In memoriam: Building-collapse victims Anne Bryan, Roseline Conteh, Borbor Davis, Kimberly Finnegan, Juanita Harmon and Mary Simpson
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
One measure of a tragedy is the lack of specificity later needed to refer to the event. In Philadelphia, you only need say “The Building Collapse” to evoke the botched demolition that led to the deaths of six innocent people on June 5. Those whose actions brought the walls of 2138 Market St. crashing down on the unsuspecting patrons and workers of a neighboring Salvation Army thrift store would just as soon have that event fade into the collective subconscious. But those toppling walls took with them many Philadelphians’ expectations of rudimentary public safety and left, in its place, a kind of fear. The names Anne Bryan, Roseline Conteh, Borbor Davis, Kimberly Finnegan, Juanita Harmon and Mary Simpson may recede from memory, but the flash of fear and empathy everyone felt when they imagined themselves in the shoes of those victims will fade much more slowly.
