Latest news with #Philadelphians
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Philadelphia public art project highlights how immigrants make US cities better
Dozens of people milled about in Philadelphia's Love Park as a series of short film portraits played on the facade of the park's visitor center on a recent Friday evening. The ambient sounds of the city served as a soundtrack for the silent films. Several videos played simultaneously on different sections of the 360-degree projection wrapped around the building's exterior. Titled the Philadelphians, the 10 portraits recognize the contributions of the city's immigrant communities. One film profiled an Afghan immigrant named Rezwan and followed him as he shopped at a halal Middle Eastern food market. His words were displayed on the screen: 'I had a lot of mixed feelings but I had no other option than to leave Afghanistan. I was thinking about my parents who stayed behind, and on the other hand, I was happy that my kids would get to live the life they deserve. At least they will be safe here.' He then shared that he felt compelled to give back to the local immigrant community after receiving the opportunity for a new life in the US. Toward the end of the three-minute film, the words 'father', 'sweetheart,' and 'healthcare professional' flashed over a montage of Rezwan at the store and then smiling as he stood in front of City Hall. The Arabic translation appeared at the bottom. Philadelphia-based artist duo Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib began filming the portraits in the spring of 2024. In collaboration with the city's Office of Immigrant Affairs (OIA), they sought to highlight the immigrant communities that have always existed in one of the oldest cities in the nation. Sponsored by Forman Arts Initiative and Mural Arts Philadelphia, the project is the result of the art nonprofits' second annual residency program where artists observed a city department. 'Public art projects like The Philadelphians bring communities together and highlight how we are more alike than we are different,' Alain Joinville, the director of strategic communications and programs for the OIA said in a statement. 'They are a vehicle for joy, introspection, and love.' For Hironaka and Suib, a public artwork that recognizes the contributions of immigrants to the cultural fabric of the city may be more important now than ever. It was not meant as an overtly political project, said Suib, but as a response to negative rhetoric about immigration. In recent months, the Trump administration has taken aim at sanctuary cities including Philadelphia, that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. In April, Donald Trump signed an executive order vowing to crack down on such jurisdictions. In May, Philadelphia was named on a homeland security list of hundreds of cities, states and counties at risk of losing federal funding for what the Trump administration considered obstructing immigration laws. The list was taken down a few days later, but it still encouraged Cherelle L Parker, Philadelphia's mayor, to shirk the sanctuary label. Parker's administration announced that Philadelphia would be called a welcoming city, though its immigration policies remain the same. 'Our focus is very much upon the intent of bringing people together, talking about shared experiences and voices and emotions and values that we have with all the immigrant communities that are here,' Hironaka told the Guardian. 'You really see all of us as Philadelphians.' The film will run until 8 June 2025, and it will be accessible online at the Mural Arts Philadelphia and Forman Arts Initiative websites afterwards. When the artist duo learned that their residency would be based in the Office of Immigrant Affairs, which assists immigrants in resettling and accessing city services, Suib said 'one of our most important cues from the office was thinking about people, not in terms of their status, but who lives in the city, who are our neighbors. They are invested in making sure that people who arrive in Philly from anywhere in the world are welcome'. Hironaka and Suib talked to everyone in the office, many of whom were immigrants themselves. The featured participants were immigrants or descendants of immigrants from Eritrea, Ukraine, China, Jamaica, Italy, Afghanistan, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Sweden and Mexico. The films are not meant to include every immigrant community in the city, Suib said, but to highlight the community leaders and 'everyday people who are just making everyday contributions to better the city through the work that they do'. The artist duo filmed the participants using 16mm film and video at their homes, workplaces, grocery stores and places of worship. To flip 'the narrative about immigrant labor to the idea of creating culture', Suib said, they also filmed cultural craftmaking projects – such as batik, a textile dyeing technique from Asia, beadwork made by North Africans during Ramadan, and traditional African embroidery. In the future, Hironaka and Suib hope that their project encourages other cities to engage with their diverse composite of neighbors. 'It would be really nice to be a model for other cities to take on,' said Hironaka, 'to conduct a similar project and reach out and connect with different immigrant communities in their cities and spaces.' Toward the end of the Friday evening viewing, archival footage of a traditional European celebration in Philadelphia was interspliced with modern-day footage of people crafting with blue beads. The viewer was then transported to St James Church in Philadelphia, where Barbara, an immigrant from Jamaica, sat in a pew. She struggled to find a place to worship when she arrived in Philadelphia and decided to attend the church because it reminded her of one in her home country. 'When someone leaves their country and comes to a new country, a country of opportunities, they want to excel,' her words appeared on the screen. 'They come to help build the country and in doing so, build themselves.'
