When you talk about T. Milton Street, it’s hard not to remember his brother John’s storied tenure as Mayor of Philadelphia. We will always remember when young Councilman John Street socked Franny Rafferty on the floor of City Council. If you follow Philly politics, then you know Milton also likes to defy his critics and toss his hat in races most people believe he has no business running in.

There’s no denying the Streets have had their share of legal issues. Most Philadelphians will remember Mayor Street’s office was bugged by the FBI and Milton has served time for allegedly not paying taxes on $3 million.  An article published on philly.com in April 2014, says Street served 26 months in federal prison for a tax evasion.

Milton Street most recently shook up the mayoral race last year when he entered as a Democrat. Now he’s decided to enter 2nd Congressional District race as an Independent, and he says he’s done with the one party system in this city. According to Street, he wanted to run as a Republican. But whether it’s Republican or Democrat in office, Street believes the Democrat dominated system that currently exists in Philadelphia will always fail.

Street announced his campaign yesterday in a 13 minute Youtube video.

The video outlines his belief that violence is fundamentally the root cause of all Philadelphia’s problems, both socially and economically. He touts his 414 Community Movement plan, which calls for the hiring of 5,000 city employed outreach workers at a salary of $15,000 per year. He also calls on the black community to take responsibility for the crime committed by black people.

Spirit News watched the video of the 75-year-old-former-food-cart-vendor-turned-political-rabble-rouser, and contacted Street to give him the chance to elaborate on why he’s running for US Congress in his own words.

Spirit News: You and your brother were food truck guys right?

MS: Yes

Spirit News: How did that experience shape you as a politician?

MS: I got in politics because of my vending experience at Temple University. The vendors that were there tried to force me out. It was at that point that John and I stood on the corner of 13th and Montgomery, I’ll never forget it. We had a discussion. John said, “look man, we need two things in the family. We need a lawyer and a politician. Without a lawyer and a politician, we’re not gonna go anywhere.” So we decided well you [John Street] go to law school and I’ll start into politics.

Spirit News: So, why are you running as a Republican?

MS: Smart politicians would really be excited [by] the fact that I’m getting in the race and wanted to run as a Republican.

The Democrats have been running Philadelphia for 64 years. If you look across this country, where there’s the highest crime, it’s in cities with one party systems. You have Newark, NJ, had Democrats for 109 years, Milwaukee 108 years, Chicago 55 years. Those are the cities with the highest amount of crime.

People get mad because there’s no accountability, there’s no pressure on them to do anything. When you have a one party system once a person’s elected, they don’t really have to do anything. If they tell you to get lost you have no alternative.

The 414 Community Movement is to stop the violence, which I presented to the Democrats since 2007 when I ran for council, then again in 2011 I ran for mayor and talked about it. In 2015 I ran for mayor again, understanding during all those times that I wasn’t going to be Mayor of Philadelphia. But this issue has to be kept alive. You can’t bring it up in one election and then go away. That’s why I got in the race.

If you have a two party system and say I’m in it, I’m going to bring in Toomey and [Pennsylvania State Senator John] Rafferty and the other elected officials on the Republican side. That gives the Democrats an opportunity to run to Hillary Clinton, and say look, you gotta do something for us.

Hillary Clinton is raising money now to win the presidency, but the only thing they’re going to do with the black community is spend money to get them to the polls. We don’t put the value on our vote at election time, and demand from these politicians that they be accountable and follow through on their promises.

Spirit News: Why do you think you’re more suited than [other 2nd Congressional District candidates] to take that position?

MS: It’s not only that I’m more suited. I don’t want to get into a Street, Jones, Evans thing, I’m asking the community to support a plan. The community is in such dire need of a plan that’s going to pull them out of this quicksand, this quagmire they’re in. So I say to Evans (D) and Jones (R), where’s your plan? If you don’t like my plan, come up with a better one! It starts competition.

My plan as I explained it is, you can’t get anyone to invest in a high crime area. You have to attack the violence, because that gets your community investment ready. The next problem is because of our educational system, there’s not a productive workforce available. That puts us in a position where we have to encourage businesses that have a need for entry level people.

My plan is a 5 year plan: We will create jobs and will save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you can’t get the voters to single in on a plan, then it becomes a boxing match. It’s about a plan that’s going to bring life liberty and the pursuit of happiness to those people who live in that 2nd congressional district. If you have a better plan than I have, I might get out and support your plan, but I haven’t seen a plan!

Spirit News: I like your plan with the city hiring 5,000 people to help stop violence.

MS: If you hire 5,000 people, and start them at $15,000, it would cost $75 million. If we put 5,000 people in jail, at $40,000 per year, that’s $200 million.

Spirit News: The thing that worries me is that the House is Republican controlled, and your plan is basically expanding the government. That’s going to be the GOP argument. Do you think you’ll be able to get past that?

MS: I don’t know why you would come to that conclusion. Republicans are fiscal conservatives. The savings is on the taxpayers side. If we do something and go to prevention and not prison then maybe we can get away with $15,000 – 18,000 per person. When you have an inadequate school system that graduates functional illiterates, then you have a whole community of entry level people. If those people can’t find work then they’re going to commit crime.

The question I ask myself is, I’m not a bad person, I’m not trying to hurt the community, so why are the politicians attacking me. I’m trying to help the community. I’m not saying you don’t deserve to be on the ticket, you don’t deserve to run. I’m trying to help people! Embrace the plan!

Spirit News: In the video, I really felt like you were talking directly to the African American community. Why do you think it’s important for this community to take responsibility for what’s happening in their neighborhoods?

MS: They have to make their children take responsibility. Clean your room. Wash your clothes. Do your homework. The black community has to stand up and take responsibility for crimes that are being done by black people.

The point is 95 percent of the black community are good, god-fearing people. The five percent, we have allowed to define who we are. When a black person commits a crime, it’s not a poor black person, or poor black trash, it’s a black person.

What [City Commissioner] Anthony Clark has done is detrimental to the entire Philadelphia black community. A lot of democratic ward leaders would endorse him after he was in office, didn’t go to work, didn’t vote, why would you endorse him. After he’ll get in the DROP program and get $500,000 for doing nothing. You put gas in the car, insurance in the car and he doesn’t go to work. That will make an indelible impression upon people who aren’t black and in powerful positions.   

Spirit News: How will you ensure that your office accountable for its actions, and that corruption is not an issue there?

MS: Well there’s not going to be an issue for me because I’m not going to be there long. My age, although I’m in very good health, puts me in a situation where I’m not looking for longevity in Washington. My New Year’s resolution was that I was going to do everything possible to address this violence situation. I have such a passion for kids. A 3-year-old child shot dead getting her hair combed is reprehensible. Come on man, why should we have to live like this?

Life in the black community has no value. It can’t have value if we’re going to kill people, and kill people, and when a white person kills somebody, we run around, Black Lives Matter, but black people kill black people every day but we say nothing. Until black people stop killing black people, black people stop destroying property, black people stop allowing their kids to disrupt classrooms, then black lives won’t matter. Saying black lives matter is just something to say. Black people have to put themselves in the position where the funding sources believe their lives matter, because of their behavior.