City youth need outlets and discipline

With the onslaught of recent flash mobs taking place in Center City, many are asking, “Why?”

Are the youth of this city so bored with themselves, and so angry, that they find entertainment in hurting innocent bystanders for no reason at all? And are the adults of this city doing enough to engage them in positive activities?

While giving a speech on Aug. 7 from the pulpit of his West Philadelphia church, Mayor Michael Nutter said to Philadelphia’s black youth, “If you walk into somebody’s office with your hair uncombed and a pick in the back, and your shoes untied and your pants half-down, tattoos up and down your arms, on face, on your neck, and you wonder why somebody won’t hire you? They don’t hire you cause you look like you’re crazy.”

Helen Brown, 70-year-old community organizer of the 2300 block of Berks Street, doesn’t completely agree with Nutter’s statement.

“Well, just because you [have] tattoos and such does not make you a bad person,” Brown said. “The mayor was harsh, but as far as going out to interviews, you have to know how to present yourself.

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