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Deadly Fairmount Park shooting investigation: Everything we know after 2 killed, 9 injured on Memorial Day
The Brief Federal and local authorities are investigating a deadly mass shooting at Fairmount Park that killed two people and left nine others injured on Memorial Day. Mayor Cherelle Parker and other city leaders spoke out about next steps in the investigation. The victims' families and community members have expressed their heartbreak and concern after the deadly incident. PHILADELPHIA - An investigation continues after a mass shooting occurred at Fairmount Park on Memorial Day, killing two people and injuring nine others. The backstory Officers from the Philadelphia Police Department were called to the 800 block of Lemon Hill Drive around 10:30 p.m. for reports of a shooting. Police reported that two people were killed and nine others were injured when nearly two dozen shots erupted at a Memorial Day gathering. Amya Devlin, 23, and Mikhail Bowers, 21, were identified as the two people that were killed in the shooting. Six of the nine shooting victims were teenagers, according to police, including a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. All of those injured are in stable condition. Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said investigators are searching social media for posts that may have hinted about the shooting before it happened. "We'll go through all the social media stuff that's come after and prior to see if there's anything I could have missed," Bethel told reporters. Mayor Cherelle Parker rebuked the shooting, calling it a "heinous act of violence that was inhumane with no regard for human life." She vowed to use all federal and local authorities to track down those responsible for the deadly gunfire. "This was wartime ammunition that was just opened on Philadelphians and those who were here in our city," she continued. Bethel continued, after chilling audio from the grisly scene was played, "That's the sound of war. So when you have an automatic weapon that you can empty a magazine, a 20-clip magazine in seconds, it is meant to kill, to create carnage and to hit as many people as possible. And in this case, you see, it was able to do that." Investigators believe at least one of the guns used in the Memorial Day shooting was illegally modified with a "switch" that makes it fire more rapidly. Investigators at the scene Monday night were able to find 21 shell casings and after further searches early Tuesday morning, they found about a dozen more. What we know Law enforcement sources say despite finding additional shell casings to the 21 previously collected, they still believe three guns were used in the shooting that killed 23-year-old Amya Devlin and 21-year-old Mikhail Bowers, and injured nine others, including six teenagers. They believe the investigation will rely heavily on ballistic and DNA evidence recovered from the scene, which will take some time, as well as reviewing social media and cooperation from witnesses. Sources say they are exploring the possibility, based on groups of casing found at the scene, that there was shooting back and forth, rather than a sole ambush of gunfire. Most of the victims have told investigators a similar story, according to sources, that it was crowded, dark outside, there were sudden gunshots and then an effort to try to get to safety. During the Tuesday morning press conference, Commissioner Kevin Bethel said starting this weekend, there will be a deployment plan that puts officers in the park. "The intelligence is coming through our portal, it's not fast enough. Our portal is not fast enough. We need to evolve and so we're going to be putting a number of different law enforcement assets into the park to identify activity ahead with the hope that we can stave off these activities before they occur," he said. What they're saying After an emotional response to the deadly Memorial Day shooting at Fairmount Park during Tuesday morning's press conference, on Wednesday, Mayor Chelle Parker told FOX 29 the city will continue with what she calls a holistic approach to public safety. "We're going to continue doing what we're doing because we do know it's working, and that is our public safety strategy to focus on prevention, intervention, and enforcement," she said. Mayor Parker continued by saying the comprehensive approach includes partnerships with Parks and Recreation, among others. She says it's not just a police issue, but also points to the reduction in homicides so far this year. "The data is not subjective, it does not lie, the numbers are the numbers, the city of Philadelphia is outpacing every other city, I'm talking about across the country, in the number of homicides, we need to make sure we continue moving in that direction," she said. "That's going to mean some hard decisions from time to time."
