Social Justice

  The Office of the Public Defender today announced a pilot project to assist patients in drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities who have substance use disorder and involvement with the Allegheny County criminal legal system. "Project Rehabilitate" seeks to reduce unnecessary and potentially harmful incarceration for people seeking help with substance use disorder.

"Project Rehabilitate creates real and lasting improvement because it focuses on providing redress in the criminal legal system while individuals who are suffering from drug and alcohol abuse issues get the help that they need," said Andrew J. Capone, Director of Attorney Recruiting and Retention for the Office of the Public Defender. "Interrupting the cycle of incarceration allows our partner agencies to continue to provide a pathway to recover and improve the opportunities for success to those in need."

The pilot began in January 2023 with three separate inpatient rehabilitation facilities: Gaiser Center, Gateway Rehab, and Greenbriar Treatment Centers. In the nearly four months since, over 215 hours have been spent helping clients at four separate facilities. The 160 clients assisted had 433 cases pending. To date, Project Rehabilitate has:

• Cleared 224 warrants (173 warrants in Allegheny County and 51 warrants outside of Allegheny County); 230 cases did not have a warrant at the time of contact
• Closed over 150 cases with more than 100 cases were granted time served
• Assisted in sending 82 Pro Se letters for out-of-county cases
• Referred over 50 cases to other Public Defender offices
• Saved clients thousands of dollars in fines

With the involvement of the office’s attorneys and staff, Project Rehabilitate aims to resolve pending legal issues which, in turn, substantially reduces the risk of unnecessary and harmful incarceration for non-violent offenses and encourage patients to focus on their recovery. Attorneys and staff visit partner rehabilitation centers to meet with clients to help them resolve outstanding criminal matters.

Where appropriate, the attorneys file petitions with the Court to clear outstanding warrants and prevent unnecessary incarceration upon discharge from treatment. Through this work, the office has developed form letters for magistrates and implemented joint processes with Pretrial Services and the inpatient facilities.

Project Rehabilitate was developed with input from Criminal Court administration, pretrial services, the Sheriff’s Department and members of the local judiciary.

Anyone interested in learning more about Project Rehabilitate, or wanting to partner with the office, may email rehabilitate@alleghenycounty.us or call 412.815.8493. 

Theft of land, ideas and natural resources, along with manipulation of the truth, contribute to a key strategy that undergirds America’s systemic, upper-class, White male, patriarchal, sexist, and racist society. Thus, for example, colonialists told lies regarding [1] the conquest of “uncivilized” people in America and the “development” of the victims’ land by privileged White men; [2] the bringing of African “servants” to America to “save their pagan souls;” and [3] the “God-ordained” reservation of women to kitchens and roles such as child-bearing housewives. 

In the case of Blacks, there is also a long history of Black creativity followed by White theft and exploitation. For example, regarding the theft and exploitation of Black music, Steven J. Underwood wrote the following: “Black music is always less-than until it such time as Whiteness has had the opportunity to infiltrate the culture supporting it and figured out how to perform it themselves. Rap music’s “renaissance” in the ’90s hadn’t occurred until the rise of Eminem as the industry’s latest bad boy and residential Aryan… We’ve heard of the true colors of Elvis Presley and the seldom sung truth of the Beatles’ sound and the Benny Goodmans and the Rolling Stones, the Zootsuiters, the Blue-eyed souls and more… ” The Long History of Creative Theft in Black Music and Arts (cassiuslife.com) 

In 2023, a growing theft and vicious exploitation of Black creativity involves racist right wingers’ use of the term woke. By way of a brief background, the scholar Tony Thorne indicated that the term woke“…began appearing in the 1940s and was first used by African Americans to literally mean becoming woken up or sensitised to issues of justice…”  What is the history of the word ‘woke’ and its modern uses? | The Independent.  As indicated in the same article, woke“…started becoming a politicised word in 2014, after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement…”  

Essentially,  stay woke was a call for Blacks and other oppressed people to be conscious of the systemic sources of oppression and, in turn, determine what must be done for it to be overthrown. Because of woke’s profound implications for realizing equity and social justice, ultra conservative, far right, and often ignorant Whites stole woke and began using it as an omnibus term for everything with which they disagree. A leading offender is Ron DeSantis. 

In an Editorial Board article by the Miami Herald, it was stated, “DeSantis, as we all know, absolutely loves the term ‘woke.’ He slaps it on anything he thinks could be used to stir up his base of voters, mostly white and mostly Republican, who are worried about losing their primacy in the world. For the past two years, that has been an ever-widening universe of targets: critical race theory, Disney, former Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, school books, school board members, drag queens, a National Hockey League job fair, the NCAA, diversity training at businesses, Democrats, the New College of Florida, coursework at universities, lessons from teachers, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and banks that dare to use socially and environmentally conscious factors for investing.”  DeSantis hates ‘woke’, but his view may not play so well in the rest of America | Opinion (msn.com) Indeed, DeSantis’ and others’ use of woke is reminiscent of the dangerous demagoguery known as McCarthyism. 

In terms of how libelous labelling can be a threat against American democracy, we should never forget the early 1950s when the ultra-conservative, right-wing, racist Senator Joe McCarthy convinced many Americans that “communists” were lurking everywhere, from classrooms to federal government offices to the US Army. The “Great Red Scare,” a campaign devoid of facts and “supported” merely by public accusations resulted in hundreds of citizens being wrongly persecuted, including people such as W. E. B. DuBois, Lena Horne, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Elmer Bernstein and Charlie Chaplin. 

The rhetorical theorist Richard Weaver considered the foregoing use of “communist” to be the quintessential “God term” during the 1950s, i.e., for some audiences, a word that stood for everything evil –the same tactic used today by DeSantis and others with the term woke. More than that, the political exploitation of woke is akin to the rhetorical style of telling “Big Lies” as was the case with Adolf Hitler’s accusations against Jews.

Recall that the “Big Lie” is essentially a propaganda technique whereby a known falsehood is repeated often enough for it to become believable by gullible people who, in turn, believe they must take action against the enemy/evils. In the immediate instance, the Big Woke Lie is a call to arms against groups such as Blacks as well as other people of color; Critical Race Theorists; LGBTQ+ people; women who wish to be liberated from patriarchy; citizens who would like to have their rights to vote respected; people seeking health care benefits equivalent to members of Congress; and anyone else who poses a threat to the Maga Machine.  Accordingly, now more than ever, those pursuing equity and social justice must stay woke as well as remain politically active!

From pre-K through higher education, now is the time for faculty, staff, students, parents, and administrators to resist inappropriate involvement of elected officials in public education. There must be a unified stance against elected officials who threaten education budget cuts because of Big Woke Lies regarding books written by authors such as the internationally recognized James Baldwin and Toni Morrison.  

The Big Woke Lie is so vicious and non-compromising that even a woman’s right to make decisions about her body qualifies for wokeness! Thus, for example, we must stop the Big Woke Lie that supports a pregnant woman being forced to “…choose between carrying a fetus that lacks a skull and the top of its head (as a result of a rare condition called acrania) to term, or traveling several states over for a legal abortion, since Louisiana has banned abortion with very narrow exceptions” (See, story by Kylie Cheung, Aug 16, 2022).

Most recently, we witnessed the Big Woke Lie in one of its most absurd forms when Andy Kessler wrote in the March 13, 2023 Wall Street Journal the following possibility for the Silicon Valley Bank failure: “SVB notes that besides 91 percent of their board being independent and 45 percent women, they also have ‘1 Black,’ ‘1 LGBTQ+,’ and ‘2 Veterans.’ I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.” 

In sum, the current Big Woke Lie is a linguistic descendant of “…‘politically correct,’ ‘cancel culture’ and ‘metropolitan liberal elite’ as terms conservatives use against opponents. …it functions as a trigger word or ‘dog whistle,’ in that as soon as you say it you no longer need to say anything else… The word will be accepted by your base, rejected by your opponents and no further discussion will take place.” (See Matthew Crowley, March 8, 2023). 

Those true believers so easily persuaded by the Big Woke Lie are often the same racist folks who, before legal segregation was ended, rallied to phrases such as “your home is your castle” and “separate but equal.”  They are often the “poorly educated” folks who are loved by and easily whipped into a frenzy when a former U.S. President utters, “make America great again.” The spreaders of the Big Woke Lie are precisely who Martin Luther King, Jr. had in mind when he stated, “nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

March 15, 2023

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announced today that he will continue the moratorium on executions established by his predecessor, Tom Wolf. Shapiro also urged the Pennsylvania General Assembly to repeal capital punishment.

