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

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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 a former List of mayors of Philadelphia, Mayor of Philadelphia and the first African Americans, African American to hold that office. He served from 1984 to 1992, a period which included the c ...

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

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

. He often faced death threats; he was not only fearless, he once taunted the drug dealers to come get him while he worked cleaning a street comer park. They didn't. He put up "Wanted" posters with pictures of the Dealer of the Week. Herman's methods were adopted by other communities in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. 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 (had) thought the police were the enemy — and the dealers loved it." Wrice died of a heart attack on March 10, 2000.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrice, Herman 1939 births 2000 deaths American activists Law enforcement in the United States