SOCIAL JUSTICE

Teen-led demonstration outside the City-County Building turns into a march through downtown Pittsburgh

By |

About 200 people took to the street Saturday afternoon in front of the City-County Building Downtown for a protest organized by Black, Young and Educated that turned into a march by the evening. 

The event continued the daily string of protests that has gone on for three weeks in Pittsburgh following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody in Minneapolis. 

This demonstration is part of the Civil Saturday series of protests from BYE, an activist group made up of local teenagers. Much of the day’s demonstration focused on Black transgender people and Black intersectionality. 

Nick Anglin, 18, read the names of every Black trans woman killed in 2020, followed by a 16-minute moment of silence — one minute for each name read. 

Local activist and rapper Jasiri X spoke at the event, focusing on reading, explaining and rallying the crowd behind the list of 12 demands The Allegheny County Black Activist/Organizer Collective presented to Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald this week; the list includes calls to defund police, disband private police departments and end cash bail. Jasiri X referenced the City-County Building lighting up green, red and yellow in honor of Juneteenth when he explained he wants to see concrete policy change. 

“We’ve had enough symbols,” he said. “We need some substance.”

Much of the event was spent doing organized chants. A few times, those with megaphones would instruct each side of the crowd to chant separate, related phrases.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Dozens march in Homewood to support Black communities

By |

Led by a group of mothers who have lost loved ones to violence, more than 100 individuals gathered Saturday in Homewood for a march in support of local Black communities. 

“Today, we’re being accountable for Homewood killing Homewood, and the healing that will be done by taking a hard line, looking in the mirror, and saying, ‘enough is enough,’” Dina Blackwell, one of the event’s organizers, said to the crowd before the march. 

The demonstrators gathered outside of Westinghouse High School Saturday morning and marched into the afternoon to House of Manna, where food was served for the crowd. 

Blackwell and others referenced Sean Reese, a 34-year-old man who died in a shooting in Homewood late last month, when discussing the purpose of this march. They also spoke about George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland and other unarmed Black people who have been killed across the country, but the focus of this demonstration was the violence in Black communities such as Homewood. 

Carol Speaks, founder of Liberation Ukombozi, a group against mass incarceration, and a Homewood resident who has had loved ones killed, helped organize the march. 

“We got people that grew up together, you kill your best friend who you slept in the crib with and ate with every day,” Speaks said. “We need this to stop. How can we get control of the police brutality when we being brutal to ourselves?” 

Wynona Hawkins-Harper, another organizer and founder of JAMAR Place of Peace, lost her son Jamar Hawkins in a shooting in Penn Hills. “We are constantly sitting back, watching this Black on Black death, but we are not doing anything to correct our behavior to save our children’s life,” she said.

(Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)

Governor addresses weekend protests across the state

By |

Gov. Tom Wolf affirmed the concerns of the protestors across Pennsylvania responding to the killing of George Floyd and encouraged them to act peacefully on Sunday. “I urge every one of these demonstrations to be peaceful. I urge everyone to have respect for the communities and our neighbors,” Wolf said in a press conference. “And I urge all of us to continue to call out injustice. We should be doing that.” 

Throughout the day Saturday, protestors took to the streets not just in Minneapolis, the site of Floyd’s killing, but across the country.

COVID-19
On Forbes Avenue in Oakland, a person wearing a face mask exits a Port Authority bus adorned with the message 'Stay Home, Save Lives'. (Photo by Kimberly Rowen/PublicSource)

Ridership down, cleaning costs up, Port Authority navigates financial hurdles of COVID-19

By |

As the COVID-19 pandemic has eviscerated transit ridership around the country, it’s left many concerned about the financial health of transit agencies. The Port Authority of Allegheny County says it has lost 75% to 80% of its ridership. Though the agency recently began to restore some of its service to normal levels as the county begins to reopen its businesses, the Port Authority is also concerned about what the future holds.

DEVELOP PGH
Pittsburgh resident paying bus fair before riding (Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)

Kansas City embraced free transit. Here’s what the fare-free debate looks like in Allegheny County.

By |

Across the country, activists and lawmakers have begun to discuss a radically different approach to making public transit accessible to residents: making it universally free to use. This discussion is also happening in Allegheny County, where public transit advocates hope for fares to be eliminated within 10 years. PublicSource has collected answers to key questions to help area residents understand the pros and cons and how Pittsburgh compares to other cities.

HEALTH

Nine years after the Affordable Care Act, these Pennsylvanians struggle to afford health insurance

By |

The Affordable Care Act [ACA], a 9-year-old overhaul to the U.S. health care system, is intended to make health insurance accessible for everyone by expanding Medicaid and making insurance easier for individuals to buy without an employer. Since its passage and a 2015 expansion of Medicaid, Pennsylvania saw big jumps in the percentage of residents covered by insurance. But there are significant gaps.