PublicSource | News for a better Pittsburgh (https://www.publicsource.org/category/social-justice/)
Solitary confinement can affect brain activity within hours. People who experience the isolation can deteriorate and, especially for those with mental illness, the effects can be profound and even irreversible.
Community development guru Alan Mallach points to the rise of “eds and meds” and the influx of young, educated professionals into urban areas as major trends that have transformed Pittsburgh and other American cities over the last two decades, bringing investment and jobs to many declining neighborhoods. “Taken as a whole, American cities, particularly older cities, are doing better than at any point really since the 1960s,” he said at a lecture Tuesday evening at Carnegie Mellon University. “This is an amazing revival, and it’s worth celebrating.”
He’s quick to note, though, that such progress is only half the story: “At the same time, for people who live in those cities, more of them are living in poverty, more of them are living in substandard housing and in neighborhoods that do not provide a decent quality of life. At the same time that our cities are drawing thousands of jobs and billions in new investment, more people live in these cities who lack jobs and opportunities.”
In Pittsburgh, young professionals are moving into such neighborhoods as Lawrenceville, East Liberty and the South Side, driving a surge in development, while long-time residents are leaving. Fewer people are living in predominantly white working-class and black neighborhoods, such as Homewood and the Hill District, and those who do are, on average, lower income and older.
Changes to federal immigration policy under the Trump administration have prompted one of three Pittsburgh-area nonprofits that provide refugee resettlement to end those services.
The federal government announced in September that the United States in fiscal year 2019 will accept only 30,000 people fleeing persecution — the lowest level since the creation of the U.S. Refugee Act in 1980. The reduced cap this year and for next year translates into fewer refugees entering te region and a decline in funding, which contributed to the Sharpsburg-based Northern Area Multi-Services Agency [NAMS] deciding to shutter its refugee resettlement services.
Mircalene Valcin immigrated from Haiti in 2013, spoke little English and faced homelessness. She is now fulfilling her dream to become a nurse.
Despite the fact that the #MeToo campaign was founded by Tarana Burke, a Black woman activist, this anti-sexual violence campaign has largely overlooked the sexual harassment of Black girls in K-12 schools.
“Sometimes it’s a struggle when people just don’t understand my culture.”
The age-old conversation about civil disobedience was revived again in Pittsburgh this summer after the June 19 killing of Antwon Rose II at the hands of a police officers was captured and shared with the world. Activists and residents of Pittsburgh and surrounding areas banded together to call for accountability and justice. Protesters made noise and blocked roads, disrupting traffic and other daily activities.
Consistent with historical evidence, the most recent set of Pittsburgh policing data provides a small scope of the reality of existing while Black in Pittsburgh.
We believe Dr. Blasey because when women bravely come forward, they are often blamed. They are accused of wearing the wrong thing, of being in the wrong place, of asking for it. Victims are also accused of lying. Yet evidence shows that only 2 to 10 percent of rape reports are false accusations, a rate that matches reporting of other types of crimes.
A singular message rang from the voices of two dozen speakers at the monthly public hearing of the Pittsburgh Public Schools board on Monday:
Don’t let the few objections over questions posed about volunteers’ sexual orientation, religion or other personal matters halt the district’s relationship with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh.
