Thursday - July 10, 2014

TNB: Got A Problem, Riot

I really don’t know what to make of this story. I just don’t understand people anymore; people of any kind.

Four-year-old twin sisters and two brothers including infant who were killed in in late-night Philadelphia inferno that may have been sparked by a firecracker

Neighbors tried to save the young victims but were beaten back by flames
Four-year-old twins Maria and Marialla Bowah, Patrick Sanyeah, also four, and 2-month-old Taj Jacque were killed
Dewen Bowah, 41, the twins’ mother, managed to get several other children to safety but couldn’t reach the victims
Blaze displaced 42 residents after it spread along row of houses
Witnesses heard a firecracker go off moments before flames ignited

Liberia is a small country in equatorial West Africa. As part of the original Back To Africa movement, it was formed by repatriated free Blacks from the USA, starting around 1820. Those who settled the country took back the concepts of representative government and capitalism with them, so compared to other parts of that continent, things have been pretty stable there for a long long time. Liberia has always benefited from a positive relationship with the US.

Unfortunately, when the place was taken over around 1980 by this tribalist Doe, and later in 1990 by radical Chuck Taylor, the nation fell into civil war for 25 years and became a bit of a pariah for a few years. That whole Blood Diamond thing and so on.

Now things have settled down, and they have fairly elected a relatively honest government, run by Harvard educated, Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Sirleaf. Since then, things have been looking up for Liberia, now that ALL of it’s $5 billion foreign debt have been forgiven or bought back at 97% discount.

However, when things were bad in Liberia in the 80s and 90s, the USA took in several thousand of her citizens as temporary refugees. The descendants of people who didn’t want to be here and moved to a new country that was strongly supported by this country for generations, have now, generations later, come back here once again, when the non-USA-aligned tribalists took over. About 3,300 of them were given TPS, “temporary protected status”, and settled in Philadelphia. TPS is another confusing part of our messed up immigration policy; you’d think that with the war in Liberia over for nearly a decade now, peace and prosperity and democracy and freedom triumphant, that such status would expire and they’d return HOME. AGAIN. But no, it seems they prefer the rougher corner of Philly to carve out a new life in. Well, until anything goes wrong.

Philadelphia police arrested several people Monday evening outside a firehouse during a protest over what angry residents believe was a slow response to a weekend blaze that killed four young children.

Police were called to protect the station in the city’s southwest section, and officers dragged away demonstrators who tried to block firefighters from answering a call, according to news reports.

WPVI-TV reported that “riots” broke out after about 100 people swarmed the firehouse — Ladder 4 Engine 40 — after a community meeting. Some protesters clashed with police, and others threw water bottles.

Residents want to know what crews from a ladder-and-engine company around the corner were delayed in responding to the fast-moving blaze that engulfed about a dozen row house just before 3 a.m. Saturday.

So. In a Liberian neighborhood in Philadelphia on the 4th of July, a street full of old wooden row houses. Houses somehow connected by their porches it seems. Some children at 2:30am are setting off fireworks. 2:30 in the morning, m’kay? And one lands in some old sofa out on somebody’s porch and starts it burning. At a quarter to three somebody notices, and beats feet down to the firehouse a block away, while somebody else calls it in (possibly directly and/or to 911). At 2:49 the firetruck is there. 2 minutes later another firetruck is there. Unfortunately, for reasons we are not yet aware of, there may have been a delay in getting water on the fire. Broken hydrants, cars blocking access, I have no idea. Nor if there really was all that much delay.

But a whole row of homes went up like tinder. And while the fire companies brought in extra guys, and managed to put the whole street out in about 80 minutes, the racing inferno trapped and killed 4 children, and a few adults were injured fleeing the blaze. Smoke alarms had been provided by the city the year before. No word on whether the worked or not.

And now they’re protesting. And rioting somewhat. The fire companies didn’t respond fast enough! They left our children to burn! Murderers!!

I want to be sympathetic. Fire is a terrible thing. And the loss of a child, or more than one, is devastating and horrible. But come on. What kind of Instant Pudding Miracle do you think the guys on the red trucks can pull off?

So in 6 minutes or less there were 3 engines on site, 2 pumpers and a ladder truck. Come on already.


http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/cover-story/refugees-settling-in-philadelphia.html
http://6abc.com/news/protests-near-scene-of-deadly-sw-phila-blaze/158251/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2681549/I-hear-little-kids-screaming-Tragedy-four-children-including-baby-boy-killed-late-night-blaze-ripped-eight-homes.html
http://articles.philly.com/2014-07-09/news/51198377_1_protesters-fire-station-liberian-association
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/07/philadelphia-fatal-fire-protest/12321835/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Johnson_Sirleaf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2010/12/01/5-liberians-arrested-in-west-philly-scam-attempt/

Posted by Drew458     on 07/10/2014 at 03:55 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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