Nutter, 13 other mayors meet for Cities United conference

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The protests in Baltimore were a part of the discussion Wednesday at a conference between Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and 13 other mayors from across the U.S.

The 2nd annual "Cities United" meeting focused on reducing the violence that kills 13 African American men and boys every 24 hours.

Mayor Nutter is a co-founder of the event. It's a conference of mayor and hundreds of leaders from nearly 60 cities.

They are all trying to reduce the violence plaguing African American men and boys across the nation.

"What we should be talking about is the comprehensive jobs and training programs for these young people to cut down on even the prospect of what we've been seeing in Baltimore from taking place," said Mayor Nutter.

The topic of one of the major first day sessions: "Why race matters?" featuring experts from around the country weighing in.

"We are still a very separate and unequal nation," said William C. Bell, Casey Family Programs.

The three day gathering was in the works long before anyone knew it would be a time escalating crisis of violence between police and black males.

The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri says there is really nothing new about what touched off the conflicts from Baltimore to Ferguson, Missouri.

"The problem is an old problem. It's a matter of distrust, it's a matter of, in a lot of instances, police officers who are not well trained, police officers that are not representative of the whole. Most police officers work their tail off to do a very good job," said Mayor Sylvester James Jr.

Much time, research and deep thought will continue to go into trying to cut the rate of black on black violence and conflict with police in the African-American community.