By Vernon Clark for The Inquirer, Published on Philly.com
Wed August 20 2014

For Anton Moore, engaging people through social media, word of mouth, and street-corner conversation has been a way of building bridges between people and communities.

Concerned about violence this year between young men in his South Philadelphia community and those of Southwest Philadelphia, Moore, 28, thought of bridges.

“What I wanted to do was open the dialogue up,” Moore said last week, “to bring leaders together to build a rapport and get on a first-name basis so that we could work together.”

Using social media, fliers, and word on the street, Moore and Southwest Philadelphia activists Mont Brown and Rasheen Crews went to work.

Though clashes between young people from South and Southwest Philadelphia have been known to take place for decades, police said they had no recent reports of increased violence between the two communities this year.

State Rep. Jordan Harris of South Philadelphia said he has known Moore for many years.

“The work that he does is important because he engages young people and meets them exactly where they are,” he said. “He provides them with a positive message that they need to hear.”

Asked why he got involved in antiviolence efforts, Moore said: “When you see African Americans killing one another in the street, you just can’t stand back and allow it to happen.”

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