The commonwealth has not executed anyone since 1999 and has not executed anyone who had not given up their appeals since the early 1960s. Today, there are more than 100 people with a sentence of death in Pennsylvania’s prisons.

The following can be attributed to Elizabeth Randol, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania:

“The death penalty is an archaic, broken policy from a bygone era, and we applaud Governor Shapiro for continuing the moratorium. The concepts of basic fairness, equality, and justice are missing from Pennsylvania’s capital punishment regime and from the criminal legal system broadly. The government should not have the ultimate power of deciding who lives and who dies.

“The commonwealth’s failure to fund indigent defense has created a tiered justice system, one for those who can afford to hire a private attorney and one for those who cannot. Most people sentenced to death in Pennsylvania were too poor to afford private counsel, and they are disproportionately Black people. In a state with a Black population of about 12 percent, more than half of the people sentenced to death are Black.

“We also know that innocent people have been sentenced to death in the commonwealth, and they were exonerated only because of the dogged work of appeals attorneys, not with any help from the government. In fact, in most exoneration cases, prosecutors have fought appeals and tried to sustain death sentences for those innocent men.

“Finally, the structure of capital cases is inherently weighted against defendants. Jurors who serve in capital cases must be willing to implement a death sentence, and research shows that people who support the death penalty are more likely to favor the word of prosecutors and police.

“The death penalty is a failed public policy. It is time for the General Assembly to sweep it into the dustbin of history.”

Are you a Victim of Police Brutality? The Police Brutality Center wants you to be aware of the truth about police brutality and what you can do about it.

Who are we?

Police Brutality Center exists to bring awareness to the growing epidemic of police brutality, racial profiling, and excessive force. If we can help save one more life or avoid the severe injury of one more innocent person, our mission will be successful. We believe that the tools and content provided within policebrutalitycenter.org can support those who have experienced trauma at the hands of police and prevent future interactions from turning violent or deadly.

When officers of the law use unnecessary and excessive force, those members of the police should be brought to justice. Police brutality is a human rights violation.

Instances of police brutality are attempted to be justified by accusations of self-defense in order to avoid serious injury or death, but the repeated pattern of cases such as George Floyd and Eric Garner caught on film are examples of the opposite. Minorities and other vulnerable groups are too often targeted by acts of police brutality.

Your Civil Rights

You are not alone

If you or someone you know or love has been a victim of police brutality, the time to take action is NOW. Police Brutality Center features in-depth resources to help you protect your community and your family’s civil rights.

Silence is No Longer an Option

Excessive force and racial profiling can not be tolerated. It is our mission to end the violations of your civil rights that lead to brutality by the police sworn to serve you, your family, and your community.

Contact:  PoliceBrutalityCenter.Org 

BLACKS BRUTALLY BEATING BLACKS

The old woman across the way
is whipping the boy again
and shouting to the neighborhood
her goodness and his wrongs.
…She strikes and strikes the shrilly circling
boy till the stick breaks
in her hand.  

...well, it is over now, it is over,
and the boy sobs in his room,
And the woman leans muttering against
a tree, exhausted, purged—
avenged in part for lifelong hidings
she has had to bear.

-Robert Hayden-

1962

As an octogenarian, I have an abiding love for my parents having provided me with a worldview that includes things such as hard work, thrift, holding high standards, ongoing education, the pursuit of truths beyond things that can be seen, respect for elders, providing service to others, and an abiding appreciation for life in all of its forms. Throughout grade school and my early teens, I hated my parents for the “medicine” they often administered to me, something they called a “skinning” to “beat the devil” out of me. Using a thick belt, their “skinnings” left my skin with welts that lasted days, sometimes broken skin in need of the available balm, i.e., Vaseline. Hence, after watching the video of 5 Black Memphis Scorpion Squad police officers’ brutal beating of Tyre Nichols, I wondered if the police officers had been beaten severely when they were children. Afterall, victims of significant abuse often become abusers and perpetuate a culture of abuse. 

In the case of Blacks’ brutal life threatening and sometimes life taking beatings of other Blacks, we witness a sick outcomes of centuries’ long racist-induced practices, the horrible results that occur when  colonized/enslaved Blacks are “mis-educated” regarding the inferiority of Blacks as lesser human beings. Such beatings flow from “gaslighted” Black adults accepting as truth the need to brutally beat Blacks as a normative mode of conduct. For example, within many segments of the Black community, there are folks who offer biblical and other “rationales” for not sparing the rod and spoiling our children; Black adults making Black children obtain switches and other instruments for beating Black children “within an inch of their lives;” Black adults whuppin their children with belts, brushes, backs of their hands, and extension cords, as well as fists, and sticks; --all of this and more because of the sick belief that violence is essential to Black childrearing given Black children’s alleged inherent evil nature. 

So sick is the cultural acceptance of Black adults beating Black children that, later in life, some Black adults speak fondly of the parental inflicted brutal beatings that “kept them out of trouble.” However, within her truth telling book regarding “why whuppin children won’t save Black America,” Stacey Patton (2017) wrote, “…The belief that we need to whup our kids to keep them in line is deeply grounded in our collective psyche, in much the same way that racists believe black folks are culturally deficient and police officers disproportionately see us reaching for guns when we’re actually reaching for IDs.” 

Given the widespread racist-induced miseducated belief lurking in the Black community regarding the need to brutally beat Black bodies, the conduct of the Memphis Scorpion Squad should come as no surprise. As Attorney Ben Crump said, “We have learned from reports this week that the 5 now-fired officers involved in Tyre’s death were members of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION squad, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in our Neighborhoods.  …But the “why” of Tyre Nichols's death is found in this policing culture itself, not something Tyre personally did. And his running in fear for his life in-between a series of beatings was an affront to the officers, who wanted to show Tyre and the city of Memphis that as a team they can take anyone down. No one escapes the Scorpions. 

Whatever happened to Tyre, there was a cultural mindset to it, and it’s not unique to Memphis. From Baltimore to Chicago and D.C., units like the SCORPION unmarked cars - regardless of what the units are named - cause terror in minority communities. In 2017, eight detectives in Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) were convicted of robbery and racketeering. In Chicago in 2004, a similar roving unit had to be disbanded when officers were accused of robberies and home invasions. In Washington, D.C., the ACLU has testified in court about hundreds of jump-outs they call illegal and examples of racial profiling. And in Memphis just a few days before Tyre Nichols was beaten, another Black male in the same community says he was also subjected to excessive force by a group of SCORPION officers. (See article by Jackson Brown Updated: 11:01 PM CST January 26, 2023).

I neither know what justice would be for Tyre Nichols nor what differences will be made by passing the H.R. 1280- George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, along with prayer and peaceful protest. However, I do know that [1] the roots of Memphis Scorpion Squads were nourished by the slave holders who reduced Blacks to property that they could control by any form of brutality they deemed appropriate including murder; [2] members of the KKK beat, burned, bombed, eviscerated, and hung Black bodies; [3] the original American police officers were not formed to “serve and protect” Blacks but to capture them and return them to slave holders, to support chattel slavery; and [4] the modern iterations of Slave Patrols in all too many ways support systemic racism. 

I also know that it is way past time for Black adults to quit whuppin their children within an inch of their lives; for highly educated Black “Divine Nine” folks to end all forms of “hazing;” for all forms of Black-on-Black violence to end and, in doing so, become a collective model for ending violence throughout America. Let us reduce the enemies within in order to prepare better for the enemies outside and, as Margaret Walker wrote,

…For my people standing staring trying to fashion a better way

   from confusion, from hypocrisy and misunderstanding,

   trying to fashion a world that will hold all the people,

   all the faces, all the adams and eves and their countless generations;

   Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a

   bloody peace be written in the sky. Let a second

   generation full of courage issue forth; let a people

   loving freedom come to growth. Let a beauty full of

   healing and a strength of final clenching be the pulsing

   in our spirits and our blood. Let the martial songs

   be written, let the dirges disappear. Let a race of men now

   rise and take control.

