W. Wilson Goode, Jr.

During the period of so-called Reconstruction after slavery, the system known as “sharecropping” was the basis for agricultural business in the South. Under this system, Black families would rent small plots of land to work themselves; in return, they would give a portion of their crop to the White landowner at the end of the year. The economic reality was that the White landowners could not manage the crops post-slavery without Black labor, and in most cases, Black people did not or could not own land. It was another form of legally forced servitude. The more things change, the more they stay the same – in the South, North, East and West – that includes Philadelphia, of course. Over a decade ago, I introduced a Diversity Track Record Ordinance as an amendment to the requirement for an Economic Opportunity Plan (EOP) for City contracts. The EOP should now contain a statement from the contractor, developer and/or recipient of financial assistance summarizing past practices by identi

Philadelphia government should “defund the economic disparity” is the rallying call heard by no one – until now. Of course, the rallying call to “defund the police” has drawn the attention of the entire country, presidential campaigns, and thousands of local activists. The best way to describe the demand of those activists is that they support divesting funds from the police department to be reinvested in non-policing forms of public safety, housing, social services, education and youth programs, healthcare and other community resources. Yet, "defunding" the police and reinvesting in housing and social services does little to resolve the economic disparity that communities of colors face every day – and the disparate policing of their communities. Communities of color are not policed differently just because of race, but also because of economics. For every policing dollar that is reinvested in affordable housing, how much of it will end up in the hands of people of color