If you’re a Philadelphia shopkeeper and someone shoots you, you can die knowing that at least you weren’t a bigot.
Thanks to the city’s Public Health and Human Services Committee, the city is one step closer to getting rid of bulletproof glass in a number of its small businesses as an attempt to “crack down on loitering, public urination and potential drug sales.” It’s no doubt a seemingly pointless way to achieving those alleged goals, and the main reason they don’t make much sense is that they’re cover for what they’re really trying to fight: racism (yes, really).
According to Philadelphia 8th District Councilwoman Cindy Bass, shopkeepers protecting themselves with bulletproof plexiglass represents an “indignity” to her constituents and should therefore be banned. According to Bass, the glass helps “only foster a sense that the establishment – more specifically, its clientele – is dangerous. And that too many of those stores masquerade as eateries when their biggest sales draw is alcohol, feeding vices in the city’s struggling neighborhoods.”
It’s an indignity to buy a meal through such a window, she said.
She reasoned: “They know they’re civil, honest people. They’re hit with this symbol of distrust and it works on your psyche in subtle ways. You know that you’re devalued as a customer.”
Yeah – or the public also doesn’t want to get shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKagWN7RCKM
The shopkeepers meanwhile are speaking out – and no surprise, they don’t see it less as a race issue and more of a “I’d really like to not get shot” issue.
“If the glass comes down, the crime rate will rise and there will be lots of dead bodies,” said one local Deli owner quoted by Fox News.
A full council vote was slated for December 14th, but the Public Health and Human Services Committee amended the bill Monday to give the Department of Licenses and Inspections until Jan. 1, 2021, to announce regulations on the glass.
Hopefully sanity manages to prevail by then.
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