The American Mind

Re-writing the history books

William Hillman

(11/2019) In the City of Brotherly Love, on the steps of the municipal building, is a statue of the larger than life man Frank Rizzo.

Last week, my son walked into my office and his eyes were drawn to a thick biography of Frank Rizzo. "We just read about him in school," he said. "He was a racist and they are going to pull down his statue."

"Interesting", I responded. "How was he a racist? What did this article say about Rizzo?"

"Just that he hated Black people".

Frank Rizzo grew up in South Philadelphia, the son of Italian immigrants. Frank was a high school dropout who stumbled from job to job. He was known in the neighborhood for being a protector. When bullies flexed their muscles, Frank was the guy who put them in their place. Like his father, Rizzo became a beat cop. On cold and rainy days cops where known to "hide" while on beat, but not Rizzo. His dedication did not go unnoticed and he soon rose in rank. Frank Rizzo became Chief of Police in the 1960’s and eventually a two term Mayor of this city in the 1970’s.

Critics point to Rizzo rounding up and arresting the Black Panthers as evidence that he was racist. Somehow it is forgotten that at the same time the Pagans came to town to start a race war. Rizzo rounded up the Pagans and brought in frontend loaders and dump trucks. All their motorcycles were loaded into the back of dump trucks, driven across the bridge into New Jersey and dumped into one big mangled pile. Except for the gang leaders who were held in jail, the Pagans were released next to their pile of bikes. Rizzo stood on top of the dump truck with a bull horn and explained to the Pagans exactly what would happen to them if they ever set foot back in Philadelphia."

In 1978, a Black separative fringe group calling itself "MOVE" terrorized the Powelton section of the city.. After a year of negotiating with the group, a court order was issued to demolish their bunkered, rat-infested house. During the several hour standoff that followed, one officer was killed and two were wounded. When the MOVE members were finally forced from their bunker, the news cameras caught the Philadelphia Police hitting and beating the members. This film would be used against Rizzo. Several Police officers were disciplined and fired for this action.

In 1985, Mayor Wilson Goode, confronted MOVE again this time on Osage Avenue. The city dropped a bomb on the MOVE headquarters, causing 11 people including 5 children to burn to death. Three blocks were burned and 250 people were left homeless. No one was ever charged for those deaths or destruction of a city neighborhood.

I grew up outside of Philadelphia when Rizzo was Major. I was cutting my political teeth as Rizzo was making his comeback. Both Republican and Democrat machines feared him. He made it clear he had one political loyalty - the citizens of the city.

He was a Democrat Mayor but became close friends with Richard Nixon. This relationship allowed him to bring in urban development money to the city which helped the poorest neighborhoods.

Rizzo did not get along with Jimmy Carter. The feeling was mutual. As President, Carter targeted Rizzo and Philadelphia by draining government jobs and cutting federal assistance to the city. Of major impact was the loss of tens of thousands of jobs when the Frankford Armory was moved South and projects destined for the Navy yard were redirected to shipyards in the south.

Rizzo was a populist. He was neither controlled by the Democrat machine nor the Republicans. The Democrats, lead by Joseph Clark and Richard Dilworth, started winning power in the city and took over City Hall. Clark (who became Mayor) kept promoting Rizzo up the ranks as he cleaned house, removed corruption, and restored order in the streets. Many argue that Rizzo’s popularity built the Democrat party in the city.

Years later Rizzo came close to destroying the Democrat party when he switched to Republican and much of the Black vote came with him.

There is a lot that Rizzo can be criticized for. He was heavy handed. He over-protected his police which lead to corruption. Many of his methods were unethical and possibly illegal. By no means was the man a saint. But the one thing the citizens of Philadelphia knew was that he had their back and he loved the city.

In 1971, his Democrat primary opponents used the media to brand him a racist in an attempt to chip away at the support he had in the Black community. Mostly what it did was corrupt the poll numbers. In the Democrat primary, the election day polls had his opponent, Bill Green, beating Rizzo by an expected huge margin of 20,000 votes. By the end of Election Day, Green’s pollster would learn what happens when voters feel a candidate has been labeled unjustly. The voters lie to the polls.

In the 1971 campaign Rizzo only won one of the 17 Black wards in the city. Even though he won the election he was devastated by this news.

Twenty years later, Rizzo would run again for Mayor. He won support from John and Milton Street. Both were civil rights leaders in the city. John was a labor leader and outspoken member of the city council. Milton was a state Representative and Senator. Last year I had dinner with Milton Street when Frank Rizzo came up in conversation. Milton described how they would fight with each other and were rarely on the same sides of an issue. But there was never any question Rizzo loved his city and its people. Former Mayor Wilson Goode, the first Black mayor of the city, described Rizzo as a fundamentally good man who wanted to unite people and was definitely not a racist.

In the 1991 primary, Rizzo defeated the hand-picked Republican candidate Ron Castille. As a Republican, running against Ed Rendell, Rizzo received the support and backing of Black journalists. Local 33, the largest predominately Black union in the city, backed Rizzo. One-time opponent John Street and the ministers of the largest Baptist churches all lined up behind Frank. Rizzo was ahead. He was on an historic path to defeat Ed Rendell and singlehandedly change the political landscape of not just Philadelphia, but all of Pennsylvania. On July 16th Frank Rizzo died in his office. The Republican party bosses replaced him on the ballot with a crony. Ed Rendell would go on to win that election but received less votes in the general election than Frank Rizzo received in the primary. The Black voters stayed home.

Cornel Harley, a black ward leader, summed it up. "Rizzo could be heavy handed with everyone. He didn’t care if you were Black, Irish, Italian or what you were. If you kept your nose clean, he would do everything he could to help you out, and if you stepped out of line, he would kick your ass. While other cities were burning and having race riots, none of that shit happened in Philly. Rizzo kept order for everyone."

Today we paint with broad brushes. Was Frank Rizzo a racist? Only God knowns the insides of a man’s soul. He was a flawed man. But we are all flawed. Today those who re-write the history books have won the day. Frank Rizzo’s legacy is nothing more than one word. Soon his statue will come down.