Inside America’s Largest Open-Air Drug Market – Kensington (Philadelphia)

Aug 24, 2024 6.1M Views 17.6K Comments

Note: This video is for educational purposes. I know there are many Kensington videos out there, and that’s why I’ve avoided this story. But when Kensington local Buddy Osborn reached out to me and told me about his solution to the horrific realities of open-air drug markets, he got my attention. Today, we’re going on a journey into the depths of pain and suffering to the hope that Buddy and his organization offer—to get kids out of crime and drugs and into a healthier environment built upon confidence and clarity.

► To get help, support or join Rock Ministries: https://www.therockphilly.org/
► Mexican restaurant in the video: https://www.cantinalamartinapa.com/

► 🎞️ Video Edited By: Natalia Santenello

🎵 MUSIC USED IN THE VIDEO:
► Chris Shards – A.I. Confession
► Chris Shards – Ghetto Dreamin’

Good morning, guys. Here in Philadelphia.
Today we’re going north to the
neighborhood of Kensington,
a place known for blight,
open-air drug usage,
and lots of crime.
But today’s not your
standard Kensington story.
We’re meeting up with a man
who is making an effort
and making a huge dent
in getting a lot of these
kids out of the drugs
and off the streets.
So that’s what we’re
getting into today, guys.
An actual solution to a massive problem
that can be seen in many
cities across this country.
Let’s do this.
(somber music)
(siren wailing)
– I lived here till I was
about seven years old.
– So it’s changed quite a bit
since when you were growing up here.
– Yes. Yes, it has.
Back in the day, you could
leave your doors open,
you could walk the streets and feel safe.
Obviously, today you can’t do that.
– Okay.
– You can’t do that, you know.
– And that’s why you brought
your friend out here,
just in case, right?
Security, you were thinking?
– Well, you know,
when you have cameras
in an area like this,
you know, you just want
to have protection.
We’re good. Let’s go.
– [Peter] These guys all here,
fentanyl? Is that the story?
– Yeah, fentanyl. Yeah.
– Geez.
– Fentanyl, tranq.
You know, in Kensington, there’s always,
back in the seventies there was meth,
and then it came the eighties, cocaine,
and then heroin came in.
I remember as a young kid,
there was a guy shooting.
It was like 1973, it was.
– Yep.
– There was a guy standing on the corner
and he wrapped his arm, took his belt off,
wrapped his arm up, right?
So we have a lot of
young kids watching it.
We’re like, “What’s this guy doing?”
Well, the five guys,
the five of the guys who was watching him,
they became heroin addicts.
My brother was one of them, 12 years old.
That’s the average age, they say,
where an addiction
starts, 12, with heroin.
– Oh, wow.
– Yeah.
And he ultimately died.
My brother ultimately
died as a result of–
– Oh, I’m sorry. Wow.
– Yeah.
I lost three siblings,
two brothers and a sister,
as a result of complications
through drugs from this area.
Check on her.
– Okay.
– You okay? You all right?
Yo. Yo.
Yo.
We don’t have any Narcan, do we?
– [Kevin] No, only
prevention (indistinct).
– [Peter] Okay. Is that
person on their way out?
– Well, they’re just chilling right now.
I mean, they’re just, she’s high.
And, you know, I don’t
think she’s on her way out,
but she’s definitely high.
– Yo, you can’t film here.
– It’s the street. I can film anywhere.
That’s the beauty about
the law in America.
Anywhere public on the streets,
you’re allowed to film.
– Yeah, that’s fine.
– I’m always respectful.
If I get someone in a video,
I ask do they wanna be–
– Yeah. Yeah.
– But if we’re walking
down the street, that’s–
– Yeah.
Yeah, so what we’re gonna do,
I’ll take you down the street here
and we’ll show you McPherson Square.
They also named it Needle
Park, which is heart-wrenching
because it’s really the
only place in Kensington
where you have an open space.
– [Peter] Look at this family,
just trying to navigate all this.
– Yeah.
– Geez.
– [Buddy] So we got five and a half acres
of green space down there,
but our kids can’t use it.
– Oh, Buddy, I’m not gonna
lie, this is quite heavy.
I have like some, a little
bit of adrenaline going,
and that has not happened in a long time.
– Yeah. You haven’t seen
nothing yet, my brother.
– Really?
– Nothing.
This was inundated with addicts.
And now what they’re trying to do,
they’re doing this initiative.
They’re trying to clean up
the streets in a sense and–
– Okay, so the police
are coming in here and–
– Yes.
– Making an attempt, but…
– [Buddy] Yeah. Come
on, let’s go over here.
– This is not an easy one to turn around.
(car horn honks)
– They have like a hundred police cadets
that they’ve dedicated
specifically to Kensington.
– Is that helping much?
– Well, I think…
My man, how you doing,
boss? You all right?
– Yeah. Yeah.
– Good.
Well, their presence I think
is definitely, you can see it,
but we gotta wait and see.
– So it’s a new thing.
– Yeah.
There has to be a plan in place.
– Sorry. I just wanna take a shot of this.
Look at your library up here.
– Here, come on up here.
Come on up here.
– This is beautiful.
Hey, officers.
– Hello. How are you?
– So this here, this is fun.
When it snowed, oh, man,
this was like Dorney Park,
I mean, where it had all the rides.
– [Peter] So you’d just slide down here?
– You’d slide down
there, like unbelievable.
Snowball fights, it was great.
Now you can’t do that
because of all the
needles and all, you know?
– [Peter] Yeah.
– Over here they designated for kids.
So you have a lot of kids that come
and this kind of looks nice.
I mean, it is nice when it’s used,
but if you look at the zip code we’re in,
there’s over 30,000 people in our area
and I would say half of ’em are kids.
Where are they? That’s sad.
There’s a tight rein on ’em
because you can’t just run free.
You just can’t go, like when I was a kid,
you just can’t ride your
bike in the streets.
You can’t walk in the streets.
– [Peter] If you’re a responsible parent,
you’re not letting your kid out here.
– No, you’re not.
Are they open here?
There you go.
Hey, how’s it going?
– [Peter] Oh, look at that architecture.
– [Buddy] A beautiful place, isn’t it?
– Beautiful.
So what was Kensington back in the day?
Was it a working class neighborhood, or?
– So this place, listen,
we would come in here.
All my sisters would come in here.
We would sit at the tables
and, see, people don’t
see this in Kensington.
You know, this is a beautiful
lot of, ton of history.
– So let’s say 1930s.
– Yes.
– [Peter] Working class neighborhood.
– Yes.
– People working in Philly?
– Yes.
– Or what were they doing?
– Well, back in the thirties,
it was historical factors.
We were the manufacturing
spot of the world.
We produced rugs, shoes,
hats, Stetson hats,
overcoats, belts.
– Okay.
– You name it.
I mean, every other block had a factory,
and we had a hundred percent employment.
Everybody had a job.
And then, and obviously in
the fifties and the sixties
and the seventies, where
the manufacturer left
and then poverty came in, you know?
– Okay, so–
– Jobs left.
– [Peter] The jobs went
away. The drugs came in.
– The drugs came in eventually. Yes.
– [Peter] So, Buddy, a guy
like this, what’s this story?
– I don’t know. We got to check him.
– [Man] I tried to get him
up. He wouldn’t get up.
– He won’t get up?
– Ah, geez.
– [Man] He got a big sore on his spine,
his back of his spine and his neck.
– Yo, pal. Yo, pal.
Yo. Come on, my man.
You gotta get up, pal. Okay?
– [Kevin] You see that wound
on the back of his neck?
– Come on, pal.
– It’s from tranq.
– [Buddy] You okay? You okay?
– It like eats your flesh.
You can see the wound.
It’s–
– Right.
– Okay. Come on, my man.
(siren wailing)
Look. Look.
– Oh, geez.
– Yeah.
– [Peter] That’s what the tranq does?
– Yes, that’s what the tranq does.
Somebody died right there.
So that’s, you know.
– Oh, yeah.
So, Buddy, from the outside,
everyone would be like,
why aren’t these guys getting help?
– Look at, but here’s the thing.
There is plenty of opportunity.
Like, you know, Kensington right
now is a tourist attraction
for people to come and look
and see people dying on the streets.
And the truth of the matter
is they don’t have to die on the streets
because there is help.
– Okay, but the law works
in the United States,
from my understanding,
you can’t just remove someone like that.
They have to agree to it.
If they’re sober enough to walk like that,
there’s nothing we can do.
– I agree. Yeah.
– Is that correct?
– I believe so.
– Okay.
– I believe so.
– So it’s like ACLU issue,
I think, like personal freedom type.
You can’t, and so that’s
the problem I’m seeing
across the country is there is help.
It looks like there isn’t, but there is.
– The problem, listen,
the problem is that there
has to be a solution.
Look at, we don’t know what
happened with that man.
He could have had a great upbringing.
– He could have.
– But maybe he got caught up.
Maybe he broke his leg and got caught
and was taking pain pills.
And it happens all the time.
