Annette John-Hall: Confessions of a former flash-mobber

I'm ashamed to admit it. But considering the events of late, I feel I have to fully cop to my own dubious transgression.

I was a teenage flash-mobber.

No, I'm not proud of it. And it goes without saying I wouldn't condone it for my children. But back then, as they do with most teens, emotions - not common sense - informed my decision-making.

So if there was the slightest chance there'd be a gathering fueled by adolescent indignation (or ignorance), not only was I there, I was right in the middle of it.

The pack of interlopers who'd bum-rush parties totally uninvited? That was me.

The loudest agitator in a spur-of-the-moment protest, at school or in the streets? Uh, that would be me.

Sad to say, I even started a flash mob in high school when I invited friends - and strangers - to a party at my house after our team's state basketball tournament win. Problem was, my parents knew nothing about it.

The masses arrived and milled around on our lawn for what seemed like years before my mother finally gave her approval.

Thank God she did, because my house could have easily been turned into a place to flash fight, even though we only wanted to dance to "Flash Light."

These days, the term flash mob seems as amorphous as a flash mob itself.

Modern-day flash-mobbers usually flock to specific public places to do something creative. In Sweden, they busted a move in a train station to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." A couple of years ago at Grand Central Station, 200 mobbers froze for five minutes on the grand concourse. Heck, when Oprah celebrated her 24th anniversary in Chicago, thousands of flash-mobbers converged on the Magnificent Mile and danced to the Black Eyed Peas.

In most cases, flash-mobbers are summoned through texts, tweets, or IMs or from friends' Facebook status updates.

Which was how teens knew to go to South Street on a spectacular spring evening Saturday, said Rashida Ali-Campbell, founder of LoveLovingLove Inc., a grassroots group that serves disadvantaged youths in Philadelphia. Some of her student clients shared their Twitter accounts with her.

Come to South Street and South Street is poppin, they tweeted.

Ali-Campbell said the kids had told her that as the evening progressed, the tweets got more specific: There's a lot of girls at Barefeet Shoes.

"It started to escalate when some people saw the opportunity to be anonymous in a crowd in case they wanted to start trouble," she said.

Problem was, too many kids arrived for the street - and the cops - to handle. And once they arrived, then what?

Which is the problem. They came with nothing to do. And it takes only a few random troublemakers to endanger everyone - including the flash-mobbers themselves.

Bravo to Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey for striking the right tone.

While he pointed out that most of the flash-mobbers who went to South Street last weekend were good kids, he had no problem taking a tough stance and saying what needed to be said.

He chastised parents for their lack of responsibility for their children.

"Why don't you try sitting down and spending some time with them instead of throwing them in front of the TV or out on the streets to find something to do?" a disgusted Ramsey said this week. "I mean, you had 'em. You raise 'em. You take care of 'em."

Which could have averted what went down on South Street, where scuffles broke out and some businesses closed. Or could have prevented last month's unruliness in Center City, which led to 15 arrests after hundreds of students converged downtown. The ones who were up to no good broke off and assaulted pedestrians, while others ran roughshod through Macy's, knocking over displays and shoppers.

Ramsey also warned kids that by the time they land in police custody, it's already too late.

Here's the thing with flash mobs: They usually show up with something to do - and that something doesn't include violence and mayhem.

Imagine if kids gathered en masse to do a community cleanup, or pass out flowers. Even do the electric slide.

Talk about being seen.

The point is to do something positive and eye-catching, memorable for its innovation and not its destruction.

I'm hoping that more and more concerned parents will make their presence felt, like the ones who tipped off the cops a few days ago with their own texts.

They're the ones who know that a bad decision can turn into a lifelong consequence in a flash.