Philly keeps a billion-dollar open-air drug market contained in Kensington

It has become incredibly clear since then why no such organization has survived in the area we represent: This city and region have maintained a decades-long strategy of containing a billion-dollar drug market in my neighborhood, and that strategy has obliterated any attempts to organize.The laws that govern drug sales, use, and acceptable behaviors on streets, in park spaces, and even on private property in the rest of Philadelphia very purposefully do not apply here, and what such a wholesale suspension of norms and protections can do to a poor, majority Black and brown community is on full display. The impact of this dangerous and racist strategy is why I now spend my time advocating for my community as the president of Kensington Neighborhood Association.

November 11, 2021 | 7:46 pm