I’ve seen actors, movie
stars, sons and daughters
come and get caught up
because of an injury that they–
– [Peter] Right.
– Sustained while riding
a bike up in the suburbs.
And they wound up in the
ghettos looking for heroin
and looking for fentanyl
to quell their pain.
But that guy there, you know,
you just, it takes 17 times.
You get refused 17 times.
That’s the average number
before somebody wants
to reach out for help,
when somebody wants to accept the help.
– ‘Cause when you’re in the
drugs, you’re not thinking help.
– You’re not thinking help.
– You can’t see outside of them.
– No. You’re not thinking help.
You’re just thinking for the next fix.
– Yeah.
– You know, because, you know–
– What’s up, you guys? How’s it going?
– You know, addiction,
addiction is a cruel task master, brother.
– So how many blocks are like this, Buddy?
Is this a massive area, or are
we looking at a few blocks?
– Yeah, no, you’re looking at
about a two mile in radius,
two-mile radius.
– Oh, wow.
– You know?
– [Peter] Okay.
So what’s with a house like this?
Condemned because why?
– Well, this wasn’t condemned.
This is like, I’ll tell
you what this is like.
– [Peter] Oh, that’s just protection.
– [Buddy] Yeah.
– [Peter] No one’s there, it looks like.
– Oh, no one’s here.
This is normally–
– This one’s condemned.
– There you go. You need a chicken, Peter?
– [Peter] Got some chickens.
And look at the architecture
you have coming out of this.
So when this was full-on
manufacturing, people dressed well.
– Oh.
– [Peter] People going to church.
– First of all, Kensington
Avenue was the corridor,
the main corridor of
the city, of the city.
– Of Philly?
– Philly!
– [Peter] Come on.
– I’m not even exaggerating. From–
– [Peter] What are the
Phillyites gonna say?
– I would say from to from Tioga
Street all the way down to,
past Huntington Street.
I mean, there was stores,
and every one was open.
Every one was open.
– [Peter] And watch where you step, huh?
– Yeah.
– If you guys ever need us,
we’re Rock Ministries. Okay?
– [Peter] So is that
part of your work, Buddy?
You get out in the streets,
talk to people like that?
– Yeah.
Yeah. We get out there all the time.
Yeah.
How you doing? Good to see you.
We have a chaplain squad
that’s perfect for what
we see here, perfect.
Let’s check on this guy.
Look at. Miss, hello?
Hello? You okay?
– Yeah.
Thank you.
– You’re welcome.
– [Peter] So what’s with the wire?
– Well, he’s making some money.
He’s making money.
– [Peter] Yeah. What are you doing?
– Stripping copper wire.
– [Peter] So you sell the copper?
– Yeah.
– Okay.
How much for a piece
like that, do you think?
– It’s like, you get like $4.50 a pound.
– [Peter] Oh, that’s a lot of stripping.
– Oh, I mean, yeah. I mean,
it’s better than stealing.
– [Peter] I agree. I agree.
– Hey, my man. How you holding up, pal?
– Hey, I’m good.
– You doing all right, bro?
– Yeah, yeah.
– Yeah?
Where you from?
– Poconos.
– Poconos?
– Yeah.
– What brings you to Kensington?
– Oh, I’ve been up here
for the last 15 years.
– Yeah.
If you need any help,
you know where Rock Ministry
is, down the street?
Yep. Yeah.
We’re there for you, pal. Okay?
We’re there for you, man.
– Appreciate it.
– All right? Look at.
You’re a young, healthy,
good-looking young man.
– So far.
– No, you are.
You still have, there’s hope.
There’s hope in you, man.
You just have to accept it.
– Yeah.
– You want to get help?
– Not right this second.
– No?
– No.
– But do you know what’s available?
– Yeah.
– In 10 minutes, we can have you in a bed.
10 minutes. Just remember The Rock.
– Okay.
– Right down the street.
– You know where we’re at?
– Yep.
– Okay?
– I remember.
– All right, my man.
– Thank you very much.
– All right, pal.
Have a good day.
– Take care.
– Thank you.
– You all right, pal?
My man, you okay?
– He’s all right?
– Yeah.
– Yeah.
Yeah, Buddy, I’ve seen a lot in the world.
I’ve been to Karachi, Pakistan.
That’s a pretty hard-hitting city.
I’ve been to the hood there.
– Yeah.
– But I’ve never felt
a roughness like this.
– Yeah. Yeah.
– It’s a different–
– Who? Who?
Which one?
– How you doing, boss?
– He got a new badge and stuff like that.
He got upgraded. They
(indistinct) in the street.
– Does he want to go to the hospital?
You don’t want to go to the hospital?
That’s gonna get infected, Miguel.
This guy’s intestine’s hanging out.
Literally, his intestines are hanging out.
– Oh, man. He doesn’t want help?
– He don’t want help, but his
intestines are hanging out.
– So the ambulance comes
in for that, or what?
– Yeah, they’ll come
in. Yeah, they come in.
You call 911, in four
minutes, you got them.
(siren wailing)
– So these EMS workers
must be so burnt out, huh?
Doing this every day.
– Every day. And this is nothing today.
– What do you mean?
– I mean, this is nothing. This is empty.
It’s just a normal day.
– It’s empty.
No, this is empty today. Am I right, Kev?
This is nothing.
– It’s nothing.
Yo, look, see?
Now, this is America.
We’re in the United States
of America. Look at this.
Look at this. Look at this.
And people just walk right by him.
– Well, it’s just every block.
– Look at this.
Come on.
Hey, buddy.
Yo. Yo.
Come on, my man. Get up, okay?
Please.
– All right.
– Get yourself up. You
need some help, my man?
– Nah, I’m good, bro.
– All right.
(restaurant music playing faintly)
– [Peter] This is like a sci-fi movie.
– Yeah.
This is that Mexican
place where the music,
I mean, the food is amazing in here.
And listen, just think about this.
This person came here and said,
“Listen, I’m gonna set
up a business right here,
right in the thick of things.”
You gotta give them credit.
– Yeah.
– Right?
That’s why–
– Definitely credit.
– That’s why we wanna put a bakery, Peter.
– [Peter] Should we eat
there at the end today?
– [Buddy] Yeah. Let’s do it.
– [Peter] So, Buddy, how
does this not bring you down?
You seem like a pretty optimistic guy.
– That’s a great question.
20 years, never
desensitized by what we see,
because I have Jesus.
– This is your world.
– Did you hear that, Peter?
– Yeah, I heard you.
– Make sure you get that.
This is your world every day.
– Every day. But I see hope.
– I love it.
– I see hope, Peter.
Can you imagine if you didn’t
live your life with hope?
– You need hope.
– Down here.
– Whew.
– You smell that? You
can’t get that on a camera.
– Whew. I’m doing a mouth
breathing situation right now.
Guys, this is pretty
hardcore. That’s pungent.
So there’s downtown
Philly, right up there.
Downtown Philly.
– Yeah, downtown Philly.
Listen, we are literally
two and a half miles
from where the Declaration
of Independence was signed,
and look at what you have.
– That’s shameful.
– Look what you have.
– Look at the tracks down here.
– [Buddy] Millions of needles, Peter.
– Yeah.
So you just would not let your
family go in public transport
here in Philly, or at least
in this part of Philly, huh?
Okay. If I had a daughter, I would not.
– You wouldn’t do it. Yeah.
– No.
– Yeah, likewise.
– No.
Just going through this scene.
– Likewise. Likewise.
I would want to be there.
Come on, Peter.
– All right. All right.
– Oh, so, now listen.
That building right there,
that’s the Youth Factory
with the gray roof.
That’s the oldest boxing venue in America.
See, now, that used to be a factory
and it was all burnt down for years,
but they made 53 apartments in there.
You know, low income and to help families,
which is a good thing.
There’s another factory right there
that they put all apartments
in for low income,
which is great.
– It’s great, but you need
the jobs, Buddy, right?
For the purpose.
– Oh, yeah. You need the jobs.
– For the purpose, right?
– You need the jobs. Oh, yeah.
– You can give free housing,
but if there’s any purpose–
– Well, they gotta earn
it, you know what I mean?
You just don’t let ’em
in. You gotta earn it.
You know?
– So I wanna make this
clear to the audience
that this is not all of
Philadelphia, cause–
– No.
– People will see this
and be like, “Wow, Philadelphia’s
gone in the toilet.”
And there are great parts.
– Yes. Oh.
– Whew.
Yeah. That’s what’s going on here.
That’s why.
– That’s why you don’t touch that.
– Yeah. Don’t touch anything around here.
– [Buddy] See that church?
When I was a little kid, I
went up on the second floor.
Me and a friend of mine,
we took some of the altar
boy suits out and we wore it,
me and a friend of mine.
– [Peter] Yeah.
– And we were walking out.
We were only like 11
years old, 10 years old.
And we were pretending we were priests.
Little did I know that one
day that I would be a pastor.
You know what I mean? So.
– There we go. The Rock.
– [Buddy] Look at the picture.
