kind of way)

i think it was a totally random dude, perhaps from the fucking halfway house right down the street (and i hate myself for thinking that), who smelled us hanging out and walked in for an easy score. motherfucker learned that you can’t fuck with us and we are not soft. two other incidents of robbery were reported in the past week. i am less afraid since dude didn’t get any money, and steve kicked his ass, and dude saw the violent reality of attacking with a knife.

we don’t live in danger, i will not live in fear. beth and i sat last night in the living room with the door open drinking beer (the screen door locked).

steve is a hero, tho none of you are allowed to attack a burgler, i have no doubt that he made the right call, the situation had to end, we could not trust this dude, steve saved my fucking life.

something will be organzied for community connection and awareness. a benefit for steve’s medical bills will be held. on my walk up to norms yesterday afternoon, every crossing guard knew the story and recognized me and projected awareness and love. we are a tighter community than many think, we are all interconnected. we are eachother’s support.

i put the story on fishtown.us and phillyfuture.org feel totally free to read those and repost. i am organizing a longer description which i will send to you all for editing and synopsys to submit to each of the media sources we have at our disposal.

these things can’t be fought, but we can be more aware and active. it sounds like shit, but the dudes at the bar on my corner said they will not let a black man walk down oxford street ever again. say hi to you neighbors, but especially say hi to people who you don’t know. there are no secret people here, there are no shadows to hide in. say hello before you get scared, a friend will reply and a fiend will be intimidated. if kids can call me a faggot when i see them everyday, they can call out to anyone they do not recognize.

remember that one dude should not ruin our sense of security.

love you all

sammy

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