Episcopal Churches here and there will declare Sunday an awareness day to educate attendees on gun violence. The clergy will sport new or died old orange vestments. No one actually looks good in orange so it won't be a fashionable affair. St. Mark's Church, Frankford is in the lowest portion of what might be called the lower northeast; we butt up against North Philadelphia and Kensington and the formerly sleepy little neighborhood, Junieta Park. Frankford has several nice quiet neighborhoods, but in the area that I serve most often that is not the case. Our neighborhood is anything but quiet. If the el is not rushing by, there is a hoopty barreling down Frankford Avenue, with occasionally incomprehensible, but generally fully articulated, music blaring.
Why we are not wearing orange at St. Mark’s Church, Frankford on Gun Violence Awareness Sunday. There are several reasons for this and the first and maybe most obvious is that we, as a congregation, are intimately aware of gun violence. As rector of St. Mark’s, I have sat with gunshot victims and their families. I have had young men and women show me their physical scars. I have stood vigil with folks trying to come to grips with why bullets would be fired at their house or worse yet, at their children. I have led and attended vigil upon vigil for gunshot victims and one slain police officer. I have had projectiles fired over my head while driving only to realize the shots were fired by police. Anecdotally, my folks tell me that after midnight, gunshots are routinely heard in my parish, and in particular, on Thursdays and Fridays.
Gunshots in my parish mean several different things. They could mean that someone has a new gun that they want to test out. They could mean that they are simply showing off. It could mean that a traditional drug corner is being taken over or an attempted take over is occurring. It could mean that police are “discharging their firearms.” There are no community ranges in Frankford, so anytime a gunshot is heard, it is violent. It matters not whether the physical force of the weapon, unless discharged at you. Or the emotional abuse of the destruction of any sense of safety that one’s home might be perceived as providing, gunshots upset the relative tranquility of the streets after midnight.
As the evening progresses, the police come out in force, often in groups of up to six or eight officers on foot or bikes, and in squad-cars. The police presence is a deterrent, but it bares open the wound that their hyper-presence is a necessity. And even these good guys and gals, will eventually be involved in a shooting and their mere presence brings more guns to the street. And with more guns, comes the likelihood that more projectiles will be fired among us. I have had police ask me “why I don’t carry a gun myself?” and I try to explain that I am trying to do things differently than they are. I have had police assume that I carried a gun and offered to sell me an unregistered “drop pistol” in case, God forbid, I was ever to need to justify shooting someone. Again, we are trying to do things differently at St. Mark’s and the priest or deacon carrying a handgun is not something we are going to do.
Another question that is often embedded in the gun discussion, is who owns guns? I think we can assume that anyone moving on the streets after dark is more likely to be armed. And when guns are being fired in one’s neighborhood, a natural thought is to possess a gun, just in case. I know that there is at least one pastor in Frankford that is routinely armed, or strapped, as he has been heard to say. Any of the corner boys standing around selling drugs, may not be armed, but I can assure you that there are weapons within reach in the event they are challenged. Two of our citizens were killed on a Sunday morning by stray rounds fired during a turf-war or retaliatory strike. Of course, owning guns is a natural bi-product of the drug trade. Who sells drugs and what are they doing with their money? I think that virtually everyone in the drug business knows someone who can get you guns if you are willing to pay the price. And after you have new shoes every couple of days, and new designer clothes and sports tickets, a fancy phone and a couple of throwaways, what are you going to spend your money on? And if you have a gun, you have to fire it.
So why do we not wear orange, well we have done it before, but it is clearly unnecessary in a community such as ours to make folks aware of gun violence. If you would like to wear orange to remind your flocks of gun violence, do it, but know that there are examples right here in Philadelphia.
Why we are not wearing orange at St. Mark’s Church, Frankford on Gun Violence Awareness Sunday. There are several reasons for this and the first and maybe most obvious is that we, as a congregation, are intimately aware of gun violence. As rector of St. Mark’s, I have sat with gunshot victims and their families. I have had young men and women show me their physical scars. I have stood vigil with folks trying to come to grips with why bullets would be fired at their house or worse yet, at their children. I have led and attended vigil upon vigil for gunshot victims and one slain police officer. I have had projectiles fired over my head while driving only to realize the shots were fired by police. Anecdotally, my folks tell me that after midnight, gunshots are routinely heard in my parish, and in particular, on Thursdays and Fridays.
Gunshots in my parish mean several different things. They could mean that someone has a new gun that they want to test out. They could mean that they are simply showing off. It could mean that a traditional drug corner is being taken over or an attempted take over is occurring. It could mean that police are “discharging their firearms.” There are no community ranges in Frankford, so anytime a gunshot is heard, it is violent. It matters not whether the physical force of the weapon, unless discharged at you. Or the emotional abuse of the destruction of any sense of safety that one’s home might be perceived as providing, gunshots upset the relative tranquility of the streets after midnight.
As the evening progresses, the police come out in force, often in groups of up to six or eight officers on foot or bikes, and in squad-cars. The police presence is a deterrent, but it bares open the wound that their hyper-presence is a necessity. And even these good guys and gals, will eventually be involved in a shooting and their mere presence brings more guns to the street. And with more guns, comes the likelihood that more projectiles will be fired among us. I have had police ask me “why I don’t carry a gun myself?” and I try to explain that I am trying to do things differently than they are. I have had police assume that I carried a gun and offered to sell me an unregistered “drop pistol” in case, God forbid, I was ever to need to justify shooting someone. Again, we are trying to do things differently at St. Mark’s and the priest or deacon carrying a handgun is not something we are going to do.
Another question that is often embedded in the gun discussion, is who owns guns? I think we can assume that anyone moving on the streets after dark is more likely to be armed. And when guns are being fired in one’s neighborhood, a natural thought is to possess a gun, just in case. I know that there is at least one pastor in Frankford that is routinely armed, or strapped, as he has been heard to say. Any of the corner boys standing around selling drugs, may not be armed, but I can assure you that there are weapons within reach in the event they are challenged. Two of our citizens were killed on a Sunday morning by stray rounds fired during a turf-war or retaliatory strike. Of course, owning guns is a natural bi-product of the drug trade. Who sells drugs and what are they doing with their money? I think that virtually everyone in the drug business knows someone who can get you guns if you are willing to pay the price. And after you have new shoes every couple of days, and new designer clothes and sports tickets, a fancy phone and a couple of throwaways, what are you going to spend your money on? And if you have a gun, you have to fire it.
So why do we not wear orange, well we have done it before, but it is clearly unnecessary in a community such as ours to make folks aware of gun violence. If you would like to wear orange to remind your flocks of gun violence, do it, but know that there are examples right here in Philadelphia.
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