DR. JOE TROTTER JR., DR. MARGARET LARKINS-PETTIGREW, MAYOR ED GAINEY, ESTHER BUSH, RETIRED JUDGE KIM BERKELEY CLARK. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
Pittsburgh’s Black community had its stars out on Tuesday night, Sept. 23.
From the 10th floor of 912 Fort Duquesne Blvd., Downtown, the new headquarters of The Pittsburgh Foundation, with windows clearly showing the scenery of the North Shore, PNC Park and the Rachel Carson Bridge, about 200 people attended the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh’s annual event, the “State of Black Pittsburgh.”
As interim President and CEO of the Urban League, Esther Bush, told the New Pittsburgh Courier on this evening, the event “is important so we can exchange information and ideas out loud and not be afraid of it. All these powerful Black folks in the audience, and what they have to share.”
MEMBERS OF DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY INC., AT THE STATE OF BLACK PITTSBURGH, SEPT. 23, 2025. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
Speakers and panelists included Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, retired Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Judge Kim Berkeley Clark, Allegheny Health Network Chief Clinical Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Dr. Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, and Giant Eagle Professor of History and former History Department Chair at Carnegie Mellon University, Dr. Joe Trotter Jr.
Each of the panelists had their own five-to-ten-minute speech prior to the panel discussion, and each showed why they were labeled as experts in their respective fields.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis was unable to attend, but provided his remarks via video, shown to the audience.
DEVON TALIAFERRO, TEAIRA COLLINS (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
When one thinks about the “State of Black Pittsburgh,” there are many angles from which to choose. How is the job market for Blacks in the city? What about housing? Are Blacks being disproportionately affected in the health care realm here? Are there pertinent programs in place here that help to keep African Americans out of the criminal justice system?
For Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew, she cut straight to the chase. She said that Black infants in Pittsburgh die “two to three times more than our White counterparts.” The crowd stunned, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew dropped another bomb: “Our moms are dying three to four times as often as our White counterparts. Those numbers you should remember, because they’re quoted everywhere we go.”
Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew continued: “Health is wealth. Health has to be the center of everything — our economics, our education. If we are not healthy, we cannot contribute to our families, we cannot grow. And so we all have to pay attention to ourselves and those around us, those we love and those we don’t love as well, because health is wealth.”
Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew said actions are being done to try to improve those rates for African American babies and mothers in the region, but is it improving fast enough?
As for Dr. Trotter, known as “The People’s Historian,” he had the audience glued to every word he uttered after he said he was leading an effort to have “reparations” for Black Pittsburghers.
THE HON. CYNTHIA A. BALDWIN, ESTHER BUSH. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
“There is a real thing going on among pro-reparationists, people who support reparations, but they’re not all on the same page about how we’re going to get it done,” Dr. Trotter told the audience.
During Judge Kim Berkeley Clark’s remarks, she boldly said that if more people had voted in recent elections, the outcomes would have been different. More African Americans participating in the voting process in Pittsburgh and beyond is needed now more than ever, in a society where the U.S.A.’s current president, Donald Trump, wants to rid of DEI.
“America does not seem to care that we have been feeling bad, feeling sad, feeling scared and treated less than human for more than 400 years,” Judge Clark expressed in a poem she wrote entitled, “The Silence is Deafening.” “Many don’t understand that we are tired of just trying to survive; that we, too, want to thrive and wipe away the tears.”
But it was Mayor Gainey who came out boldly and said, enough with the “silos.” Enough with people trying to do everything themselves in this town. He wants to see more collaborations being done between organizations and companies, because those efforts can yield greater results and increased revenue for African Americans in this city and region.
“If you’re not giving people that look like you the opportunity to succeed by giving them contracts, then this city will never grow up,” Mayor Gainey said.
“The August Wilson House had a ‘brick party’ where they were selling bricks for $100 just to be able to keep things going, and I wonder how many people in here bought a brick for a hundred dollars,” Mayor Gainey continued.
The mayor touted that right now, the city has three major deals with Black contractors, which he said previously was unheard of in city administrations.
Among the notable people in attendance at the “State of Black Pittsburgh” were African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania President Barata A. Bey, and his wife, VP and Community Development Market Manager for Citizens Bank, Tammy Spencer Bey; the Hon. Cynthia A. Baldwin, her husband, Arthur Baldwin, and the Hon. Oscar J. Petite Jr.; Pittsburgh City Councilman Khari Mosley; Pittsburgh Public Schools Board Director Devon Taliaferro; Hill Community Development Corporation President and CEO Marimba Milliones; University of Pittsburgh Vice Chancellor for Institutional Engagement and Wellbeing Clyde Wilson Pickett; Courier Sales Director Ashley Johnson; South Pittsburgh A.C.T.E.S. (Achieving Change through Transitional Employment Services) Program Manager Ashley Cabiness; Lion of Judah Enterprises Executive Director Teaira Collins; A. Phillip Randolph Institute Operations Manager Sierra Parm; August Wilson African American Cultural Center CEO Janis Burley Wilson; and Heinz History Center Director of African American Program Samuel W. Black.
Some of the audience members asked questions to the panelists, and many audience members personally introduced themselves to the panelists following the event. The “State of Black Pittsburgh,” a place for networking, a place for honest conversation.
“We need to depend on each other and it’s OK for us to depend on each other,” Bush told the Courier at the event. “It’s OK for me to call the judge and tell her I need help. We have to be comfortable doing that. I don’t care if I get credit as long as what we needed gets done, and I think that’s what I think so many people are looking for is the credit, versus ‘what can I do to help.’”
Mayor Gainey was even more direct. “For everybody that has businesses here, if you don’t have 10 to 15 percent of your contracts going to people that look like us, don’t look at the outside, look at yourself, because that’s the problem. We have to come together to empower culture. No one organization or one elected official can do it; it’s only when we do it collectively. We got the August Wilson (African American Cultural) Center, you got the August Wilson House, you got all these entities that we are not supporting. Listen, if we are not supporting it, don’t ask why they’re not here in 10 years. Don’t ask. Look in the mirror.”
PITTSBURGH MAYOR ED GAINEY SPEAKS, AS RETIRED JUDGE KIM BERKELEY CLARK LOOKS ON. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)