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

January 31, 2023

At historically White institutions of higher education, some Black professors complain about what they deem to be the “Black Tax,” i.e., unwarranted work expectations for which they are most often not appropriately compensated.  For example, a Black English professor might be asked to help recruit and retain Black students and faculty in her/his English Department as well as serve on an institutional diversity, equity and social justice committee.  Even if they have no formal training for doing so, she/he might also be asked to teach a course in Black Literature.  In short, regardless to the Black professors’ professional training, job description, and personal as well as political interests, the “Black Tax” consists of an expectation that she/he serve as an oasis-like resource for all things related to Blacks under the diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice umbrella.  This “Black Tax” is “imposed” by other Blacks as well as Whites at the given institution.

Unwilling to pay the “Black Tax,” a Black professor might say, “I am an English teacher, not a teacher of Black literature.  I am a teacher of all students, not a special resource teacher for Black students.  I am not a trained counselor and, therefore, I am not the ‘go to person’ for Black students who have been the victims of race-related micro and macro aggressions.  I did not join this faculty/institution to serve as a civil rights activist.  I came to pursue excellence in teaching and research.”  Although such a Black faculty member has an individual right to assume this posture, the legacy of the late Bill Russell as well as other race-related existential factors suggest that they reconsider such a stance.

As it was widely noted when he died recently, Bill Russell might have been the most accomplished basketball player in history given that he won an Olympic gold medal, won 11 NBA Championships, and, in 1966, became the first Black coach of any major sport in America.  Simultaneously noted was the fact that Bill Russell  marched with Martin Luther King Jr.; strongly supported Muhammad Ali; continually attacked racism in the NBA; and once led a boycott of a restaurant that did not serve Blacks.  Because of Bill Russell’s consistent support for equity and social justice in sports as well as the larger society, former President Barack Obama provided him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  Praising Bill Russell, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated, “Bill stood for something much bigger than sports: the values of equality, respect and inclusion that he stamped into the DNA of our League.”  

Today, the PGA, MLB, Baseball, NBA, NFL, USTA, and historically White institutions of higher education fall significantly deficient in terms of achieving equity and social justice.  Now, as much as ever, there is the need for those who excel athletically to serve as “drum majors for justice!”  Continued progress is a function of what was done by people such as Simone Biles, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Jim Browns John Carlos, Allyson Felix, Tommie Smith, Ariyana Smith, Wyomia Tyus, Venus Williams and Serena Williams.  Similarly, the snail-like pace of realizing equity and social justice at historically White institutions of higher education demands that today’s Black professors also serve as “drum majors for social justice.”  As such, Black professors should understand that the “Black Tax” is really not a “Tax” but rather a responsibility that should be widely embraced.  

Black professors on historically White campuses must realize that, but for the activism of Blacks on the respective campuses, many of the current Black professors would not have their jobs.  At a place such as the University of Pittsburgh, for example, current Black faculty should never forget that, during the late 1960s and early 1970s Black student activists laid the foundation when they demanded that Pitt hire more Black faculty and administrators.  Those demands led to the hiring of scholar-activist Black faculty members such as Ladun Anise, Sanza Clark, Larry Coleman, Lawrence Glasco, Joseph Lewis, Vernell Lillie, Rob Penny, Curtiss E. Porter, Bob Johnson, Sonia Sanchez, Shona Sharif, Barbara Sizemore, Fela Sowande, Jerome Taylor, and Clarence Turner.  In turn, they and others sustained the movement that contributed to the current cohort of Black faculty members.  

Coming straight from the crucible of the civil rights movement, the foregoing Pitt Black faculty members never thought of paying a “Black Tax.”  Instead, they proactively embraced what they believed to be their “Black Collective Responsibility,” a matter of “Lifting as We Climb,” and the practicing of the Kwanza principle, “Ujima.”  To this day, Black Pitt alumni attest to the significant contributions these Black professors made to their lives.   

Black professors at historically White institutions must understand that, notwithstanding their distinguished academic credentials, they were not hired simply because of their academic credentials.  They were hired because Black student, faculty, administrator, and alumni activists pushed such institutions to implement an array of Black faculty hiring initiatives!  As such, they were not hired to assume a privileged position whereby they avoided what they rather myopically believe to be a “Black Tax.”  

To be sure, Black faculty, staff and administrators should be appropriately compensated for what they do to advance equity and social justice. To be equally sure, it is perhaps privileged if not delusional thinking for a Black professor to believe that she/he should justifiably retreat to some fictitious “post racial place” on campus where in some unfettered fashion they contemplate strictly intellectual matters.

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White Institution of Higher Education While Black

September 30, 2022

Seeking a better Pennsylvania for all of the commonwealth’s residents is what public service is all about for me. I’ve spent the better part of my adult life seeking ‘what is better’ for my community in many different capacities. And after serving a term as the chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus (PLBC), here is what I know: listening to and investing in Black Pennsylvanians will pay major dividends- boosting both the commonwealth’s economy and social justice efforts.

In August, the PLBC took to the road – to the city of Erie – to attend a series of conversations, policy hearings and listening sessions with Black business owners, clergy, elected officials and community leaders. It was meaningful to both the legislators and Black residents of Erie.

A little history. In 2017, Erie was named the worst city in the country for Black Americans to live. 47% of the Black population lived in poverty, and there were other health and socioeconomic disparities. There was outcry from Erie’s Black community. For some, the report only confirmed what they already knew.

Fast forward to September 2021, Erie County declared racism a public health crisis and established the Erie County Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission. Now known as Diverse Erie, the commission has been working to advance homeownership, entrepreneurship, and more among Erie’s Black residents. They are recruiting Black educators and investing in Black businesses. Erie’s NAACP chapter, its Black clergy and the Erie Black Democratic Caucus are also working to improve the quality of life for Black residents. In November 2021, Erie moved from number 1 to number 15 on the list of the 20 worst cities for Black people. Progress? Yes. But let’s get Erie off the list altogether.

To do that, we need to listen to Black residents. When we do, they will tell what their families, small businesses and communities need to succeed. That visit to Erie is much like the conversations the PLBC has had with Black-led advocacy groups, business owners, clergy, and residents from across the commonwealth. For years, we’ve met them in their neighborhoods, in Harrisburg and virtually. We’ve held roundtables and listening sessions. We’ve listened to their concerns. But we need others to listen too.

What is even more critical is the need for our colleagues in Harrisburg to listen to Black and other marginalized Pennsylvanians. Then after listening, we need them to do something with the information they’ve heard and include Black residents in the solutions. While the PLBC is already doing that, we need to bring everyone along in order to make true change.

 Erie County took one step toward addressing the racial disparities and empowered its Black residents. There’s more heavy lifting to do in Erie and across the commonwealth. In 2019, Pittsburgh was named the worst city for Black women to live. Philadelphia, a majority minority city, remains the poorest big city in the country. During the pandemic, Pennsylvania had the highest state Black unemployment rate.

Erie’s early signs of success demonstrate that we can have a more equitable and prosperous Pennsylvania for all of its residents, especially its Black residents- if only we just listened to them.

State Rep. Donna Bullock represents the 195th Legislative District in Philadelphia. She currently serves as the chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus in the state House.

The Hear Foundation, a new nonprofit dedicated exclusively to fostering collaboration between law enforcement, city officials, community groups, and residents in order to build a safe, thriving community for all, launched today in Pittsburgh and announced the recipients of its inaugural Summer of Healing community grants.

               The Hear Foundation (THF) is co-founded by international speaker, author, mental health advocate and police shooting survivor Leon Ford and Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert, a 29-year veteran of the force. Their unlikely friendship - built over time, a foundation of mutual respect, and a shared passion for fostering healing and addressing the cycle of gun violence in Pittsburgh - is the genesis of THF.

Former Google executive Kamal Nigam will be the executive director of The Hear Foundation. He will be supported by  a thoughtfully assembled, diverse group of more than three dozen leaders representing a cross-section of the community who recognize and support the need for police-community collaboration and have agreed to serve as a board of advisors. These include public safety and mental health professionals, activists, grassroots organizations, nonprofit directors, and CEOs. With their guidance and input, THF will convene, lead and fund initiatives that engage police and community together in co-creating strategies and solutions in three pillar areas: gun violence reduction, trauma, and workforce development.

“We have intentionally brought together individuals from varied backgrounds, points of view and life experiences to create our leadership team,” says The Hear Foundation Co-founder Leon Ford. “While we may not always agree, we will lead by example, showing that collaboration around the common goal of strengthening our communities and reducing gun violence is possible. My personal story as the survivor of a police shooting, the work I have done to share with others what I have learned about addressing trauma, and the relationships I have built with Chief Schubert and others are proof of concept. No matter what you have been through, collaboration is possible.”

