Letters: Ubiñas should focus on slayings in Philly, not in Baton Rouge

IN HER COLUMN on Thursday, "We've Seen Bitter Days," Helen Ubinas said it right. Her words are an example of what's wrong with society.

I read: "I had returned from vacation ready to write a column about 16-year-old Asir Brown, gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Grays Ferry on July Fourth weekend.

"But then I turned to one of the televisions in the newsroom and watched the emotional news conference outside Baton Rouge city hall, and there he was . . . "

And so, you made the decision to chalk up Brown's tragic death and completely ignore it, and write instead about Alton Sterling, the 37-year-old CD street vendor who was shot and killed by police in Baton Rouge, La.

Once again, you are trying to divide.

Both deaths are tragic. Damn, any death is tragic, but why am I (a Philadelphian) being force-fed a story about something that happened 1,200 miles away, when it happens every day right here, though there is one difference - did you forget that six children under the age of 18 years old have been gunned down right here in Philly since Jan 1?

I'm sure if you go across the country, that number will triple, if not quadruple, but since it wasn't a cop who did it, it's not newsworthy, right?

Yes, what happened to Sterling was tragic; he's dead and we can't do anything about that, but what about Asir? Can we change what happened to him? And that seems to be happening more and more every day right in our backyards, but again, since a cop didn't do it ,who cares?

She should put effort forth into writing about the bigger problem that seems to be taking more and more innocent lives right here in Killadelphia, and stop worrying so much about what the police do, because, the last time I checked, the number of police-related deaths compared with random shootings isn't even close.

I turned on the television Wednesday night, just like every other night, and to my surprise, I saw a protest that caused traffic issues right here in Center City, but it was for the Baton Rouge shooting.

I never recalled any type of protest, march or any such thing for the shooting deaths of one of the many teenagers who have been gunned down in Philadelphia in the past few months.

Why is that? Ubinas should have an answer.

Instead of calling for justice and putting effort into finding the knuckleheads we don't know who seem to be riding around Philly, shooting and killing innocent children, her main concern is to bring police officers we already know, to justice.

Maybe Ubinas can write about assisting the local police with finding Brown's killers, or how to be a good witness - something like that helps everyone and doesn't take sides.

To me Brown's death and Sterling's death seem to be equal. So why not treat them as such?

Andrew J. Dankanich

Philadelphia