An example of how the media is perpetuating this misconception can be seen in Jennifer Percy’s New York Times article: ‘“They call this the Badlands,” Elvis Campos, 47, said about Kensington. “Good people are held hostage in their homes.”’ The wording demonizes those suffering from the negative impacts of the opioid epidemic as perpetrators forcing the ‘innocent’ non-addicts to remain in their homes, rather than describing addicts as individuals in need of help.
Additionally, Patricia Medej in her article in The Philadelphia Inquirer further addresses the stigma of the label ‘Badlands’ when she writes: “Although the word has become media shorthand for the Fairhill and West Kensington neighborhoods of North Philadelphia, it is seen as pejorative and condemnatory by many people who live in those areas and work toward their rebirth. It may be used in quotations but is to be avoided otherwise” (Medej)