“Many individuals and groups in our community have been working hard to respond to escalating gun violence and trauma in their neighborhoods, but they often work in isolation, and lack the resources and tools to have widespread impact,” says Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert. “As a new community partner, The Hear Foundation will come alongside these groups to fill the support gaps, and through collaboration with law enforcement and experts in trauma, mental health, and public safety, will help build stronger, safer communities for all. We are all Pittsburghers and there isn’t anything we can’t do when we come together as one.”

THF will award three inaugural community microgrants this summer with the support of a $75,000 grant from Heal America. The Summer of Healing projects that will be supported in the areas of gun violence reduction, trauma, and workforce development are:

·  Support Voices Against Violence, Hope 4 Tomorrow, and Youth Enrichment Services summer camps.  Each free, six-week camp provides programs focused on holistic care of the child, academic achievement, wellbeing, self-empowerment, and community service.

The project will embed community engagement police officers every week in the programs, engaging young people in discussions on topics such as police reform, public safety concerns, careers in law enforcement, processing prior police encounters, and media portrayals of police and youth. In addition, Imagine Further, an organization of local experts on mental health education for youth, will join the youth camps for weekly sessions to help participants develop their support systems, positive coping skills, and resiliency. To facilitate these positive interactions, five young adults will be hired to serve as ambassadors accompanying officers to summer camp visits.

·  Support the hiring of five youth to develop a safety plan for Perry High School, in conjunction with a school social worker and a nonprofit leader focused on violence prevention. The project will provide a workplace experience for safety-engaged youth  who will develop a school-wide plan to create after-school safe passages, recruit student safety ambassadors and build connections to mediate conflict before they escalate. Pittsburgh police will participate to build relationships and introduce the concepts of relationship-based policing.

·  Provide support to the Center for Victims to host 15 summer workshops that will train 150 leaders community leaders in the science and impact of trauma and share tools and strategies to build wellbeing and resilience.  Workshops will provide an understanding of the impacts of trauma from violence, abuse, chronic adversity, toxic stress and social inequities on children, adults, families, and communities. Participants will include grassroots community leaders.

“The Hear Foundation Summer of Healing projects provide an opportunity to support healing, change, and immediate impact in our communities and among our young people,” says The Hear Foundation Executive Director Kamal Nigam. “Each project aligns with  our vision to create a safe and thriving Pittsburgh where residents and police collaborate on solutions and strategies from a  foundation of trusted relationships and authentic engagement, and with the goals established in Mayor Gainey’s recently announced Plan for Peace. We recognize that engagement will not happen unless we are willing to come together and listen to one another despite our differences. This focus on listening is what underpins our name, The Hear Foundation, and will drive our efforts going forward.”

               In the coming months, The Hear Foundation will focus on convening events, and building consensus around strategies and its next set of community microgrants.

               “No one single person, group, or administration can tackle the issue of violence in our city alone,” said Mayor Ed Gainey. “We need strong community partnerships working and moving together in order to create peace in our city, and help provide new economic opportunities so we can transform Pittsburgh into a welcome, safe, and thriving city for everyone.”  

The Hear Foundation is supported by The Buhl Foundation, The Forbes Funds, Heal America, the Elsie H. Hillman Foundation, Jones Day, and the Richard King Mellon Foundation, with fiscal sponsorship by the POISE Foundation.

To learn more or to sign up for news and updates from The Hear Foundation, visit hearfoundation.com

or email hello@hearfoundation.com.

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 35TH WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH, TOO MANY BLACK WOMEN REMAIN THE “MULES OF THE WORLD”   

“I've got the children to tend

The clothes to mend

The floor to mop

The food to shop

Then the chicken to fry

The baby to dry…

I've got shirts to press

The tots to dress…

I gotta clean up this hut

Then see about the sick

And the cotton to pick”

-Maya Angelou-

The pervasive presence of Black women in overworked and underpaid positions contributed to Zora Neal Hurston deeming them the mules of the world.  During the current pandemic, “These occupations include front-line workers in health care and essential businesses like grocery and drug stores, those who have borne the brunt of job losses in the restaurant industry, and the teachers and child care workers who are critical as the economy struggles to reopen and essential to fully reopening the economy when it is safe to do so…” (See, Black women workers are essential during the crisis and for the recovery but still are greatly underpaid, by Valerie Wilson and Nelat Kassa, August 12, 2020 ).  

In her review of a recent Health Affairs journal article, Julianne McShane wrote, “Black women make up nearly 7 percent of the U.S. labor force, but nearly 14 percent of the health-care workforce…  Within health care,  …Black women are most likely to work in the long-term care sector, currently making up 23 percent of that labor force, and as licensed practical nurses or aides, constituting 25 percent of those workers. These roles are characterized by low wages, lack of benefits, and hazardous working conditions, according to the study…   As co-author Janette Dill, an associate professor in the division of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota, put it: They are taking care of peoples’ bodies, and feeding them, and bathing them, and taking people to the bathroom — it’s very hard physical labor.”  (Philadelphia Tribune, February 25, 2022).

An Institute for Women’s Policy Research Report (July 27, 2021) indicated, “Before the pandemic, Black women were paid just 63.0 percent of White men’s median annual earnings—$24,110 less—even when they were able to obtain full-time year-round work. That represents a wage gap of 37.0 percent for Black women and White men and is much larger than the 17.7 percent wage gap between all women and all men. This illustrates the additional impact of race in shaping women’s earnings. It also means higher rates of poverty, much lower levels of wealth, and fewer resources to weather economic downturns such as the COVID-19 recession.”  

Perhaps one of the greatest overrepresentations of Black and other women of color is, tragically, the area of missing women.   During a recent Congressional hearing, it was noted that “About 40% of the more than 250,000 women and girls reported as missing in 2020 were people of color... Despite making up a smaller share of the overall U.S. population, committee members said Indigenous, Black and Hispanic women and girls are going missing at higher rates…”   In addition, Natalie Wilson,  founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, put the matter in bold relief when she stated, “We can all name Gabby Petito, Natalee Holloway, Chandra Levy and many other white women who have gone missing. But can any of you name a person of color that has garnered national media coverage?" (ABC News, March 3, 2022).  

  Regarding the comparative media coverage for missing White as compared to Indigenous women in Wyoming, Andrea Gonzalez-Ramirez wrote, “Today, #GabbyPetito has more than 956 million views on TikTok. Six law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI, devoted resources to finding her. Her case was mentioned 398 times on Fox News, 346 times on CNN, and 100 times on MSNBC’ in a seven-day period ending on September 22, according to the Washington Post.  But had she been an Indigenous woman, this almost certainly would not have happened.” (September 24, 2021).

Refusing to be deterred by societal forces that systematically seek to stifle their growth and development, many Black women continue to succeed in significant ways.  For example, [1] Black women are the foundations for Black institutions such as the traditional Black Church; [2] they were as important if not more significant than any other demographic when it came to electing President Biden and Vice President Harris as well as other Democrats; and [3] they constitute unwavering enablers  through a plethora of organizations with missions related to uplifting members of their race.  

In record numbers, Black women continue to rise as mayors, members of congress, major entrepreneurs, medical scientists, managers in major corporations, military pilots, metallurgical engineers, money managers, and many of the world class athletes.  They have become leading public health professionals, innovative medical scientists, entrepreneurs, senior higher education administrators, judges, and more than can be mentioned herein.  

Kamala Harris’ election to Vice President of the United States is merely a way station for Black women eventually ruling the world!  Lest one believes the foregoing statement to be a bit of hyperbole, consider what Black American women might have achieved had they not been the mules of the world  --if their lives in America had not begun as chattel slaves; if economic, race, gender, and reproductive justice had been realities not still unrealized goals; if they had opportunities to become all that they were capable of becoming unfettered by irrational patriarchy, homophobia, health disparities, and various forms of physical and psychological abuse.  In any event, as with the mythical Phoenix, Black American women will continue to rise from their ashes and their unfolding splendor will be something to behold.  

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

March 14, 2022

  In memory of Mary McLeod Bethune, Hallie Quinn Brown, Anna Julia Cooper, 

Fanny Jackson Coppin, Charlotte Forten Grimke, bell hooks, Mary Jane Patterson, 

and other Black women educators/liberators.