Get a picture of them.
– [Peter] Who’s this kid here?
– I don’t know.
Wow. Look at this.
What a picture that is.
Hello.
– How you doing?
– How you doing?
How you holding up?
– All right. All right.
– You okay?
– Better.
– Yeah?
– Just tired.
– You tired? Yeah?
– I know.
– Who’s this?
– This is the lady’s.
She walked down there.
She asked me to watch it, so
I said she’ll stay right here.
– She just walked down there?
Is it your mom? Yeah?
What is your name?
– Kayden.
– Kayden? Where did your mom go?
– She just went into the grownup store.
– She went into the grownup
store? How long ago did she go?
– About two, three minutes.
– So she just left her here?
– Yeah. I said I would watch her.
– Are you kidding me?
– Wow.
– Is this your mom coming now?
– She didn’t want to
take her in the store.
– Yeah.
Is this your daughter, ma’am?
– It is. I don’t like to
take her to the store.
– You what?
– I don’t like to take her to the store.
– Yeah.
Yeah, but did you know?
You didn’t even know him?
– No, I know him. We know each other.
– Oh, you know, okay.
– Yeah. Yeah.
No, I would never do that.
– Okay.
How old is your daughter?
– She’s gonna be six next week.
– Do you live around here?
– I do.
– You do?
– Well, I live on Gerard, but
I come here for cigarettes.
– You’ve heard of The Rock Ministries?
– I have. I wanna work for you.
– You wanna work for me?
– Yeah. I heard that you do cleanups.
– We do, but let me ask you something.
We have an amazing
program for your daughter.
– Really?
– It’d be great for her to get over there.
– Yeah.
– Yeah.
– I need something for her to do.
– Yeah, please, please.
– We’re from Boston and–
– Oh, you’re from Boston?
– Yeah.
– How long have you been here?
– I went back and forth.
– Okay.
– I first came to Philly last year.
– Right.
– Ended up homeless in Jersey
’cause the hotels are cheaper over there.
My truck got stolen with
my driver’s license,
birth certificate, social security cards.
Just been trying to get that stuff back.
– We can help you with all
of that, with all that.
So if you go into our chaplain building–
– Okay.
– Like, it’s right on
the, ask for the chaplain.
– I noticed you guys have
like three different–
– We have quite, yeah.
But if you go into the
chap, we can help you.
– All right, guys.
A little behind the
scenes making this video.
It’s a challenging one.
The camera can’t be
pointed in some places.
It’d be dangerous to do so.
Buddy has been amazing in
navigating that for us all.
He obviously knows the hood pretty well,
but there is definitely
dangerous elements here.
And I highly suggest nobody
just coming down like this
just to walk around.
I mean, most of the people
just have drug habits
and, you know, need help.
That’s the story.
But there are people running the drugs
and running the crime,
and those are the situations
you need to stay clear of.
And so we’ve done a good
job of that so far today
to show you the story.
And I promise this is
gonna be a positive story
or at least positive elements,
and we’re about to get
to that in a little bit.
Buddy just wants to show
us a few more places here
and then we’re gonna see
exactly what he’s doing there
and how it’s helping the community.
Okay. What’s that story, Buddy?
– Oh, that’s heartbreaking.
I mean, you know what I mean? Come on.
– Yeah.
– That’s…
What’s that?
– Was gonna see if Michelle or
Katie or somebody was around.
I mean, I don’t know
when the last time she–
– Yeah. Well, let her, yeah.
Hey, listen.
Go around there now.
I mean, we can get you something to eat.
You can sit in there.
– I just ate.
– You just ate? How about her?
– Yep.
– You just ate.
Well, go around there
and we got help for you.
Whatever you, housing, bus
fare, we wanna get you help.
We wanna get you help.
– Yeah.
– Okay?
– Okay, cool.
– So are most people from out of town?
– Yes.
– And they just come to Kensington?
– Yes.
– Why? They just know it’s like this?
They know the drugs are good or what?
– They know that it’s
an open-air drug market.
They can come and they can dwell here.
– Yeah. Careful what you
smell here, obviously.
So what’s the law?
– Do you hear it?
Listen, they can come in
because they can dwell.
They can do whatever they want.
– Is that a Philadelphia thing?
– That’s a Kensington thing.
No, not in Philadelphia.
You can’t do this in 90%
of the neighborhoods.
But Kensington, for some
reason, it’s been accepted.
– There’s not a mayor
of Kensington, is there?
– No. There’s a mayor of Philadelphia.
And she sees the problem, to her credit.
You know what I mean?
– She’s changed it. It was worse.
– Yes. She sees the problem, and listen.
– Oh, she sees the problem.
– She sees the problem and
she’s coming up with a solution.
The solution is, it’s when
the mayor does her job,
the district attorney does his job,
the police commissioner’s
allowed to do his job,
the police can do their job.
Let us do our job and when we
work together, we lock arms
and we help people.
– Okay.
A problem I’ve been
seeing in American cities,
now, crime reform is a big topic, right?
Justice reform.
But really weak DAs that
let repeat offenders
demoralizes the police.
They don’t want to get somebody
and have that person out on
the streets that same day.
– Yeah.
– So they sort of give up.
So certain cities where I’ve
noticed if the DA is weak,
that’s a huge problem.
– Okay.
– Have you noticed that, or?
– Well, here’s–
– Or you don’t wanna get
into the politics of it.
– No, here’s what I see.
I see, like I’m looking at Kensington,
my responsibility is Kensington, Peter.
What I see in Kensington,
someone is not doing their job correctly.
Okay?
– You think? Big time.
– So once the solution is provided
and everyone’s locking arms,
Kensington can have a voice again.
Right now, Kensington is voiceless.
No child should be able
to see what they see here.
A kid was not born to
look at what they see.
You got so many kids
that are locked behind,
you know, in houses.
They just can’t come out
and enjoy their life.
They can’t.
They can’t because they’re
locked behind in the house
because of the post-traumatic
stress disorder
they’ve developed
’cause of what they’ve
seen over the years.
It’s horrible, Peter.
Yoo-hoo. Yo, pal.
You okay?
Okay. Come on.
Sit up. Please sit up, okay?
See his arm? You see your arm?
– Yeah, flies are taking over.
– All flies.
– And the ants.
So policies that are thought of as humane
are very inhumane, I would say.
That’s not okay.
The guy’s got pus–
– It’s not okay.
– Coming out of his arm and
flies over him and he’s–
– Obviously.
– Yeah, but who thinks
that is an okay policy?
– Yeah. Yeah.
It’s not good.
– It’s not freedom.
– No.
It’s bondage. That’s a good point.
– It’s bondage.
– I think they are, yeah.
I think it’s winding down, though.
Yeah.
– Yeah.
If someone is in agreeance
with these policies,
please explain how that is compassion,
seeing someone passed out
with flies on their wounds
and letting them rot on the streets.
I just don’t under…
Sorry.
You’re used to this.
You’re here all the time.
– Yeah.
– It almost infuriates me.
Like we have policies
that allow that to happen.
– Yeah. Yeah.
– We are in America.
– Yeah.
– That’s unacceptable.
Like I haven’t seen it like
this anywhere in the world.
I’ve been to 85 countries.
– Well–
– I’ve seen drug scenes,
but not like here.
– Yeah. This is…
People, look at.
People just poop in the streets.
You can smell, Peter.
You gotta hold your breath now, right?
– Yeah.
– You know what I mean?
Now listen, just think about your kid.
Think about your kid having
to walk down these streets.
It’s not right to them.
And you know what’s amazing?
Like I remember HBO did a,
Larry Merchant did a
little interview on me.
You know what he said to me?
So he says, “You’re a
fighting pastor, right?”
I said,
“Well, I wouldn’t wanna fight
George Foreman, you know?”
I said, “But I’ll tell you
what, I’ll change my mind.
I’ll fight George Foreman for the kids.”
Yes. Because the kids,
it’s heart-wrenching.
That’s what is heart-wrenching
to me is the kids.
(somber music)
So there’s Kensington Avenue
down there. You’ll see.
It’s a pretty crazy area as we get closer.
– [Peter] So a lot of
gun violence right now.
– Wow. It’s amazing you said that.
So the New York Times did a story
and they did it all over the country.
And it was 63 homicides in a
two-block radius in five years.
– In five years.
– Four years. Four years.
And you know where it was?
– Here.
– Kensington.
And you know where the blocks are?
See where G Street is right here?
– Yep.
– From G Street on down,
within a two-block radius each way.
– This couple blocks–
– This was all packed people.
This was all an encampment.
You can’t have tents anymore now.
As soon as you put a tent
up, they shut you down.
– [Peter] So where do these people sleep?
– [Buddy] On the streets,
under the bridge.
See the barriers?
– Yep.
– [Buddy] So they were all tents
and now the police have
put up the barriers.
– So if this wasn’t an open drug area,
do you think that’d be a start, at least?
Like do you need to make it illegal first
so you can’t do this on the streets?
– Illegal?
– Illegal, yeah.
