The Valley of the Shadow is an ongoing series documenting how those in Philadelphia’s poorest and most violent neighborhoods publicly mourn and commemorate their dead. Jeff Deeney, the man who brought you Today I Saw, knows these neighborhoods well from his days as a social worker. The hope is to shine a light on the city’s untouchables, brighten the darkest corners and gather-and-share ultra-vivid and all-too-real stories of loss, grief and remembrance. Look for it every Tuesday on Phawker! Why? Because we love you!
RELATED: The wail that came up from the crowd was as if they heard that Sean Bell had died again. “No!” they shouted, while dozens of people, wearing Bell’s face on hats, T-shirts and buttons, burst into sobs. The scene unfolded outside the courthouse Friday as three police officers were cleared of all charges in the 2006 shooting of Bell, who died in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day. Hundreds of friends of Bell and others wanted vindication for what they called a racially motivated shooting, and they reacted with tears and explosive anger to the officers’ acquittal. “This was a disgrace, what happened today,” shouted Calvin Hutton, a Harlem resident. “We prayed for a different result, but we got the same old bull___-.” [via NEWSDAY]