“…Silencing happens when, for white people, hearing the truth is too much; when the truth hangs so painfully heavy on their shoulders that they’d rather get rid of the weight, than actually face the issue head on. …when the truth is held up, it reflects the false securities that our society rests on: the elitism, the capitalism, the racism, the ableism, the sexism, the homo/transphobia, the xenophobia, the anti-blackness.  And the people who benefit from those systems have a hard time letting go of their privilege within those realms. To escape these truths, silencing has very often been the answer…” (When White People Are Uncomfortable, Black People Are Silenced, by Rachel Elizabeth Cargle, 2019). 

White slave masters silenced resolute male slaves by castrating and or hanging them. “Sassy” enslaved women were silenced by beating and raping them as well as selling their children to another slave master. After chattel slavery ended, some White men donned their robes and hoods before they silenced “uppity” Blacks by burning and bombing their homes as well as churches. Maiming, murder, and other malfeasance were preferable to White racists acknowledging their crimes against humanity.

In keeping with their long history of using violence, radical insurrectionists followed their irrational leader’s call to silence members of Congress on January 6, 2021. More than a year later while seeking to silence critics, the Republican Party deemed the January 6th event to be “legitimate political discourse.”  Moreover, by “rebuking” them, the Party sought to silence Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois (See New York Times, February 4, 2022). 

Of primary concern herein is some elected officials’ and their constituents’ efforts to silence those who would teach the truth about slavery, systemic racism, and other forms of oppression in America. Over the past year, school board meetings increasingly became the venues for ill-informed “anti-CRT,” anti-facemask wearing,” and homo/transphobic folks to engage in violent disruptive acts. For example, Ms. Jessica L. Miley, the University of Pittsburgh’s 2004 Omicron Delta Kappa Senior of the Year, needed a police escort to her car after she spoke on behalf of LGBQT children at a Virginia Beach school board meeting. 

As reported by Sara Gregory (Virginia Pilot, October 9, 2021), “Shortly after she arrived at her first school board meeting, Jessica Miley watched a man with his hand on the knife in his waistband scream expletives at a security officer. She was still wiping away tears when the meeting started. Outside, a crowd kept from entering because of COVID protocols flanked the entrance and chanted ‘let us in.’ After Miley finished speaking, security insisted on walking her to her car. The officer shone his flashlight on her tires to check for tampering. He told the mother of two to get in her car, lock the doors, turn on the headlights and waste no time leaving. That’s exactly what she did.”

Across the country, members of state legislatures have joined the campaign to silence equity and social justice advocates. As Cathryn Stout and Thomas Wilburn indicated, “…So far, at least 36 states have adopted or introduced laws or policies that restrict teaching about race and racism. With 2022 state legislative sessions underway, new legislation is in the pipeline.” In Pennsylvania, several Republican State Representatives sponsored House Bill 1532 to limit how schools could teach about racism.  For details, see (Educators say teaching about race could be at stake in governor’s race - Chalkbeat Philadelphia).

Fortunately, as the equity and social justice silencers engaged higher education, faculty groups at institutions such as Ohio State University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Texas, Austin passed resolutions in opposition to outside interference with academic freedom, particularly interference coming from state legislatures. As Gene Nichol noted, “…external efforts to alter or curtail expression, research, teaching, or publication, or to impose a regime of orthodoxy upon them, threaten the integrity of strong universities and of vibrant constitutional democracies. Such interference thus sins against both our public academic institutions and our appropriately heralded form of government.” (See, Political Interference with Academic Freedom and Free Speech at Public Universities, Washington Post, February 21, 2022). 

When it comes to protecting the autonomy and freedom of inquiry by educators focused on “the elitism, capitalism, racism, ableism, sexism, homo/transphobia, xenophobia, and anti-blackness” that ail America, Trustees, Principals, Presidents, Chancellors, Chief Academic Officers, faculty members, and students must  vigorously resist all forms of silencing. Now is not the time for education leaders to act like “shrinking violets,” i.e., to engage in placation; cower in the face of fiscal threats; or, in sum, be silenced by opponents of academic freedom. If anyone is considering the abdication of their responsibilities by being silenced, then consider the following lines of verse.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

-Friedrich Gustav Martin Niemöller-

Addendum: Since the publication of the foregoing, the following announcement was made: "Teachers need our support; they need our trust; they need to have the freedom to exercise their professional judgment.” NCTE authored a “Freedom to Teach” statement in collaboration with the National Council for the Social Studies, the NCTM - National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Science Teaching Association, and the National Coalition Against Censorship to voice our support of teachers and their freedom to exercise their professional judgment.  Read the Freedom to Teach statement: https://ncte.org/freedom-teach-banning-books/  March 15, 2022  

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

March 3, 2022

  “There’s a certain form of performative white allyship that you can tell is performative because they will spend so much money and work so hard at ineffective solutions—ANYTHING to both look like you were doing something good but also not changing anything.  It’s hard to spot cause people will make a big deal out of how much they’re investing in racial justice work.  But if they’re burning through consultants and running around with an abundance of technical solutions to what is ultimately an adaptive challenge (You get an affinity group!  And you get a scholarship!  And you get two seats on the board!  And we added with 90-page addendum on race to our employee handbook!  And you get a giant budget to train everybody!), then it’s all performative.  Real allies are effective.  Not busy.” 

The above October 7, 2021 statements by Megan Pamela Ruth Madison reflect the growing trend of folks who, once again, are “growing tired of being sick and tired” if not also nauseated because of the snail-like pace with which systemic racism is addressed in America. More than a year after the long, hot summer following the murder of George Floyd, one is reminded of the declaration, “No more forecasts of rain. It’s time to build the ark.” 

As with the many “forecasts of rain” with no completion of the ark, many have grown weary of the diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice rhetoric flowing freely from historically White colleges and universities (HWCUs). There is a rapidly decreasing appetite for seemingly unending and increasingly performative [1] “deep dives” into diversity data; [2] administrators’ proclamations on behalf of their institutions; and [3]  lectures, workshops, seminars, scholarly articles, and books regarding diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice.  In the words of Edgar A. Guest, people would 

“…rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.
The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear;
And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs
I soon can learn to do it if you'll let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true,
But I'd rather get my lessons by observing what you do;
For I might misunderstand you and the high advise you give,
But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.

Instead of performances, those “sick and tired of being sick and tired” would rather “see a sermon” consisting of a prioritized Black agenda that is actively implemented at HWCUS. Such an agenda might consist the one outlined below. 

Black Students. 

Herein, Black students refer to those from the African Diaspora. However, because of the centuries of systemic racism in this country, it is recommended that HWCUs formally declare their highest priority to be Black students who are descendants of Africans enslaved in America. 

Instead of focusing on inputs, i.e., the numbers, percentages and goals for admitted Black students, HWCUs should provide annual data regarding the numbers of Black students retained, graduated, those who immediately enrolled in graduate and or professional schools, and the specific jobs along with salaries acquired within months of graduation. The number of Blacks admitted should be proportional to the number of Blacks in the communities served by the given institutions. Black student graduation rates should be equal to or greater than the institutional norms.

As opposed to across-the-board recruiting, a priority should be placed on recruiting Black students along with retaining and graduating them in fields where Blacks are most underrepresented and for which society has the highest need for educated professionals. Thus, for example, HWCUs should excel at and present the annual results of Blacks graduating in the Natural Sciences, Health Sciences, Engineering, Business, Law and all other fields according to institutional priorities. HWCUs’ student funding should correlate with students pursuing these fields of study.

HWCUs should not wait for a national, regional, or racial crisis to ascertain Black students’ campus satisfaction via hastily called “sensitivity sessions.”  Instead, they should conduct ongoing periodic assessments of Black student satisfaction with their campuses and surrounding communities. Moreover, Black student equity and social justice leaders should be appropriately compensated for their services.

Black Faculty. 

In principle, the priorities should be the same as those stated above for Black students. In addition, for faculty, HWCUs’ Chief Academic Officers should make an annual public presentation of prioritized outcomes such as the numbers of Black faculty members (by academic disciplines, faculty rank and tenure stream status) hired, retained, tenured, and promoted to the highest faculty ranks. For research intensive institutions, the Chief Academic Officers should also provide the specific amounts of external funding for Black faculty members as compared to institutional norms.

Black Administrators.  