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fully automatic gun used in deadly Memorial Day mass shooting in Philadelphia park: Police
Two people were killed and nine others were injured when a barrage of gunfire erupted on Memorial Day in Philadelphia's largest municipal park, one of a series of mass shootings across the nation over the long holiday weekend, authorities said. The Philadelphia shooting unfolded at Fairmount Park around 10:30 p.m. on Monday, the final day of Memorial Day weekend, according to the Philadelphia Police Department. The shooting left a 23-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman dead, police said. Those wounded included three juveniles ranging from age 15 to 17, authorities said. "As your mayor, I want to affirm to all of Philadelphia today that there are no excuses for this. This is a heinous act of violence that was inhumane, no regard for life," Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said at a news conference on Tuesday. Parker said that from the different caliber shell casings investigators collected at the crime scene, police believe that at least three gunmen opened fire in the incident. No arrests have been announced and detectives were working Tuesday afternoon to identify those responsible for the shooting, authorities said. "This was wartime ammunition that was just opened on Philadelphians and those who were here in our city," an emotional Parker said. MORE: 11-year-old boy accidentally shot to death by sibling inside of their home Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said at Tuesday's news conference that numerous shots were fired in the incident and that investigators suspect at least one of the firearms used in the shooting was equipped with a switch, a device converts some semiautomatic handguns into fully-automatic weapons. "I talked to my SWAT team. We're pretty confident, but we don't have the weapon in hand, that a switch was involved," Bethel said. "You cannot fire that many levels of bullets with such speed and time without having some type of switch on it." Bethel said it remains unclear if any of the victims were targets of the shooting. Mayor Parker said Philadelphia police are working with the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals to bring the perpetrators to justice. "We will not be held hostage by anyone who decides that they want to get assault-like, war-like weaponry, guns with switches," Parker said. Fairmount Park, which spans 2,052 acres and is divided by the Schuylkill River, was busy throughout the day Monday and into the evening, with families and members of the community attending Memorial Day get-togethers and barbecues, Bethel said. He said Park Rangers contacted police around 8:15 p.m., expressing concerns about the number of people in the park, prompting officers to begin clearing out the park. Bethel said it was unclear how many people were in the park when the shooting broke out. MORE: Torture charges filed against 3 family members accused of abusing 6 children The Philadelphia shooting came amid a violent holiday weekend across the country. Between Friday evening and Monday night, at least five mass shootings occurred throughout the nation, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks U.S. shootings. The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as at least four people wounded or killed in a single event, not including the shooters. At least six people were wounded in a shooting Saturday night in Colorado Springs, Colorado, police said. A 25-year-old man was arrested and charged with attempted murder in the Colorado Springs shooting and police said they were investigating whether others were involved. In Little River, South Carolina, a suburb of Myrtle Beach, 11 people were injured when gunfire broke out on a docked charter boat, according to the Horry County Police Department. Ten of the victims suffered gunshot wounds and one suffered a non-gunfire-related injury. Police said the shooting occurred as the result of an altercation during a private Memorial Day weekend gathering. No arrests in the Little River shooting have been announced. MORE: 11-year-old boy accidentally shot to death by sibling inside of their home In Jackson, Tennessee, seven people, including juveniles, were wounded in a mass shooting that erupted at the city's Kate Campbell Park around 8:41 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Jackson Police Department. No arrests had been announced as of Tuesday afternoon. "Our City of Jackson parks are designed to be a place of community. They are places we ALL can visit, and enjoy being outdoors playing, staying fit, having a picnic, or just relaxing. They should be a refuge for our children and families, safe from any suggestion of harm," Jackson police Chief Thom Corley said in a letter to his community he released on Monday. "When that atmosphere is disrupted by the acts of one or more people who disregard the safety of the rest of us, I become upset and discouraged. I'm sure many of you feel the same." Corley added, "When those acts injure children, the most precious asset to our community, I, like many of you, get very angered. I can also assure you, each Officer and staff member of the Jackson Police Department is determined to seek justice for the victims and their families, and we will prosecute fully, those responsible." Fully automatic gun used in deadly Memorial Day mass shooting in Philadelphia park: Police originally appeared on