– Yes. Yes.
– So you need to make it illegal first.
– Yeah, that’s one of ’em.
– So why have they not done–
– Drug paraphernalia,
I think that’s another thing.
Last year I believe it was 10
million needles they gave out.
– [Peter] Who’s giving out
the needles and everything?
– There’s a place down here
that’s called Prevention Point.
I think they have a contract with the city
or with the state or something like that.
But I don’t think they’re–
– Prevention Point.
– Yeah.
– Can we walk in there?
– [Kevin] They won’t let you film.
– No, they won’t let you film.
– [Peter] They won’t
let you film anything.
– Guy was like, “You can’t film.”
– Yeah. Yeah.
– There are absolutely
no cameras, no film.
– Yeah. Yeah.
And they wanted–
– Why no trespassing?
– What was that? That legal…
– Injection.
– Injection sites.
And that’s what, safe injection sites,
and that’s where it was
gonna be at, right there.
What happened?
– This guy’s shooting up
into one of his sores
on his arm back there.
– [Peter] So why no transparency?
– I don’t know.
– If that’s city money?
– Yeah. I don’t know.
I don’t know what.
Well, I think what they did
was they gave the needles out.
Now, listen, let me say this.
They feel as though they’re doing right
because their whole theory–
– I mean, everyone always
feels like they’re doing right.
– No, their whole theory
is this, to stop the AIDS.
Remember when the AIDS
epidemic came around
where they were giving out,
everybody was using one other’s needles?
So they feel as though
that helps that population
where you don’t get AIDS.
That’s what they’re saying.
You know what I mean?
I don’t have the information
one way or the other.
– [Peter] Yeah, but if it enables this–
– That’s the problem. That’s the problem.
– So why wouldn’t the
goal at their organization
to be getting people off drugs?
– Well, that’s where
the solution comes in.
– And you’re so diplomatic.
And I understand you
gotta be because this–
– No, I don’t wanna be–
– This is your wheelhouse.
– I don’t wanna be diplomatic.
– No, but you don’t wanna
put anyone under the bus,
and I understand why.
You live here and you
have an amazing mission.
– No, I think that everyone,
when everybody comes down here,
they wanna try what they think works.
I personally know it works.
– What you’re doing works.
– A hundred percent.
– And we’re gonna see it.
But just giving out needles
and safe injection sites
isn’t gonna fix–
– No, I don’t agree with that.
No, I don’t agree with it.
– [Peter] Did you ever have a drug issue?
– No.
– [Peter] Crime issue?
– Yes.
I was involved in, as a kid, it is crazy.
I was told by the police,
they told my mother as a young teenager,
I was labeled a non-conformist.
There you go. 10 years old.
– [Peter] I’ve been labeled that too.
– Yeah?
Non-conformist.
And in fact, we used to hop
the trains here, right up here.
This is where we used to hop the trains.
I was outta control.
You know, my life was outta control.
But at 13, I got involved in boxing
and that’s what changed
my life as a young kid
growing up in the city.
At 16–
– It was a good outlet.
– A hundred percent.
At the age of 16, I was
number one in the city.
At 19, I was number one in the
state, top 10 in the country,
made the USA boxing team,
traveled around the world,
coming from Kensington.
Can you imagine that? Always in the paper.
I mean, it was amazing, man.
You know, it was amazing.
So I was always a street
fighter, you know?
Bah!
But it’s interesting how that
all, what all happened there,
because eventually I was
facing life in prison.
I was an organizer for a
major union in the city.
And so I got hired at a young age
and at 25, I was an organizer.
By the time I was 27, I was facing,
you know, a lot of years
in prison, 168 years.
– [Peter] What’d you do, if
you don’t mind me asking?
– Well, yeah, I was charged with RICO,
which is a racketeer-influenced
corrupt organization.
It’s an acronym. And I was
charged with that crime.
But so what happened
was, I was not given bail
because they said that I
was a menace of society,
a threat to the community.
A Kensington kid being called
that. Who would’ve thought?
So, well, what happened,
ultimately I would go to prison.
And when I went to prison,
when I was in there,
this lady by the name of Lucille,
who happens to be my wife’s name,
but it wasn’t my wife,
she was an elderly lady–
– Okay.
– She would write me letters
all the time about Jesus.
And Peter, that started
to change in my life.
It wasn’t prison who changed me.
– Yeah.
– But this woman, she wrote me a letter.
She said to me,
“Buddy, Jesus holds you
in the palm of his hand.”
I said, well, what does that mean?
And I would read scripture
and this and that.
And then when I came outta
prison in 91, November,
but it was December 31st, 1995
that I gave my life to Christ
at 8:30 at night.
How many years is that? 28 years ago.
1995.
Unbelievable, Peter. 29 years.
Oh, see, here’s my wife. There she is.
We were just talking about you.
– Bud, can you get me out?
– Oh, yeah.
– I can’t get out.
– Just the perfect timing.
– Oh, you going together?
– [Peter] She needs some help.
You need some help with
the parallel parking?
– Oh, yes.
– Getting out.
– That’s my husband’s.
– Oh, okay.
– I’m a New Jersey girl. I’m not–
– You want to interview her?
– No, that is not my–
– [Peter] How long have you been married?
– 27 years. It’s a fun ride,
being married to Buddy Osborn.
– [Peter] Never a dull moment?
– Never a dull moment.
– All right, hun.
– Thank you, honey.
And listen, let me show you something.
Hold on. Hold on.
Here, there’s a ticket for you.
Got a ticket. See that?
– [Peter] A little present from the city.
– [Buddy] That’s all right. Work at it.
Pull out, hun.
– [Peter] How many years ago
did you start this, Buddy?
– 20 years ago.
– Let’s check it out.
– It’s interesting.
Here, this prior to COVID,
a lot of people were
taking over the bridges,
underneath the bridges
because the railroad,
this is where everybody was
on the railroad shooting up.
So they cleaned that out.
– Okay.
– And everybody came on the streets.
So I went under the bridge
and I slept under the bridge
for the weekend with everybody.
You know?
– You slept under there?
– I slept under the bridge.
So the next, I said, “Listen,
we gotta get a tent.”
So we got the tent and we would
have upwards of 100 people
that would sleep in there.
And in the morning they
would get breakfast
and they would hear the gospel.
They would hear about Christ.
You know, we’ve been really something.
But when COVID came and we
couldn’t do that, we had to stop.
We couldn’t do it anymore.
You know what I mean? So.
What’s up, Nate? What’s up, brother?
– Love the channel.
Buddy, I love you, too.
– Oh, yeah?
You know this guy?
– Yeah, for sure.
– How you doing?
– Man, you do some great videos.
– [Peter] Thank you, brother.
– You do a really good job.
– What’s your name?
– Adam.
– Adam?
– Yeah.
– Good to see you, man.
– Adam.
– Nate.
– [Peter] Nate. Do you
guys volunteer here, or?
– Yeah, we just came up from Virginia.
– Virginia.
– Oh, nice.
– [Buddy] We got people from
all over the country come here.
– [Peter] Oh, how’s it going so far?
– We’re going to check on the team now.
We just got here and they got
here a couple days ago, so.
– It’s my boy. It’s one of our interns.
He was here.
– I’m in y’all video.
– All right.
So he was one of our interns
for like how many months?
Six months.
– Six months.
We wanted to keep him for life,
but he said he had to go back.
But he’s always family.
And so is this kid.
Good people. Good people.
– [Peter] Great work you’re
doing. Take care of you guys.
– How about a cold water, bro?
– Oh, yeah.
– Come on.
– [Peter] That sounds great.
We’ve got the boxing ring here.
– Listen, that’s part of the solution.
Nice punch in the nose will always help.
– It’s very real.
– No.
Hey, brother.
– What’s up?
– Come on, Peter. Grab some water.
Listen, that’s Pastor Craig.
– How you doing?
– [Buddy] He’s been here with me
almost to the very beginning.
– Doing well, Pastor Craig.
– He never left.
He never left.
– [Craig] You’re the documentary guy.
– Yeah.
– What’s your name?
– Peter Santonello.
– [Craig] Good to see you, Peter.
– Yeah. You, too.
You know, I feel like that’s
a well-earned glass of water.
– Let me tell you something.
I don’t go out on the
street a lot, you know.
I’ll be very honest with you.
I mean, I’m in and out all the time,
but there’s people constantly
going out on the street,
you know, especially our chaplains.
But imagine, like you said,
every day being out there
and seeing what you see.
Bro, that’s…
If you don’t have a filter,
and we say that a lot,
that filter’s gotta be Christ.
You can’t handle that.
You can’t handle it.
– So I’m not a super religious person.
– Impossible.
– I’m not a super religious person, Buddy.
I pray every night, right?
– Well, me neither.
– But I don’t go to–
– [Buddy] Craig, let me ask you.
He said he’s not a super religious–
– I’m not a religious person.
– [Buddy] No, no, no.
He said he’s not a super religious person.
– I meant to say religious.
– No, that’s okay.
– Yeah.