Instead of hiring Blacks primarily as Assistant, Associate, and other assistants to White senior administrators along with a plethora of Black diversity and inclusion officers, HWCUs should annually present the numbers of Blacks hired as Department Chairs, Directors of Major Centers, Deans, Provosts, Chancellors, Presidents, Officers of the institutions, and, in short, Black administrators with significant fiscal, personnel, and policy responsibilities. Comparative data should also be presented by race and gender.

Black Business Contracts. 

Instead of a focus on “small businesses” and “minority vendor” programs, CEOs of HWCUs should annually present the names and contract amounts approved for Black-owned and operated companies that received multi-million-dollar business contracts.

Community Engagement. 

Given the systemic nature of racism in areas where many HWCUs are located, there should be ongoing, major intervention projects such as [1] working with a local public school system to significantly close race-related achievement gaps; and [2] the development of the local Black workforce for 21st Century employment.

Without the foregoing type of prioritized and acted upon agenda related to Blacks, we will witness is the continued performative realities described above by Madison. There will be theatrical  acts performed during Black History Month, on the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, during Black Alumni Homecoming Programs, etc. However, at the end of the academic year, we will again hear things such as “We know we haven’t gotten there yet. However, we’re committed and, with your help, surely we will get there.” Then, time will pass; the leading and supporting actors/actresses will change; new “intellectual paradigms” will arise; and equity and social justice will be delayed, unless in the spirit of the Frederick Douglass Theory of Social Change, there is the essential struggle associated with progress. 

Jack L. Daniel (pictured right)

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

October 12, 2021

From its inception until today, America has been a racist, sexist, patriarchal, caste-like society as defined by the White “founding fathers” and sustained by subsequent generations of privileged White men. As such, it has been the structural enforcement of systemic discrimination, not “biological destiny” that contributed to no woman having served as President of the United States and only one known Black man to have done so. 

White men do not systematically earn higher salaries than all other men and women because they have an “inherent acumen” for functioning in a capitalistic society. Rather, many White men and their successors benefitted in extraordinary ways from doing things such as [1] stealing the land of Indigenous Americans; [2] profiting for centuries from the free labor of enslaved Africans; [3] suppressing the right to vote among women and people of color; and [4] implementing immigration policies and practices that benefitted particular groups of Europeans.

Periodically, scholars articulate theories that, in an earthquake fashion, severely shake the foundations of the world view on which the American White, male, racist, patriarchal, sexist, and caste-like society is based. When the theories sufficiently rattle these oppressive foundations by exposing the evils from which they were built, then one political response is the “dumbing down” of the theories.

Herein, “dumbing down” refers to the deliberate oversimplification of liberating theories in order to appeal in a simplistic fashion to those of low intelligence and/or education. Dumbing down is also a sloganeering, propaganda-like way to attack the scholars who articulated the theories as well as the content itself in order to defend the White, male, racist, sexist, patriarchal, and cast-like American society. Those proselytized are told that they must act against the evil scholars and their theories in order to achieve glorious goals such as “make America great again;” “restore traditional values;” and “maintain the moral fiber” of America.

We witnessed “dumbing down” decades ago when “Feminist Theory” was articulated. In response to the valid critiques of the various ways in which patriarchy, sexism, and homophobia oppressed women and others, “dumbing down” took place, for example, by labelling “feminists” as [1] “anarchists” who were determined to “destroy family values;” [2] “bra-burning” women who hated men; and [3] radical women who wanted to destroy the “sacred” institution of marriage. “Dumbing down” critics of feminism decried notions such as “women’s and men’s ways of thinking.” And woe unto the “feminists” who declared that not only was a “woman’s place” not limited to a male-dominated home, but a woman’s place was wherever she wanted it to be.

“Dumbing down” of theories that critique the “White male powers that be” is not just a matter of simple ignorance on the parts of the perpetrators. Rather, what is also operative is what Martin Luther King Jr. perhaps had in mind when he stated, “There is nothing more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” as evidenced, for example, by a school board that sought to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) because it would make children feel rejected, sow divisions among the students, and cause some students to believe they were victims of oppression because of their color (See, The Pilot, May 11, 2021). As noted in the article, “Few speakers addressed the tenets of Critical Race Theory directly…”

Worse than sincere ignorance is deliberate lying about CRT for political purposes as was the case when Ted Cruz, a Harvard Law graduate, stated, “Let me tell you right now, critical race theory is bigoted, it is a lie, and it is every bit as racist as the Klansmen in white sheets.” Whereas Cruz has every reason to be aware of CRT’s basic tenets, others in the forefront of “dumbing down” CRT such as POTUS 45, Marjorie Taylor Green, and their propagandized followers have probably never read a paragraph of the voluminous scholarly CRT literature written by distinguished intellectuals such as Derrick Bell, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado. 

Those who have read a minimal amount of CRT literature know that CRT consists of undeniable basic propositions such as [1] racism has been and continues to be a systemic factor that impacts our educational, economic, legal, political and social systems in ways that contribute to race-related disparities in health, wealth and all other critically important indices relating to quality of life; and [2] as advanced by Kimberle Crenshaw, intersectionality is an analytic frame whereby multiple factors such as race, sex, religion, caste, and gender can be used to account for advantages and disadvantages in American society.  

Instead of a “well-informed citizenry,” we find ourselves in the presence of the “dumbing down” CRT with one diabolical outcome being a new “lunatic fringe” that seeks to ban the teaching of CRT from public schools as well as throughout higher education.  Indeed, “Banning CRT” might well become the “MAGA” slogan for forthcoming elections at all levels of American society. Sadly, some of those seeking to ban CRT are as ignorant as those who hated “Obamacare” but, at the same time, signed up for benefits from the Affordable Care Act. Indeed, “dumbing down” CRT can be as negatively impactful as in the case of the deadly consequences stemming from ignoring the science associated with the Coronavirus.

Regardless to whether it is simple or sincere ignorance and/or devious politically-inspired, essentially the “dumbing down” of CRT is a desperate attempt to maintain the caste-like society that was built on the foundations of Indigenous American genocide, the American holocaust of slavery, and ongoing racist, sexist, patriarchal policies and practices. As these horrendous foundational walls are attacked, of course those who benefitted most from the oppressive system are screaming the loudest. However, as in the biblical story “when the priests blew the rams horn, the army shouted, the walls came tumbling down, the people charged straight in, and they took the city,” the articulation of CRT is but the latest intellectually- inspired “blowing of the ram’s horn” that will help Americans tear down the walls of oppression.  Therefore, folks must “stay woke” regarding the “dumbing down” of CRT lest they be duped by “wolves in sheep’s’ clothing” purporting to defend American democratic ideals.

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban View

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

July 21, 2021

Message from Allegheny County Common Pleas President Kim Berkeley Clark  

As a former prosecutor, lawyer and judge, I take pride in the American system of justice, including the Constitutional protections that all citizens are afforded. I still have faith in our justice system and I am particularly proud of the justice system here in Allegheny County. We are well-respected throughout the United States and we are never satisfied with doing things the way we have always done them. We continue to work to improve our system of justice by making data-informed decisions, by implementing best practices and by working collaboratively with law enforcement and other stakeholders.

Notwithstanding my pride in our justice system, recent events, including the overdue acknowledgement and celebration of Juneteenth National Freedom Day, and the tragic deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, have led me to the decision that the Court must consciously and publicly address the waning public confidence in the justice system amidst the growing and compelling evidence that persons of color are at a greater risk of death or serious bodily injury at the hands of the police and are more likely to languish in the child welfare and juvenile and criminal justice systems than white persons.

These concerns raise questions of whether the justice system in America, including Allegheny County, is actually fair, whether the citizens perceive that our system of justice is fair, and whether, despite our best efforts, the American system of justice is replete with racial and ethnic disparities or operates under the cloud of systemic racism.

While judges have a duty to uphold the law and, in many cases, impose sanctions and consequences on those who violate the law, we have an equal duty to promote public confidence in the judiciary as an independent and unbiased institution. This means that Allegheny County Courts must be at the forefront in addressing these issues. We must undergo an ongoing and critical evaluation of how justice is administered in Allegheny County. It means we must openly acknowledge and address our flaws, rather than rely on the powers and privileges that may allow us to turn a blind eye to them. Please understand that our history is calling us to work collaboratively and inclusively to make positive changes in the justice system that will benefit all citizens.