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fairmount Park shooting: Grieving family speaks out - 'My grandson didn't deserve it'
The Brief A man and woman were killed in a mass shooting Monday night at Fairmount Park that left nine others between 15-27 injured. Amya Devlin, 23, and Mikhail Bowers, 21, were identified as the two people that were killed in the shooting. Bowers' family spoke of the good man the young father was. PHILADELPHIA - The grandmother of the 21-year-old man shot and killed in Fairmount Park late Monday evening in Philadelphia wants to know why Mikail Bowers had to lose his life. Grieving family speaks out On a North Philadelphia porch, a family gathers to mourn. "I'm going to miss my grandson," said Wanda Bowers. Sitting together at the home of the 64-year-old, the Bowers family came to remember 21-year-old Mikail slain Sunday evening in the mayhem at Fairmont Park. Wanda Bowers learned of her grandson's death from his sister in a late-night call. She said, "I just thought I was dreaming to be honest. Even when I still lay down, I thought I was going to wake up and it would still be a dream." The Bowers family said Mikail had gone to the Lemon Hill section of the park for a Memorial Day party. Police tell them the father of three-year-old twins-a boy and girl-was struck once in the chest by gunfire. Bowers said, "Mikail was a good boy. He got into a little trouble as normal teens do, but other than that he was a good boy." Seated on the porch, but unwilling to speak on camera, Mikail's mother, who recounts as her son lay dying in the park, he urged a woman to call her using Facetime. She said her son turned to look at her but never spoke. 'Stop killing people' Wanda Bowers urged Philadelphians to, "Stop all this unnecessary shooting. If you feel as though you need to do that, go into the service, enter the Army - use it that way. Stop killing these people." The Bowers said Mikail attended high school at a juvenile institution near Harrisburg and was seeking work in food service or operating a forklift, areas in which he'd earned certification. He'd reunited with the mother of his twins and was planning to move forward with his young life until a bullet wiped it all away. His grandmother said, "I really want to know the reason for the shooting - for this mass killing. My grandson didn't deserve it, nor did the other kids deserve that."
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Undoubtedly disappointing' voter turnout in 2025 Pennsylvania primary
Voters cast their ballots at Fairmont Junior High in Boise during the Idaho primary on May 17, 2022. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) Pennsylvania was at the center of the political universe in 2024 as a key battleground state in the presidential election, and as a result, saw record high voter turnout. But, most voters stayed home when it came to last week's primary, even with races that would likely determine who would lead the state's biggest cities on the ballot. 'The turnout was undoubtedly disappointing,' said Berwood Yost, the director of the Franklin & Marshall College Poll. Low voter turnout in 'off-year' municipal primaries is not uncommon for a variety of reasons. Local races tend to not garner the same attention as those for statewide or federal offices do, despite the bigger impact the positions have on communities across the state. 'They're for offices that probably affect you most directly and in a most regular way,' Yost said. 'And yet the turnout is low.' Some potential voters often don't realize which elections are on the ballot, while voter fatigue may also contribute to lower turnout, since Pennsylvania was in the spotlight last year. In 2025, turnout appears to be lower than the previous two off-year municipal primary elections. Yost told the Capital-Star it looks like about 22% of Democrats voted last week, while 18% of Republicans cast ballots. Two years ago, 27% of Democrats and 24% Republicans voted in the primary. In 2021, the numbers weren't much different with 28% of Republicans and 25% of Democrats participating in the primary election, he said. This year's primary didn't feature state Supreme Court candidates on the ballot like those two previous years, which can impact turnout. However, candidates for the Superior and Commonwealth courts were up for a vote. In addition to the statewide judicial races, several of the largest cities including Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Erie, held mayoral elections, while Philadelphians went to the polls to vote in a closely watched district attorney race. The Democratic Party is the dominant party in those cities, and the winner of the primary ultimately enters November as the heavy favorite to win a full term in office. Sam Chen, principal director and chief strategist of The Liddell Group, previously served in various roles for former Republican elected leaders including Gov. Tom Corbett, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, and U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent. He says he believes there was lower turnout in the GOP primary for a few reasons, including that some in the Republican Party are more complacent since President Donald Trump won the White House and the party claimed control of both chambers of Congress. 