– Super’s even better.
– Okay.
– Are you religious?
– Absolutely not.
– Are you religious?
– All right then.
– [Peter] Now you guys are tricking me.
– No, we’re not. We’re not.
– [Peter] What’s going on?
Romans. John.
You’re not religious?
– No.
Okay. Tell him why we’re not religious.
– Because we have a
relationship with Jesus Christ,
which surpasses any religion
ever created by man on earth.
It’s one-on-one, us with the Lord.
He’s reconciled us through
his death on the cross,
rose from the grave.
We now have a direct connection with God.
No stained glass, no windows, no rituals.
It’s us and him. That’s a relationship.
– Okay.
– Shoot.
– So you need a relationship
with Jesus to endure that.
I was just out there.
I’m in all sorts of weird
situations around the world.
How am I pulling it off
if I don’t have the direct relationship?
– You know why I say that?
– Yeah.
– Because in 20 years,
I have seen so many people
come into Kensington
and really do a good work.
– [Peter] Yep.
– But never make it the long haul.
And to me, what does that say?
It means that people burn out.
They get callous, they get hardened.
Now, I’ve seen people.
Kevin, it’s been how many years? 17?
– 15.
– 15 years.
I’ve been here from the beginning.
Craig’s been here about 18 years.
And it goes on and on and on.
We’ve been here a long time
and it’s nothing in and of
itself that we have done.
But it’s what Christ has done for,
because you know what I feel like?
Like when one person comes
to know who Christ is
in a personal way,
the Bible says that all the
angels in heaven rejoice.
So when I see a kid
come through that door,
you can come in here.
We’ve never charged a kid
one cent to come to The Rock
and we never will.
So you may ask me, how
do you pay for all this?
– I was gonna ask you.
– I don’t know.
I don’t know.
– Donations?
– Yes!
– They just come in naturally?
– And guess what? I don’t
even know who gives what.
So if you make a donation, Peter,
I will never know you did it.
My point of it is, and
I’m being facetious,
but that’s the truth.
I don’t know. And I don’t want to know.
– But there’s enough coming
in to run the operations here.
– Yes. Yes.
We’ve never gone–
– That’s cool.
– Look, we have no debt. Zero debt.
I’m a missionary.
You know, people provide.
Kevin raises three children in
this area. He’s a missionary.
He quit his job, sold his house,
and moved two blocks from here
and he’s our youth pastor.
– [Peter] Kevin, you’re
raising your kids out here.
– Three boys.
– Yes, three boys.
And they are beautiful.
– 13, 12, and 10.
– [Peter] Wow.
So you don’t let them walk around
where we walked around today.
– As long as they’re within
arm’s reach. That’s it.
I used to walk my kids
to and from The Rock
every single day, me and
my wife and my three boys.
Yep.
That was the rule. You need to
be within arm’s reach of Dad.
Many of us have seen
or have been looked at
as that we didn’t have
a chance to make it.
And then at some point in time,
Jesus has come into our lives
and given us a hope, given us a chance,
that it’s totally broken the cycle.
Like I come from a family, I
come from having a dad that,
you know, I think he was
trying to do his best.
He came from abusive background.
My upbringing was chaos.
I was always in and out
of other families’ homes,
sleeping over, staying
over, all this stuff.
You know, my parents were
trying to do their best,
but it was just chaos in my life.
I have many people that looked at my life
and was like, that kid right
there, he’s gonna be a problem.
I was driven by adrenaline,
driven by like the parties
and all that stuff.
Jesus met me on my knees
when I went to take my life.
And he met me there and gave me life.
And ever since then, I’ve known
and I’ve seen the change
that God has done in my life.
And now I have three boys.
I’m raising those three
boys here in Kensington,
here around the ministry.
They all know Jesus as their
personal Lord and Savior.
And I can see the joy in their lives
that I never had as a kid
because that cycle was broken
when Jesus was introduced.
So I think about that little
girl that was out there
that we may look at
and say, you know what?
She doesn’t have a chance.
And from the world’s
perspective, yeah, maybe not.
But from our perspective,
knowing that Jesus can
change anybody’s life,
she absolutely has a chance.
– [Buddy] Peter, what do you see there?
– [Peter] Okay, I see someone
in prison behind the bars.
– Okay.
– They’re captive.
But I see someone out
of prison on the street
that’s also just as captive,
maybe not even more.
– [Buddy] Wow. I like that.
– [Peter] That’s what I’m seeing.
– [Buddy] Okay. Anything else?
– [Peter] The Holy Bible over here.
He gave up on that, so
it’s not working out.
And what is that? A gun?
– [Buddy] What else do
you see next to his foot?
– [Peter] Oh, the syringe. There you go.
– Yeah.
– Yeah.
– [Buddy] Okay. So there’s
nobody in that picture.
Can I hold this for one second?
– Yeah, yeah.
– Get in there.
– Okay. What am I doing?
– Oh, that’s your–
– Oh.
(Buddy laughs)
This is what it’s set up for.
– It’s you.
– Oh.
– And listen. Anybody
can be in there, brother.
Anybody, right?
– Right. Right.
And it can happen quickly, right?
– Yeah, but let me just say this to you.
I’m gonna be a cameraman. Now watch.
Boom. That’ll never
put you there, brother.
That book right there
will never put you there.
Look at that mug shot. (laughs)
– Thanks, buddy.
– Hello.
– Hi.
– Good to see you.
– [Peter] Okay, what’s going on in here?
– So we have a meeting
with the council member.
– Meeting with the council.
– Yeah.
– [Peter] This is your
facility still, right?
– [Buddy] Yeah.
– While the need for low-barrier
evidence-based treatment
(indistinct) offers.
– Okay, Buddy, so–
– Yes, sir.
– That’s good to see the
city getting involved.
– Yes. Yeah, and–
– And it’s not for show?
You think they’re
actually doing something?
– No, here’s what’s taking place.
So the councilperson from this area
wanted to hold some hearings and–
– Okay.
– So she wants to hear
from different people
that are interested in the solution.
We wanna come together.
How many beds are available in the city?
What’s being done for detox?
All these major questions
that have to be answered, you know?
– What’s the plan as of right now?
You said they’re working on one,
but is there a plan in the neighborhood?
– Yeah, I think the plan, well, sure.
The plan is, I know from what I hear
that in the budget that was passed,
I think it was $6 billion and
some change for the mayor,
for City of Philadelphia,
the mayor wants to build a facility
that’s not far from here
that would house, I believe,
if I’m not mistaken, I could
be wrong, upwards of 500 beds.
And what would happen is
when a person goes in,
this has always been something
that’s been dear to my heart.
You have to have a location.
It has to act as a triage.
So when a person is taken from the street,
they go into this place.
So what you do, you have behavior health,
you have social services, you have clergy,
you have medical staff,
you have everyone there
to present an amazing plan
for that person to be able
to reenter into society.
– They have to be clean in
that environment, right?
– Well, yeah.
So what’ll happen is you
are gonna be placed there.
– Okay.
– And you’re gonna be placed there
because you can’t be on the
streets doing what you do.
You can’t defecate.
– Yeah.
– You can’t urinate.
– Yeah.
– You can’t use drugs openly.
You know, so there are laws in place
that have to be carried out,
that should be carried
out, you know, and–
– Absolutely.
– And then when that happens,
you would have a facility
for somebody to get well.
You know what I mean?
– Okay.
So I lived in San Francisco
and what we had there was the,
we called it the homeless
industrial complex.
Ton of money went towards the mission.
– Yeah.
– But the amount of grift going on
and money siphoned here and there
and the problem has
continued to get worse.
– Yeah. Okay.
– I haven’t been there in a year,
but at the time it wasn’t
a money issue actually.
It was just sort of a
management policy issue.
And so hopefully you
guys do it better here.
– Well, I think, listen.
– Because results are
walking down the street
and not seeing what we saw.
– Oh, yeah.
I mean, that’s ultimately,
listen, I can’t tell you the
time, how long it’s gonna take,
but I know this.
With the plan in action, and
we’re all part of that plan,
then you got a solution.
But if you keep talking about the problem,
this, that, and another
thing, and this and that,
you’re just talking about it.
Implement things.
But you gotta have a physical
place to take somebody.
– [Peter] Yeah.
– ‘Cause if you don’t
have a physical place,
then how’s it gonna work?
– And I feel, I don’t know
how it works with the law,
but I think forcing rehab is needed
in some of these situations,
because asking someone–
– Listen.
– That’s neck is pussing,
like get off the drugs,
it’s not gonna work.
– Listen. You said it.
You saw how many people.
That was just a handful.
There’s dozens and dozens of
those examples that you saw.
– [Peter] Yeah.
– Laying all over Kensington.
– Yeah.
– Would you rather?
That’s somebody’s mother.
– Yeah.
– That’s someone’s father,
someone’s daughter, someone’s son.
It’s a family member, bro.
I mean, you gotta have,
there’s gotta be some stringent rules
that have to be put in place
and then they have to respect it.
You know? They have to respect it.
