by Jen Schneider
This maps the victims of gun violence: 1,445 nonfatal and 377 fatal shooting victims as of Oct 2, 2022. —Mapping Philadelphia's Gun Violence Crisis
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Philadelphia— a city of brotherly love / life more than a city of numbers / a city of names from firsts— home to the first library, hospital & botanical garden to never quenched thirsts— grills for infinite steak shops (Pat’s, Geno’s, Tony’s, Nick’s) a city of names & numbers / numbers & names on the same day the mayor signed an order for no more guns in the city’s indoor and outdoor recreation centers housed at the corner of numbered streets, broad, & main three teams met for a football scrimmage dozens of players took the field the temperature a beautiful seventy degrees. Autumnal air. Hundreds of passes. Countless yards gained. Clocks ticked. Players walked. The 6000 block of Ridge Avenue. The 4700 block of Pechin Street. Zip code 19128. Latitude and longitude measures of degree. Suddenly a shooting spree Hundreds flee five gunmen sixty-four bullets souls in school clothes drop to date, in 2022 more than four hundred Philadelphia-based lives lost a tragic milestone man-made a city of names & numbers / numbers & names all of these lives have names Nicholas.Tiffany.Jose.Steven.Michael.Byron.Tyrell.Dominque.Quianyon.Eddie.Zachariah.Robert.Gerard.Margaret.Lauren.Kasani.Tracey.Chrichnard.Francisca.Tyjon.David.Daquan.Nafee.James.Stacy.Tyheim.Justin.Ry’Keir.Jerome.Sindrell.Tony.Michael.Melvin.Byron.Calvin.Robert.Shawn.Fernand.Daren.Hope.David.Jamal.Charles.Marc.Taion.Bertha.Abdel.Ameer.Lameer.James.Achilles.Shakuur.Irving.Jahsier.Rashed.Kelvin.Stephon.Robert.Joelil.Yusairah.Mary.Gabriel.Leanne.Damon.Rahssan.more.many more. these lives have names. a city of numbers. a city of names.
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Jen Schneider is an educator who lives, writes, and works in small spaces throughout Pennsylvania. Recent works include A Collection of Recollections, Invisible Ink, On Habits & Habitats, and Blindfolds, Bruises, and Breakups.
Thank you for putting words to this heartbreaking incident. I've also written about gun violence as part of the PA-NJ https://www.soulsshotportraitproject.org/.