The staff and volunteers of the Black Political Empowerment Project (B-PEP) have been quite busy preparing for the possibly historic election of Tuesday, November 2, 2021. B-PEP will be hosting, along with the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh and the Transformative Justice Coalition, an IN-PERSON Candidate Forum of Friday, October 29, 2021, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Letter Carriers Hall located at 841 California Avenue on the North Side (15212) for judicial, magisterial and school board candidates. They will be joined by 24 co-sponsors, A Plus Schools, Abiding Missions, ASALH, the Alliance for Police Accountability (APA), Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Omicron Lambda Chapter, Black Voters Matters, Casa San Jose, the Human Rights Coalition Fed Up, the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Just Harvest, the Knoxville Community Council, the NAACP Pittsburgh Branch, 100 Black Men of Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Higher Ground Ministry, Pittsburgh United, PUMP, Refocus Women, South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace, T-MAG, the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, the Voter Empowerment Education Enrichment Movement (VEEEM), West End Power, and Western PA Black Political Assembly (WPBPA). This B-PEP Candidate Forum will also be livestreamed on www.youtube.com/18ricco.
B-PEP has arranged with WPXI-TV (11) for the two organizations to co-sponsor “THE GREAT MAYORAL DEBATE” which will be aired Sunday, October 31st at 8:30 a.m. on WPXI TV, and will be rebroadcast on PCNC-TV, and will be available on Facebook, You Tube, streamed on WPXI TV. The debate will be available on the WPXI TV NOW app, and posted on WPXI.COM by November 1, 2021. This debate will be co-sponsored by all 26 organizations listed above.
B-PEP will again host Election Protection at its Hill District headquarters during Election Day, November 2, 2021. Persons who wish to assist in this important effort should contact B-PEP’s Civic Engagement Coordinator, Lorraine Cross at 412-212-8775 or 412-758-2056. The same number can be used for individuals, organizations and churches who wish to assist with B-PEP’s ROLL TO THE POLLS. B-PEP partner, VEEEM, the Voter Empowerment Education Enrichment Movement, will also with ROLL TO THE POLLS program which provides FREE RIDES to polling places primarily found within the African American neighborhoods of Pittsburgh and some outlying areas.
Though B-PEP does not endorse any candidate, we think it is important to note that the City of Pittsburgh has a historic opportunity, if it so chooses, to elect its first African American mayor. With the dearth of African American jurists it is also important to note that there are African American candidates among the choices in this November 2 election, for both Allegheny County and the Courts of Pennsylvania.
For any information on the election, including the listing of all candidates and offices, we urge people to visit vote.pa.gov and/or alleghenycountyvotes.com. People can also visit the B-PEP website at
www.b-pep.net.
About Post Author