– Hey, Joe. How are you, bro?
– How you doing?
– Good to see you.
You all right?
– [Peter] How long you been here, David?
– I got here July 28th, 2021.
– [Peter] You’re from Kensington?
– From South Philly.
I was in prison for three
years before I came here
and what got me into
prison was my addiction.
I was addicted to Percocets
and I wasn’t the type of
person to sit in sorrow
and wait for something to happen.
– Okay.
– I would try to go make it
happen on my own strength.
So instead of sitting there
waiting for a solution,
I went out and found my own solution.
And that was burglarizing houses.
And when I came to The Rock, you know,
my dad picked me up from prison
and two weeks later, that’s
when I gave my life to the Lord.
There’s an event going
on called Rock the Block.
And at the event, you know,
we cleared a whole street out.
There’s not a needle on the ground,
there’s not a gunshot in sight.
And a kid can just come
out here and be a kid.
And, you know, we got the
moon bounces going on.
And it was just a beautiful
day in Kensington.
And in the middle of it,
Buddy did an altar call.
He said, “If there’s anyone here
that wants to surrender their life
and give their life to
Jesus, let’s do it today.”
And it was just like a
wave of silence came over
and I could just feel the
Lord speak to my heart.
And my dad had his
granddaughter, my niece,
on his shoulders,
and he just looked at me
and he was like, “Yep.”
And I just knew.
And I shot to the ring and I
went to the ring and I’m crying
and I just gave my life to the Lord.
And then I didn’t notice it at the time,
but when I looked back,
what happened was the Lord,
I was the first one that entered the ring.
But the effect of that, I
look back now and after that,
there was like 15 to 20 young kids
that came into the ring after that.
So as time went on,
I started to pick up what
God was putting down.
Like I’m gonna use your old life, David,
that you were stark in darkness for.
And I’m gonna use that wasted life
and I’m gonna use it for good
’cause these kids in
Kensington need to see
what it looks like to a
kid that was addicted,
robbing houses, Mom and Dad.
Mom was a smoker, Dad was a doper.
Now they both live for Jesus.
I’m going to use your life, David,
to show these kids what it’s like
to not be a product of your environment,
but to be a product of the gospel.
And that’s what he did in my life.
And that’s what he’s continuing to do.
Me and my wife got married.
We used to live in sin.
We’ve been together nine years and–
– Congrats.
– Thank you so much.
We got married October 7th of last year.
But it didn’t just happen like that.
Like when I came home, she put
money on my books every day,
she bailed me out, you know, one time.
She always made sure when
I came home from jail
that I had somewhere to stay.
You know, she always made sure
that she was with me, you know?
So God showed me how much he loved me
by working through her before we knew him.
Now you’re allowing accountability
to come into your life.
And when you allow accountability
to come into your life,
by that principle alone means that
what you’re doing in your life,
now you gotta look at your own heart
and you gotta say what’s
wrong and what’s right.
What do I gotta stop? What do I gotta do?
What do I gotta give up and
what do I gotta step into?
I had to do that myself.
– So taking responsibility.
– A hundred percent.
And I’m not downplaying or shedding light
on anyone’s life that was hard.
I lived in crack houses.
We had so many addresses.
We walked around and we
lived in different places.
I’m not saying it’s easy,
but at some point when
the rubber hits the road,
a man and a woman has to make that choice.
– So, growing up, a lot
of people around you
in a similar situation, or?
– In South Philly, yeah. There
was an epidemic, you know?
There was the oxy days,
there was, you know, the Percocet days,
and everyone wanted to escape.
You could come from a lot of homes
that swept a lot of things under the rug
and everything stayed home,
everything stayed in the house.
And yeah, that’s kind
of where it was from.
And what I have seen in
my life as I look back now
is when you kind of do that stuff there,
nothing really gets dealt with.
And then you grow up and
then you see that was like,
man, we kind of didn’t deal with anything.
We kind of just swept it under the rug
and just kept it pushing.
And I don’t want that for my child.
My wife’s eight months pregnant.
And I see that I don’t want
to just sweep things under the rug.
– So do you think most people out here
had broken childhoods?
– I would a hundred
percent agree with that.
Definitely.
– Most.
– Yeah.
And I believe that, you
know, when times get hard,
we turn to something.
I used to turn to Percs
and I wanted to escape.
I had weed, smoking weed every day.
Me and my girlfriend at the
time smoking weed every day.
I was getting high every day.
She couldn’t stand what I was doing.
She couldn’t stand that I was on Percs.
I was probably taking 15
30s a day when I was 16.
– Yeah.
– Easy.
And this is back when Percs
were like $20 a piece.
Now I believe out here they’re
probably like $70 a piece.
And then that’s what makes
everyone turn to Fentanyl
because it’s so cheaper.
– How cheap is it here in Philly?
– What is it, like $3 a bag, Kev?
Probably get a bag of Fentanyl for $3.
When you don’t deal with something…
So I’m about to have a baby.
If I don’t discipline him at all, at all,
I don’t tell him no yes, no no,
and I don’t do nothing to show
him what’s right and wrong,
you can look at his life
and you could see a little Kensington.
When you don’t know how
to deal with something,
something else is gonna
give it accountability.
– [Peter] Are you aligned
with City Council or what’s–
– I am City Council.
– You are City–
– Yeah.
– Okay, so I’d love your perspective.
– What’s up?
– [Peter] We’re doing a video
with Buddy today and The Rock.
– Okay.
– [Peter] And on Greater Kensington.
As far as the city goes,
you’re obviously taking
attention to this situation
’cause you’re here.
What are your thoughts?
– Well, listen, I live
in the neighborhood.
I live a couple blocks away.
I’m at G and Allegheny
Right in the heart of it.
That’s why I ran because–
– Okay.
– To be honest with you, I’m in recovery
and we were thinking more about
the actual struggling addicts out here
than we were to residents
and the children who have to live here
and watch these people
up their neighborhood.
I got a little bit of the
more unique perspective
because I’ve been there.
You know what I mean? I
know that it can be done.
I know recovery’s here
and that’s why places like
The Rock are so instrumental
in us helping change this
neighborhood over again.
You know, it’s all wrapped into one.
It’s about–
– Sure.
– Giving these people a
chance at a real life again,
like I got.
You know, for me,
it’s about us bundling
all the services into one.
– [Peter] Okay.
– And throwing as many services
at the problem as we can
until we figure out what services
are the ones that we really
need and which ones–
– Right.
– We can phase out.
– So would one policy
help the situation a lot?
That being it can’t be an open-air drug,
I don’t know the title you call it.
– Open-air drug market.
Yeah, that’s definitely it.
– Okay.
– We’re not–
– It can’t be an open-air drug market.
– No, and we’re gonna
get that under control.
– Oh, that’s gonna turn around?
– The honest thing is we did it before.
It’s just, you know,
every eight years, say,
the mayor changes and a new mayor comes in
and they have different things.
So I was in the administration
under John Street.
We cleaned up this area.
We shut down 390 open-air drug markets
in the city of Philadelphia.
Cleaned out 40,000 abandoned autos
where they were hiding the drugs
and stuff like that on these blocks.
– So what was the point
of reversing that policy,
whoever did that?
– Well, it’s people come
in with their own ideas
and they try to add to it
or take stuff away that they
didn’t think was working.
And that’s where it lies in.
So right now, what we’re trying to do
is take our best practices,
the stuff that we know that works.
– Okay.
– And do that.
– Okay.
– Get rid of the stuff
that we know is not working
and try to figure out what we have to do
in order to make it all adhesive.
So for us, what we’re doing
is we’re leaning towards as a
city now long-term recovery.
– Okay.
– We want to have these
people so that they can go in,
have the best chance at
coming out everything.
And the way we do that is
through long-term treatment
with all services wrapped into one.
You cannot send somebody to rehab
and then send ’em back
to here 30 days from now.
– Yeah. Yeah.
– And say you’re recovered.
That’s it. Come on, man.
– It’s all good.
– Go get it. No.
– Take some suboxone.
– Right. Yeah.
No, you gotta have both.
They gotta have a place
to go. We need housing.
– And then you–
– We’re looking at that.
We’re gonna go–
– You can’t just have
housing, but no rehab.
– Right. Exactly.
It’s gotta be all in one.
It’s gotta be, you know, listen,
there’s a lot of great
groups, especially here.
– Yeah.
– An AA, an NA house right
around the corner, The Last Stop.
– Yeah.
– Adequately named.
You know what I mean?
And we need more of that, you know?
– Yeah.
– Third places.
The bottom line is that people get sober
from other alcoholics and
addicts, you know what I mean?
More than they would.
You learn at a rehab.
People have the wrong idea
about what a rehab actually is.
When they go into rehab,
they learn about what sent
them there in the first place,
the dopamine responses,
the chemical imbalances,
all them technical and stuff like that,
but where they really
learn how to be recovered.
My colleagues, none of them
are in recovery but me.
You know what I mean?
So they didn’t know what
recovery was at all.