Engraved above the front entrance of the United States Supreme Court Building, is the phrase “Equal Justice Under Law”. The words stem from the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which was adopted on July 9, 1868, in the wake of the Civil War, and which, among other things, granted citizenship to former slaves. This phrase has shaped American jurisprudence and is considered the gold standard of justice.

Despite the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, our history has demonstrated that justice has not always been equal for many Americans, particularly for racial and ethnic minorities, women, persons with disabilities, those who do not fit into what society has decided are traditional gender roles, and those living in poverty. What we need to do is ensure that we develop a justice system that not only promotes equality, but ensures equity.

To truly achieve justice, the proverbial scales of justice must be balanced. We must take into account the uneven playing field on which racial and ethnic minorities, those who do not squarely fit into traditional gender roles, other disadvantaged persons, and the poor enter the justice system. The public must see members of our local judiciary and court staff working with urgency to attain this goal in equal solidarity with them, with other justice-related institutions, and with each other. The Fifth Judicial District must rise to this generational challenge.

To the hundreds of dedicated civil servants and servant leaders of the Fifth Judicial District, please know that as I acknowledge these pressing questions, I also acknowledge the sacrifices you have made in the interest of serving the public as well as the stress and trauma that many of you endure in your positions. We are fortunate to have judges and staff, police officers, lawyers, victim advocates, and others who are dedicated to public service, who are committed to justice, who demonstrate a strong work ethic, and who possess a keen sense of fairness and respect for humankind. Our Court has been working hard to address the issues of racial and ethnic disparities and systematic racism in the justice system. Some examples of this are:

• Utilization of the PA Detention Risk Assessment, which has significantly reduced the number of juveniles held in pre-trial detention;
• Utilization of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory to help identify the risk factors for recidivism, which has significantly reduced the number of delinquent youth in out-of-home placements;
• Utilization of diversionary programs to prevent entry into the juvenile justice system;
• Establishment of a robust Department of Pretrial Services of Allegheny County;
• Utilization of treatment courts (Mental Health Court, Drug Court, Veteran’s Court, PRIDE Court) to divert individuals from incarceration to treatment;
• Establishment of Housing Court to reduce evictions, and improve judicial access through a Help Desk designed to assist litigants by providing information, forms, and referral resources;
• Implementation of a Language Access Plan to promote equal access for limited or non-English speakers and deaf/hard of hearing court users;
• Fostering collaboration between Magisterial District Judges and community stakeholders to educate the community regarding procedures in landlord-tenant cases;
• The MacArthur Safety and Justice Challenge with a focus on meaningfully addressing the racial and ethnic inequities in the justice system;
• The significant reduction of the population in the Allegheny County Jail and the continued efforts to reduce the population;
• Implementation of Anti-Discrimination and Implicit Bias Training consistent with the 5th Judicial District’s Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy that prohibits all forms of discrimination because of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, or religion;
• Prompt investigation and redress of Non-Discrimination and EEO Policy violations to ensure that all individuals including employees, applicants for employment, litigants, witnesses, jurors, and court volunteers are treated in a dignified, civil, respectful, and non-discriminatory manner;
• Collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics, the Allegheny County Executive, and the Allegheny Department of Human Services to address criminal justice reform.

We have made progress, but the struggle is ongoing. We are committed to collecting and examining the data to identify disparities throughout all divisions of the justice system and will continue to examine our processes and procedures that might contribute to racial and ethnic injustice.

It may be difficult to know where to begin in the quest to create a system of equal justice for all. Consequently, I propose that in order to achieve a system that is both equal and equitable, we begin with a thorough and critical examination of our own mission to the public that we serve. We must have a mission that sets forth the Court’s responsibility to the public and we must evaluate everything that we do in light of our mission.

The mission will conspicuously appear on our website to remind the public that they have a right to justice that is free of bias and that the Court is firmly committed to addressing and eradicating ethnic and racial disparity, implicit bias, and systemic racism in our system of justice. Accordingly, I have asked a diverse group of citizens in Allegheny County and staff of the Fifth Judicial District to assist me with creating a mission for the Fifth Judicial District that truly sets forth our responsibility to all members of the public that we serve.

I am proud to serve as the President Judge of the Fifth Judicial District and thankful for the opportunity to work with judges and court staff who are so deeply committed to public service. In the near future, I look forward to presenting the new mission for the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania.

We will continue to examine our processes and procedures to demonstrate our commitment to equal justice under law and to keep us squarely on the path that will enable us to reach this goal. We will do our best to earn and keep your respect, and to hold ourselves accountable to the public that we serve.

I would like to thank the following people for their input, contribution to, and review of this message: Chris Connors, Angharad Stock, Lisa Herbert, Melinda Sala, Judge Mik Pappas, Lisette McCormick (Interbranch Commission of Gender Racial and Ethnic Fairness) Elizabeth Hughes (ACBA President), and the Administrative Team for the Fifth Judicial District.

“…Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher

…Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration

Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to my nation

… Fear in the air, tension everywhere…”

-The Temptations-

When it comes to police killing Blacks, the realization of justice demands that we not be victims of gaslighting, i.e., “…a form of psychological abuse where a person or group makes someone question their sanity, perception of reality, or memories…” (Jennifer Huizen, July 14, 2020).  For example, gaslighting would have succeeded if police murdered a Black person(s) and, subsequently, Blacks and others accepted the excuse that the police officer(s) were confused when they committed their heinous crimes.  Consider the following “balls of confusion.”  

• In 1999, Bronx resident Amadou Diallo was unarmed but plainclothes police officers were allegedly confused  when they fired 41 bullets into Diallo.  This so-called confusion took place as Diallo, age 22, stood in a well-lighted area.  

• In 2014, a Cleveland police officer, Timothy Loehmann, arrived on the scene and, within minutes, shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice because Loehmann claimed he confused Rice’s toy gun for a real gun.

• In 2018, Dallas police officer Amber Guyger murdered Botham Jean while he was in his apartment eating ice cream, after she supposedly confused his apartment for hers.

• In 2020, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old woman was guilty of no crime when confused Louisville police officers  Brett Hankison and Jonathan Mattingly and Officers Myles Cosgrove executed a “no knock” warrant at the wrong home; broke down her front door; awakened Ms. Taylor from her sleep; and murdered her with eight shots.  

• In March 2021, a Chicago police officer Eric Stillman was supposed to be confused when he shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo, after Toledo had raised his hands without a gun in his hand.  Gaslighting the public, Stillman was said to be confused as he made a “split-second” decision, notwithstanding the fact that the gun in question was on the ground a few feet from Toledo.

• In April, 2021, Daunte Wright, a 19-year-old, was killed by police officer Kimberly Potter during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.  Officer Potter Wright said she confused her Taser with her Glock.  Coming to her defense, former Brooklyn Center Police Chief, Tim Gannon, attempting to gaslight the public by telling reporters, “This appears to me, from what I viewed in the officer's reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright." 

It would take a tome to tell the extent of allegedly confused cops killing Blacks and, therefore, we can only take momentary solace in the guilty verdict for the vicious cop who murdered George Floyd.  

One convicted cop does not aggrieve centuries of police killing innocent Blacks.  Woke folks must remain in control of their faculties by  remembering “…Black people in America are constantly at risk of state-sponsored violence and death. Police still exist to uphold White supremacy and have been empowered by laws and the courts to inject themselves into Black life for any reason, no matter how minor – even expired registrations. And as long as police continue to act as this occupying force and mechanism for social control in Black communities – horrific acts of police violence will be commonplace…” (Paige Fernandez, Policing Policy Advisor, National Political Advocacy Department, ACLU).  

We must never forget the fact that today’s police abuse of Blacks is rooted in the South where “Slave Patrols” were created to “(1) to chase down, apprehend, and return to their owners, runaway slaves; (2) to provide a form of organized terror to deter slave revolts; and, (3) to maintain a form of discipline for slave-workers who were subject to summary justice, outside of the law, if they violated any plantation rules.  Following the Civil War, these vigilante-style organizations evolved in modern Southern police departments primarily as a means of controlling freed slaves who were now laborers working in an agricultural caste system, and enforcing "Jim Crow" segregation laws, designed to deny freed slaves equal rights and access to the political system…” (Gary Potter, 2013).  