'We tend to vote for change, and if everything is great, (some say) I'm not going to the polls,' Chen said. Even though turnout wasn't particularly high for Democrats, Larry Ceisler, a public affairs expert, believes they should be optimistic about their chances of winning races in November and potentially 2026. His example? Bucks County. The suburban county located just north of Philadelphia is viewed as one of the premier purple counties in Pennsylvania. In 2024, Republicans regained a narrow voter registration edge over Democrats in the county, while Trump became the first Republican candidate for president to win Bucks since 1988. Despite the recent momentum for the GOP there, Democrats saw higher turnout in the same countywide races in the primary. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Did the primary election signal which way the Democratic Party is moving? The results in the state's two biggest cities showed that it isn't clear which direction Democrats are headed. In Philadelphia, incumbent progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner cruised to earning the Democratic Party nomination over former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Pat Dugan, who was viewed as the moderate candidate. Turnout was 17%, which is lower than the 2021 primary in the city, the last time the district attorney was on the ballot. Lauren Cristella, President and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, said the low voter turnout in Philadelphia should 'alarm all of us.' 'We cannot dismiss this as 'just another low-turnout election' or chalk it up to the 'Philly Shrug.' Turnout this low goes well beyond that kind of reasoning, and that kind of thinking lets a broken system off the hook,' Cristella said. 'Low turnout like this is a warning sign. It means too many of our neighbors feel disengaged, disillusioned, or disconnected from the process.' Cristella added that the most recent primary election's turnout in the city 'should be a wake-up call' and called for 'bold action,' including changes such as open primaries and 'selecting judges based on merit rather than electing them.' Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, who was backed by various progressive organizations and elected officials, lost his bid for a second term in the Democratic primary to Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor. Turnout in the city was 'slightly higher than 26%,' which was a 2% increase in comparison to the 2021 mayoral primary election, according to WESA. The experts who spoke with the Capital-Star agreed that each race was unique. 'I think that's what we're seeing now. The Democrats are trying to define themselves, trying to figure out what their message is and what they stand for, and find candidates that can express that effectively,' Yost said. 'And I don't think this particular election did anything to settle that question.' 'I don't think there's an overarching narrative to this one, besides turnout is low and people don't care about local elections,' Chen added. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Next test? November's retention races. Pennsylvanians in November will vote to fill one open seat on the Superior Court and Commonwealth Court. However, all eyes are expected to largely be on the vote for retention of three Democratic Supreme Court justices. Earlier this year, an open seat on Wisconsin's Supreme Court garnered a lot of attention and outside spending. 'You saw the way they pursued the open Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin, a pivotal swing state. You've got three bites at the apple in Pennsylvania to start changing the dynamics of that court,' Yost said. 'And so you better believe Republican operatives are going to be here trying to keep those justices from being retained, but that's hard to do.' Justices in retention races in Pennsylvania are often not close, but if efforts from conservative organizations are successful, the Democratic majority of the court could change. Yost noted since Trump won in November, there has been a swing towards Democratic candidates, including in a special election for a state Senate seat in conservative Lancaster County which was won by a Democrat earlier this year. 'It's going to be an uphill fight for (Republicans), because I suspect that the turnout is going to favor Democrats,' Yost said. 'But I think there'll be more spending, and there'll be more conversation and probably more activity around the races. So, we'll see higher turnout even than we saw in 2023, just because the more money that's spent and the more aware people are about the campaigns and the candidates, the more likely they are to vote.'