When I explained to ’em that
for somebody in recovery,
a safe injection site is like
one of the number one things
we don’t do.
You do not enable another
person to get high.
That’s the number one thing.
We do not let and enable
somebody to get high.
That’s it. It’s easy.
Not that we don’t think that’s a way
of calming down the other
HIV and hepatitis part of it.
We just decided that we’re not
spending our money on that.
We’re not gonna spend
our money on something
that’s gonna help them to
enable them to get high.
– [Peter] Yeah.
– We’re gonna spend our money
on the treatment end of thing.
There’s plenty of money for them things,
but us as a city, we’re not paying for it.
– Yeah.
Sounds like a little common sense
is coming back into the mix.
– Right. Yeah.
– Yeah?
– We’re trying.
– Yeah. Cool.
– We’re trying, man, you know.
Thank God it didn’t take
us as long as it took
for San Francisco to
realize that it’s going out.
Washington, Washington state,
they decriminalized all drugs
and now the same people that did that
just reversed it on themselves.
You know, they actually came in and said,
“Wait a minute, we were up with this one.
It wasn’t right.”
And they reversed it and changed it back.
– Yeah. Okay.
– You know what I mean?
– So when do you think Kensington
will change the policies
so there’s no open-air drug usage?
– Well, we have, and it’s starting now.
We started with the information part,
just letting the addicts know
and the dealers down
the corner, “Yo, bro.”
– Yeah.
– You got a month.
After a month comes,
we’re arresting yous now.
It doesn’t matter.
– Okay.
So all these guys using
up the street here,
what’s gonna–
– Right.
They’re gonna start with the,
once the triage center and all is in,
they’ll be taken in front
of a community judge,
let’s say like a community court judge.
And they will be given the option.
You can either go through the
court process, go to jail,
or you can go to rehab right now, sign up,
no criminal record whatsoever.
Didn’t even happen when you get out.
When you get out, there’s no
record of it, never happened.
Because the bottom line
is we need these people
to be able to get jobs,
to become part of society.
– Yes.
If you have a felony record, that’s–
– If you have a felony record, it’s hard.
– Listen, I had it. I was there.
You know what I mean?
– Okay.
– It was only the fact
that I was in a union
and they gave me a lawyer and
I was able to plead the case
from aggravated to simple
that I’m actually even
allowed to be a counsel.
You know what I’m saying?
– That’s an awesome story.
– Right.
– Way to turn it around.
– Right.
We need to be able to give people a chance
to turn it around.
– What do you think
about faith-based rehab?
– Well, faith-based is always part of it.
I mean, a higher power.
Like we have a saying, you know,
a higher power helped me,
but I don’t give a what
that higher power is.
It could be your shoelace
for all I give a.
You know what I mean?
As long as you believe in
something greater than yourself,
doesn’t necessarily have to be God.
Could be your family,
could be something that
is greater than yourself,
something that you could put faith in
to look at and say, “This is why.”
– Yeah.
– You know.
– What’s up?
– Thank you.
– Train up a child in
the way they should go.
When they grow old, they
will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6.
Kid comes in like this,
he comes in all tough,
thinks he can fight,
gang banger, whatever.
– Right.
– You know what I mean?
A guy just thinks he can handle everybody.
And then he realizes, so
what we say (indistinct)
get your hands up like this, right?
– A lot of times what happens is…
– Here. You wanna hold this, Buddy?
– Yeah.
– Here you go. All right.
– This is the guy I was telling you about.
– How you doing?
– Nice haircut.
– Yeah, thank you. Yeah.
– He was the guy, 17
years old, he came to us
and now he’s 39, his son is 18,
he’s the number one in the world, his son.
And he beat everybody in–
– He won gold in Germany for
Team USA August last year.
– And then Romania, he won.
– Yeah, he won gold in Romania.
– So now he’s pro.
This Saturday will be his
third professional fight.
– [Peter] What’s his name?
– Johnny “Different Breed” Rivera.
– [Peter] What weight class?
– 140.
“Different Breed” because the Bible says
be a people of rare
breed, peculiar people.
So he’s different breed.
– So a kid will come in and
he’ll think he is the, you know,
the toughest kid around.
You know what I mean?
And next thing you know,
he realizes when we tell
him to get his hands up,
put your hands on the
side, get your chin down,
what’s he doing?
He’s listening to instructions
at that point in time
where normally he’s not
listening to his parent,
he’s not listening to the school teacher,
he is not listening to the police.
So when you’re coming in here,
you’re getting all kinda lessons
and you’re trained to listen.
Listen.
– [Instructor] Hit it.
Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit it.
– [Buddy] Andrew, this is Peter.
– How you doing, Andrew?
– Good, how you doing?
– [Peter] Nice to meet you.
– He was 10 years old when he came here.
He’s a second-year apprentice
with Local 98 electricians’ union.
When he finishes his, was it five years?
– Yeah, five-year program.
– He’ll have a college
degree right through there.
Now, this is a Kensington kid.
– Wow.
– You know what I’m saying?
– Life is a lot better now, honestly,
now that I had good mentors in my life
to set me up properly with finances.
– [Peter] Okay.
– Also like my career-wise and stuff.
And that’s what The Rock stand for
if you see the mission statement.
– Yeah.
– For pretty much the kids who
are at risk of falling victim
of the stuff that’s inside
of the neighborhood.
So The Rock is like broadening horizon
of the people’s minds.
Anytime they come in here,
they see that it’s more to life
than just what we see out on the streets.
– Yeah.
So how does it make you feel
walking down these streets in Kensington?
Have you gotten used to it?
Or every time you get
out of here, you’re like,
“Wow, what’s going on?
This is so…”
– You do become numb to it, to an extent.
– Yeah.
– But at the same time, what
you don’t notice is that
your body is still on high alert.
So you may become used
to being under pressure,
but you’re still under pressure.
(boy shouting)
– Get it, We. Get it, We.
Get it, We.
He came from Puerto Rico.
He didn’t speak one word of
English when he came here.
And he lives in our house
called Nehemiah House,
where he runs the house.
He desires to be a plumber.
So he’s gonna be going
into the plumber’s union.
It’s amazing what the Lord
has done in his life, though.
I mean, here’s a kid who
was out on the street.
He was 17 years old when
he paid $70,000 for a car.
– [Peter] How’d you do that?
– Working the street.
Yeah. Yeah.
– [Peter] How are things now?
– I would’ve never trade what
I’m at now for anything else.
This is what I have been
looking for my whole life,
just the peace of mind and just the joy
and just the confidence that
I had that I never had before.
You know?
– [Peter] It’s built your confidence?
– Oh, yeah. Just in who I am.
I mean, I come from a
place where what you have,
it determine who you are.
You know, just like the amount of money,
however you dress and what you
have determine your identity.
So all my life, you know,
selling drugs in the street
and just trying to have a nice car
and just trying to like dress nice
because I was not confident in who I was,
but then when I came to Christ,
I know my confidence on him.
So it’s different now. You know?
It’s like–
– How old are you?
– I’m 24 now. I just turned 24.
Yeah.
I always decided to be a
plumber since I was a kid.
I mean, I remember when
I was like six years old,
they cut the water off at my house.
So I used to go over to my friend’s house
to get a bucket of water so
I can go and take a shower.
So I was like, man, I
told my grandma, I said,
When I grow up, I’m gonna be a plumber
so if they ever cut the water,
I know how to put it back on.”
So since, you know, and ever since then,
I have like this desire to be a plumber
and I worked for a year
and a half doing it
and I just loved it.
I just love everything about it
and just working with my hands.
So, yeah.
– Now, look, when you take a look here,
these kids could be standing
on the block, you know?
– [Peter] Yeah.
– Moving rock, selling drugs.
And now they’re here at a
safe, this is a safe haven,
safe refuge for these kids.
And we have two of our coaches here,
Filipo, he came here
when he was a young kid.
And same way with James.
Now they’re both children,
fathers, married.
That building right next door here,
we will have every sport
you can imagine there.
– Can anyone in Kensington come in here?
– Anybody from the city of Philadelphia–
– Oh, sweet.
– Can come here.
Yeah, you can go.
And that’s why I love the
fact that we have the L
’cause they come from the
L too, believe it or not.
And they gotta walk through
that garbage, but…
– [Peter] Many girls
come here or not really?
– Oh, yeah. Girls too.
Yep. We have special nights for the girls.
Monday, it’s all girls.
– Monday’s all girls.
– Monday’s all girls. Yeah.
– [Peter] Okay.
– Go.
One, two, three.
All right, bring it back,
bring it back, bring it back.
Yeah.
Ready, set, go!
Come on, bring it back. Come on.
10.
– [Peter] Consignment shop.
– There’s not a homeless person
that can say that they never have clothes.
Here’s how it works.
When you want to get right,
you want to get well,
we’ll give you a shower.
No problem.
We’ll put clothes on their back
and then we’ll get ’em to a hospital.
We’ll get ’em to a detox.
We’ll get ’em to a treatment place.
– Has there ever been a time
when you can’t handle all the inflow?
