Our elected leaders must meet with victims’ families. It’s what they signed on for.

Since Jim Kenney became mayor, more than 3,000 people have been murdered in Philadelphia, mostly from gun violence. As I write this, more than 150 people have been killed so far in 2023.

Now that we’ve chosen our likely next mayor — Cherelle Parker — I wonder if she has enough courage to commit to doing something her predecessor was reluctant to do. A quote from Mayor Kenney will underscore my point.

“I’ve never met with any families in almost seven years in that regard,” Kenney said in 2022. “I’ve met with some children who have been shot — little babies who have been shot in cross fire — I’ve met with their families. But it’s not something that I’ve done from the time that I’ve started being mayor. I don’t know if any mayor has done that.”

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Actually, Kenney’s three immediate predecessors said they met with the families of murder victims. Of course, it’s impossible to sit down with all grieving families, but those three mayors saw how important it was to try. They knew it was important to remind those families that our leaders cared.

That’s not easy. When I was a crime reporter for the Philadelphia Tribune, I saw firsthand the devastation of gun violence. I sat in the living rooms of victims’ families listening to their grief, sometimes crying with them. It was stressful. It was heart-wrenching. I can understand why the mayor hasn’t visited with victims’ families, but that does not excuse him. Because it’s what he signed on for when he was elected.

It’s part of the responsibility all our elected leaders accepted when they took their oaths of office.

This subject came up during a recent interview I had with City Councilmember Cindy Bass on the abominable gun violence that has engulfed our city, and she said reaching out to those suffering families “comforts them and lets them know someone cares.”

She does it, Councilmember Bass said: “As someone who has visited a number of families and attended funerals, I don’t see how you can do this job and not connect to people who are hurting.”

Now I’ve been a registered Democrat since I was 18, and God help me, I’m saddened by the way the city is being run by Democrats. It gives me no pleasure or joy to say it, but when people are being shot to death every day — every single day — the most our elected leaders can offer in the way of help is more and more tax dollars being poured into anti-violence programs of questionable efficacy.

I’m saddened by the way the city is being run by Democrats.

Frankly, I’m considering switching over to the Republicans. I’m pretty conservative in my views and too much of a freethinker to go along with many progressive Democratic policies. I think some of those policies have contributed to the rampant gun violence on our streets, policies that look away from our nation’s Constitution.

In the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, the founders talk about the importance of promoting “domestic tranquility” and general welfare. I think this is especially important in hopeless times.

And we’re in pretty hopeless times right now. Far too many of our elected leaders appear to be either too disinterested, too disengaged, too distanced, or too uncaring about the state of the people who elected them to office.

Again, they have a duty to promote general welfare and, like it or not, that includes letting them know, sometimes without cameras and the press hovering around, that they’re not alone in their suffering.

When elected leaders meet with these families, it shows:

I’m not a fan of President Joe Biden, but he shows up: He met with the families of the victims of the Monterey Park, Calif., shooting, and with those crushed by the Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y., shootings. Those meetings had more to do with pushing national gun control and, in the case of the Buffalo shooting, a chance to expound on racial issues rather than offering comfort, but Biden did see those families face to face.

I think that sense of hopelessness is a huge reason why the city sees such low voter turnout in elections. People have lost confidence in those needling them for their votes. They don’t believe many of those aspiring for public office care about their grief and pain and tears. They need to know those aspirants aren’t too disinterested, too distanced, and too uncaring to take the time and fill their lives with hope in otherwise hopeless times.

I hope our next mayor isn’t too busy shouting into bullhorns or offering “thoughts and prayers” to do that.

Larry Miller is a former special projects manager for Ceisler Media and Issue Advocacy. Before that, he was the police reporter for the Philadelphia Tribune. He is a lifelong resident of Philadelphia.