Wali “Diop” Rahman became a candidate for Philadelphia Mayor in August.
Rahman is President of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement in Philadelphia. He came to Philadelphia about ten years ago to work with the Uhuru movement as a community organizer. The local office now doubles as his campaign office.
He answered questions about his platform on a Special Edition of NBC10 @ Isssue with Steve Highsmith.
The 34 year old Rahman has at the center of his platform for office as a plan to focus city finances to advance economic development in Philadelphia neighborhoods. Rahman believes the money can be found by cutting what is spent to build prisons and pay for the city police force.
Among the current practices and policies Rahman would like to see end are ‘stop and frisk’ and the city curfew for teens. He believes they unfairly target harm the city’s black and Latino communities.
Here are his answers to issues ranging from economic opportunity to education to what Rahman calls the city’s policy of “police containment.”