– No.
– You’ve always been able to.
– So anyone out here can come in here.
– Anyone who can, listen.
If they don’t have anything,
we don’t charge anybody anything.
But if you have some,
it’s $1, $2, whatever,
’cause it helps.
And what we do with any funding,
it’s a benevolence fund.
And what we use, we use
it to get people to detox,
plane fares, bus fares.
Like every cent that comes from this tent,
that’s a benevolence fund.
(siren wailing)
Father God.
– Father God.
– I want to be saved.
– I want to be saved.
– Forgive me of all of my sins.
– Forgive me of all of my sins.
– Past.
– Past.
– Present.
– Present.
– Future.
– Future.
– Tonight.
– Tonight.
– On Kensington Avenue.
– On Kensington Avenue.
– I give you my life.
– I give you my life.
– Change my heart.
– Change my heart.
– Give me purpose.
– Give me purpose.
– And give me a future.
– And give me a future.
– All the days of my life.
– All the days of my life.
– In Jesus’ name I pray.
– In Jesus’ name I pray.
– And everybody says
amen. Guys, way to go.
Way to go. Way to go.
(group applauds)
Whew.
(laughs) All right.
Amen.
Congrats. Bub, listen to me.
You will never go wrong with that. Okay?
Walk with Jesus all the days of your life.
He has a purpose and a
plan for your life, man.
Train up a child the way they should go.
When they grow old, they
will not depart from it.
That’s the solution,
brother. That’s the solution.
– It’s crazy.
The kids gotta now walk
back through that situation.
– Let me ask you something.
I don’t know whether you’re
gonna put this on or not,
but Pete, is this fair
for our kids to see this?
– [Peter] No.
– [Buddy] And have to walk through this.
– Yeah.
So the kids come right out of
that positive environment–
– And right through this.
– [Peter] And they’re going
through this. This is terrible.
Oh, what a little oasis here.
– My man.
– It’s good to see you.
– Good to see you.
– This is my son, Rain.
– Nice to meet you.
– What’s your name?
– Rain.
– Rain? Oh, it’s good to meet you.
Love your dad.
– I do.
– I wouldn’t wanna fight
him, though, but I love him.
(laughs)
– I do too.
– That’s Casey.
He runs Impact Services,
which is an amazing–
– Oh, nice to meet you.
– Good to meet you, Peter.
This is my son, Rain.
– Nice to meet you.
– Nice to meet you.
– They do an amazing work.
Like remember I showed you a
factory? It was an old factory.
They turned it into apartments.
That’s what he does.
Oh, amazing.
– Cool.
– Amazing work they do.
– Oh, that looks beautiful.
– We love Casey.
– Now we eat tacos.
– Yeah, yeah.
– Take care.
All right.
– [Buddy] Look at that.
Oh, look at that. Oh, man.
That’s awesome.
– Whew, yeah.
– Wow.
– Look at that.
– That’s good.
– I am so surprised that this
is in Kensington, you know?
– Isn’t it amazing?
– Yeah.
– Yeah.
How is it?
Yeah?
Get the flavor down, bro.
– Proper palates.
– You got the cut. (laughs)
– You know that little crisp
on the shrimp, the taco,
you know, they can mess those up.
Perfect softness.
How long’s this place been here?
– A couple years now.
– Oh, thank you. Thank you.
– So maybe two years.
– Okay.
So there’s little glimmers of hope.
I mean, other than you
guys, obviously, but…
– Well, listen, those two
buildings that we purchased,
one’s gonna be a bakery/coffee shop,
right walking distance from here one day.
– [Peter] So how many kids
are going through The Rock?
Or how many kids have
gone through The Rock
in the history of The Rock?
– In 2015, we stopped counting.
It was approximately
13,000, something like that.
Kids would come through there.
– I love that you’re bringing
exercise into the mix,
like the physical outlet.
– Yeah.
– And just toughen.
I mean, is it fair to say
you’re toughening up the kids
or are they already toughened
up from their situation?
– Well, we’re not making ’em soft.
We’re just making ’em wiser.
Wiser.
– Okay.
– And sturdy.
– How many of those kids,
what percentage don’t have
two parents in the home?
– I would say probably
90%, and mainly the mom.
Many of the fathers are absent.
And that’s the basic, that’s
the whole concept of Rock,
how it started.
So The Rock was birthed from
the prison block, literally.
I said, “Who in here has
heard Jesus from your mom?”
A couple hands went up. There was 28 kids.
I says, “How many kids
have heard about Jesus
from your grandma?”
More hands went up.
“How many kids heard about
Jesus from your father?”
Not one hand went up,
and it infuriated me.
It infuriated me.
So I said to myself,
how can I be more
effective on a street block
as opposed to the prison block?
– [Peter] What is it that makes
the street life attractive?
Is it almost a necessity?
Like if they don’t do it,
they’re gonna have problems,
they’re going to get beat up?
Culturally you feel like
you have to be part of it?
What is it?
– Just the influence and the culture too.
And just thinking that some
of the thing that for me,
myself, when I was growing up,
I was just always looking at
the person who had a nice car
and the person who was dressing the best,
because that’s the person
that I thought had it all together.
So people growing up, that’s
all they see. You know?
They want to be in the circle.
– [Peter] So it’s a lot of
what’s on TikTok and Instagram, right?
– Yeah.
– Seeing–
– Oh, definitely a lot.
– [Peter] All the material
treasures out there.
– For sure.
– And wanting to emulate.
Okay. Would you agree with that?
– Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
You see it in our kids big time.
You see it in our kids big time.
They’re drawn to that fast life.
They’re drawn to those like,
those backdrops and all that stuff.
Like they’re drawn to it.
You can see it in them.
– And to be fair, it’s
exciting. They’re kids, right?
– Yeah.
– Don’t you wanna be part of like,
I used to jump the pool at
my, you know, town pool.
I used to jump the fence
and the cops would chase us.
It was fun, right? I mean–
– We tell the kids like,
we tell the kids all the
time, like sin is fun, right?
– Oh, it is fun.
– Sin is fun.
Like you have fun, but
then there’s consequences
that go with so much of it.
Like you do something
wrong and you’re sinning.
Like there’s consequences.
Like at some point in time,
you’re gonna get jammed up.
You’re gonna get caught up
’cause like it may start off as, you know,
just jumping in the pool
and then it like progresses
and then like for Alex, it’s
like, yeah, it was like, okay,
I wanted those shoes or I wanted that
or dress a certain way.
And then it’s like, but
then I gotta have that car
so then I need more money to
get that car and I gotta do,
you just go deeper and deeper
and deeper into the cycle
of just like to get those other things.
– So you can’t get the
car working at Subway,
so you gotta resort to
selling drugs, right?
– You don’t have to. You don’t have to.
You don’t have to do that.
But that’s sometimes the culture
that you’re living around.
– [Peter] Of course you don’t
have to, but that’s right.
Like you’re not gonna get the money
working at Subway sandwiches.
So that’s why you resort to drugs
and things that pay way more.
– Yes.
Well, see, one of the
things that we have here,
this is why we’re in the heart of it.
When you look at The Rock, we’re
in the heart of a war zone.
Many of these kids, they’re
faced with a bleak future.
But you saw those kids in
there today. That’s amazing.
– Yeah.
– That’s amazing.
– [Peter] A lot of ’em
were paying attention.
– Every one of ’em, not a lot of ’em.
– [Peter] They weren’t so restless.
– No, they were like, I was like,
they were concentrating.
They were focused on.
– So they’re craving for structure, right?
– They’re craving for the truth.
– The truth to be part
of something, right?
– Because here’s what the Bible says.
When you know the truth, it sets you free.
And when you’re free, you’re free indeed.
They’re craving for truth
because they don’t get it on the block.
Look what we come out to.
– What a contrast.
You know what?
My one goal, well, there are
many goals for this video,
but one is in 10 years,
everyone looks back and like,
“Remember when it was like
that? That was crazy.”
That’s the goal.
– Something’s gonna happen
and it’s never happened in
the history of Philadelphia.
We have Rock the Block
and usually goes from
Lehigh to right here.
We have from Lehigh all the
way to Allegheny Avenue,
Rock the Block.
Nobody will be here but all
for the kids and it’s gonna be,
The Rock is sanctioned.
– Okay, well–
– Bless you, man.
– Yeah.
– Give me a hug.
– Yeah.
– Appreciate you, man.
– That was awesome.
– That was good.
– And I know you’re not
asking for anything,
but I want people to know, guys,
if you want to give to The
Rock or be part of The Rock
or go to The Rock, you’re on the streets
and you need some hope in
a positive environment,
hang out with these great guys,
then that link is down
below in the description.
Anything else, Buddy, you want to say?
– Never give up on Jesus. He never fails.
– All right, thank you, Buddy.
– God bless you, man.
– That was awesome.
Thanks, guys, for coming on that journey.
Until the next one.
(soft music)

If you’re interested in more content from around the WORLD visit these links below:

Be the first to see the next video