Opinion & Essay

It’s time for cities to take a reparative framework that addresses impacts of past harm.

Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who is frustrated at how much tax dollars are spent on police, explains why he voted yes on a budget that didn’t “defund the police.”

“Mommy, you’re Black,” my three-year-old boldly said to me. It came out of the blue while we were sitting in our living room. I wasn’t ready. I had to be.

I’m a Black woman living in a mostly white Philly neighborhood during the pandemic and civic unrest. I won’t tone myself down to make you more comfortable.

Urban anthropologist Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman argues that in order for cities to be “human-centered,” white urbanists need to actively be anti-racist.

Karina Clough, a stateless person and a DACA recipient under final removal proceedings, wants meaningful immigration reform. And she and others want it now.

Member of interfaith grassroots organization expresses support for Student Union calls on redirecting resources from security to support.

Juneteenth is more than a remembrance of the day in 1865 when 2000 Union troops marched into Galveston Texas, and told enslaved blacks they were free.

We are a multiracial city made of monoracial blocks. A city where men delicately penned declarations of independence, a city that hosted slave auctions.

I’m a Black man in North Philadelphia who survived prison and helps people returning to the community. We need to reinvent policing from the ground up.

Mayor Jim Kenney is pushing for incremental and inadequate police reforms, rather than a radically new vision for public safety and racial justice, writes Kris Henderson.

Given Kenney’s past record of deferring to police and FOP leadership, how seriously should Philadelphians take his new police reform plan?

Black children are waiting for Americans to decide that their lives matter, too, writes Aminita Sy, a West Philadelphia parent.

Fifteen people describe their violent encounter with police while protesting police brutality in Philadelphia.

An account from the midst of Philly’s upheaval.