Herman Wrice (1939–2000) was a renowned community organizer in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and inventor of the Wrice Process method of direct action, whereby neighbors directly confront street-level drug dealers in their communities. In 1988, Herman organized Mantua Against Drugs (MAD). In a white hard-hat, provided by Mayor

Wilson Goode Woodrow Wilson Goode Sr. (born August 19, 1938) is an American politician and former Mayor of Philadelphia and the first African American to hold that office. He served from 1984 to 1992, a period which included the controversial MOVE police a ...

, Herman began the demolition of crack houses and led marches against drug dealers who operated freely on street corners in

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

. He often faced death threats. Once, he fearlessly taunted drug dealers to follow up on their threats while he worked cleaning a street park. He put up "Wanted" posters with pictures of the Dealer of the Week. Herman's methods were adopted by other communities in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. His message: "Stand up to them and they’ll leave." Philadelphia police took notice and began helping Herman. Soon communities saw that the police were there to help get rid of dealers. Herman observed, "Communities adthought the police were the enemy — and the dealers loved it." Wrice died of a heart attack on March 10, 2000.

References

1939 births 2000 deaths American activists Law enforcement in the United States {{US-activist-stub