25 YEARS STRONG: Racial Justice Summit pulls from past to forge better future

Keynote panelist and Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit founder, Tim Stevens (far left), listens to Auja Diggs, an executive member of Black, Young and Educated, address the summit audience Friday, Jan. 20, while panelists Amber Thompson, the founder of de-bias, and Noble Maseru, the university of Pittsburgh’s associate dean for diversity and inclusion, listen. (Photo by Jeremy S. Burnworth)   

by Zach Petroff, For New Pittsburgh Courier

“I’m only 31.”  

Those were the final words of Jonny Gammage, a young Black man whose life was ended by the Brentwood Police in 1995. His death was ruled a homicide by the Allegheny County medical examiner. 

The outrage over the murder, the ruled mistrial and acquittal of the officers involved sparked community activists and organizers to create a Pittsburgh-based summit to fight for racial justice.  

A quarter-of-a-century later that summit continues. Last weekend, three generations of activists took center stage at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary to kick off the 25th annual Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit on Jan. 20-21.  

The day-and-a-half event included a keynote panel, workshops, discussions, wellness sessions and even a community resource room.  

“We’re looking back at the last 25 years in fighting for racial justice, locally and nationally,” said Daeja Baker, lead summit organizer and coordinator.  

“And then we’re looking how we move forward.”  

The keynote panel comprised of Auja Diggs, an executive member of the Black, Young and Educated; Amber Thompson, founder of de-bias, an equity-focused monitoring and evaluation platform; and Noble Maseru, the associate dean for diversity and inclusion at the University of Pittsburgh.  

Tim Stevens, founder of the summit, led the panel discussion.  

“We’re going to be speaking to our continuing collective struggle, and it is a struggle,” Stevens said in his opening remarks. “To address issues not only of the historic challenge of police abuse and overreach but the various issues of racial justice that continue to negatively impact Black, brown and marginalized people locally and nationally.” 

AMBER KNIGHT SPEAKS DURING THE “USING HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORK FOR RACIAL JUSTICE” FORUM, A NUMBER OF FORUMS HELD ON SATURDAY, JAN. 21. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)

The panelists spoke about their activism, sharing their individual experiences and what inspired them to dedicate their lives to serving the Black community and marginalized groups.  

 “My community work has passion and it’s intersectional,” Diggs said. “I’m not just catering to one demographic or a certain group of just Black people. I want my community work to reach all people. I want us to work as a community.”  

 The importance of voting, the disparity in data, misrepresentation in census reporting, environmental impacts on the Black community and the use of art as activism were among many of the subjects discussed.  

 “I’m not going to mince words tonight,” Thompson said. “When I say I’m fighting, I’m fighting. Any chance I get, any lawsuit I’m creating, I’m making it better for whoever is having the same issue as me.” 

 Thompson’s matter-of-fact tone fit perfectly with her message on the abundance of racial bias in data. She emphasized that properly recording and evaluating information can not only improve inefficiencies in systems, but it could also help craft legislation and inform policy.  

 “I want guardrails on everything,” Thompson said. “And the only way we are going to do that is by becoming proactive in our activism. “ 

REV. DR. B. DE NEICE WELCH SPEAKS ON HER TRIP TO PALESTINE. 

REV. JOHN WELCH SPEAKS ABOUT HIS RECENT TRIP TO PALESTINE

 After the speakers finished giving their initial statements, the panel left the stage to engage in a separate roundtable discussion.  

Breaking up in four small groups guided by the keynote speakers, audience members shared their experiences and raised issues they observed in the community.  

Once the roundtable discussions ended, the speakers reconvened on stage where they collectively took questions from the audience.  

 Twenty-eight years after Gammage’s death, Pittsburgh advocates are still having the hard-but-necessary conversations, advocating to shape public policies that affect marginalized people—and finding ways to build strong communities in the process.  

DISCUSSION WAS APLENTY DURING THE RACIAL JUSTICE SUMMIT FORUMS.

PITTSBURGH’S RACIAL JUSTICE SUMMIT WAS HELD, JAN. 20-21, AT THE PITTSBURGH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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