Regarding contemporary Minnesota and alleged police confusion related to deadly choke holds, note that W. Lehren and Andrew Blankstein indicated that as of June 1, 2020, Minnesota police had used “neck restraints” 237 times and that three-fifths of the victims rendered unconscious were Black.  One victim was “…a 17-year-old fleeing from a shoplifting incident. Another involved a traffic stop where the suspect was deemed "verbally non-compliant."  Historically, lest we forget, “neck restraint” is a euphemistic term for the extreme tactic previously known as “lynching.”

No amount of “diversity and inclusion” rhetoric/workshops/sensitivity sessions/virtual meetings, etc. will change the forgoing systemic pathology.   A million public pronouncements full of pathos post the finding of guilt regarding the murder of George Floyd will abate the modern modes of murder of Blacks by police.  What is needed with all deliberate speed is a complete reimagining of what it means to serve as a police officer.  Hopefully, many more convictions of confused cops will serve as a catalyst for this endeavor.  If this does not occur, then the May and June 2021 nightly news will be filled with efforts to gaslight ongoing killings of Blacks and, once again, we are likely to experience a long, hot summer.

“If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursèd lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!”

-Claude McKay-

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

April 27, 2021

White supremacy is a long-rooted destructive social determinant that contributes significantly to disparities in education, health, housing, wealth, and, in general, quality of life.  When addressing this Revelations-like “Beast,” we must understand that institutional statements about Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, Diversity, and Inclusion are just statements unless oppressed people force institutions to also proactively pursue equity and social justice. Otherwise, we witness appalling things such as the Rooney Rule being adopted in 2003 when there were 3 Black Head Coaches and, in 2020, there are 3 Black Head Coaches. 

Because of its ability to regenerate, White supremacy deserves responses as rigorous as those made to Covid-19, i.e., systemic interventions by all societal sectors. Regarding Blacks’ responses to White supremacy, this article was stimulated by my colleague, Dr. Curtiss E. Porter (Chancellor Emeritus, Penn State Greater Allegheny)  who wrote, “I am concerned about this generation’s response to White Supremacy…  It appears to me, that they think ‘words are enough,’ which I will generalize in the headline ‘Dear White People.’ They are brilliant in articulating the vectors and intersections of racial substance, thought and action, such as the negative outcomes posed by micro-aggression but, in the end, it appears, that much is directed toward some ‘great white ear’ which will hopefully respond munificently.” 

In the spirit of Sankofa, a backward look was taken to recall what “brought us thus far” and, based on current circumstances, discern implications for today’s fight against White supremacy. This brief reflection confirms, for example, that “Freedom only comes through persistent revolt, through persistent agitation, through persistently rising up against the system of evil.” (Martin Luther King Jr.) As corroborative evidence, consider two significant periods during the war against White supremacy.

1663-1865 The African Holocaust in America, also known as slavery, remains one if not the worst example of inhumanity --one that produced such excruciating suffering that “ride-or-die” folks were needed in the pursuit of freedom. The horror produced by demonic White supremacists led to people who [1] leaped from slave ships into the seas; [2] conducted more than 250 slave rebellions; [3] implemented work slowdowns by breaking tools and setting fire to crops; [4] killed newborns rather than let them grow up as slaves; [5] served as “House Negroes” but spied on masters in order to help “Field Negroes” plan attacks against the master; and, [6] fled from plantations. These were the proverbial “desperate times that required desperate measures,” including the fact that  it took the bloodiest American war to end slavery.

1954-1980  Immediately after the Civil War, there were continued bombings, burnings, lynchings, and shootings of Blacks. Jim Crow laws were passed to enforce racial segregation. Racism became institutionalized. For more than a century, by law and in practice, Blacks were subjugated second class citizens. Therefore, the Civil Rights Movement was driven by a sense of urgency as well as commitment to a wide array of direct actions undergirded by Martin Luther King Jr’s exhortation “…that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” 

Accordingly, instead of simply hoping that White leaders would respond munificently, [1] Black students confronted and made demands on historically White institutions of higher education; [2] Black national organizations won a series of key court cases; [3] Black community activists boycotted, marched, sat-in and made demands on local governments, schools, and businesses; [4] Blacks, by way of urban insurrections, exploded like a “festering raisin in the sun;” and [5] Let us not forget that Dwight Eisenhower sent troops to Arkansas and, later, Lyndon Johnson sent troops to Alabama.

Blacks’ direct action was supplemented by a plethora of efforts to raise “race consciousness,” i.e., [1] to move from an inferior and subservient self-concept as a “Negro” to a proud and self-assertive “Black” mentality; and [2] to gain “Black power” which included Blacks doing for self as well as taking their rightful places in public spaces, e.g., to freely attend public schools as well as build Black owned and operated schools; to work in corporate positions as well as become entrepreneurs; to be fairly covered in the White-owned press as well as create Black newspapers; and to dine at any public restaurant as well as own and operate restaurants. 

2000-2020 “Diversity and Inclusion” replaced “affirmative action” but did not significantly advance “equity and social justice” for Blacks. During this period, members of the “talented tenth” became the first Blacks to occupy various managerial, political, and staff positions; Black students gained a significant but token presence in higher education; and more Blacks escaped the worst of poverty. However, by 2020, disparities were growing like a lethal virus as evidenced by widening gaps in Black home ownership, health, educational achievement, and wealth. This scenario reminds one of when more than 40,000 Blacks got back on the White folks’ buses instead of also building upon the transportation system they developed during the Montgomery boycott. 

Regarding Blacks’ addressing White supremacy, I have a dream that, one day, the very best Black student-athletes, other students, faculty, administrators and staff will choose to take their talents to several leading historically Black colleges and universities and turn them into externally verified world class colleges and universities.  I have a dream that there will be more OWN channels, Tyler Perry Studios, Black law firms, Black banks, Black construction companies, Black grocery stores, and, in general, an exponential expansion of Black entrepreneurship.

In my dream, Blacks will deal with the full implications of Carter G. Woodson’s statement, “The education of the Negroes, then, the most important thing in the uplift of the Negroes, is almost entirely in the hands of those who have enslaved them and now segregate them.” 

I dream of White supremacy withering on the vine when [1] Blacks become the largest active voting block and Black elected officers are multiplied significantly;  [2] Black civic organizations, churches, and families regain their critical importance; [3] Blacks’ undying love for their people is wed to sustained systematic actions; [4] the most talented and highest achieving Blacks constantly speak truth to power instead of being muzzled by “30 pieces of silver;” and [5] the struggle against White supremacy is joined by all people purporting to endorse freedom, justice and equality. 

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

May 13, 2020

“I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, 

When he beats his bars and he would be free’

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,

A plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-

I know why the caged bird sings.”

-Paul Laurence Dunbar-

Wearily we watch as “Black babies face double the risk of dying before their first birthday” (see Gaby Galvin, August 1, 2019).  Tragically, Black teens have the highest probability of becoming a homicide victim.  The most gifted Black child’s life can be halted when a wanton bullet finds its deadly mark.  Black men know that jogging while wearing a “hoodie” and a Covid-19 protective mask could contribute to them being murdered.  Like Sandra Bland, days after a traffic stop arrest, a Black woman can be found dead in a cell, or, as with Breonna Taylor, be aroused from sleeping and murdered during a “botched” police raid.

Far too many Black lives are ones in which hopes are routinely dashed; excruciating pain is daily delivered; spirits are constantly broken; and life is like trying to breath inside a stifling vault.  For no other reason than being Black, these harsh things and more are strapped on Blacks’ backs and, in turn, contribute to the rapid rise in mental illness among Blacks (See Cordilia James and Petersen Pedersen in the Wall Street Journal, July, 21, 2020). 

More than a century after Dunbar wrote the above poem, my father-in-law (Nathaniel S. Colley, Sr.) experienced what all highly accomplished Blacks know, i.e., that “doing the right things” does not provide him/them with a pass to escape the deleterious fate of being born Black in America.  He did his undergraduate work at Tuskegee; earned his law degree from Yale; served as an army officer during World War II; was a NAACP Western Region general counsel; and, while assisting President John F. Kennedy, he agreed to take part in an inspection of military troops stationed in Japan.  

While in Japan, a Japanese citizen sought to understand the extent of White American racism by asking, “Mr. Colley, if you go to Mississippi, will they also put dogs on you too?”  My father-in-law said, “Yes, if I go to Mississippi, they’ll put dogs on me too!”  For the rest of his life, Colley Sr. reminded himself and others that neither his Tuskegee and Yale degrees nor his many distinguished trial lawyer accomplishments would prevent “dogs from being put on him too”  ---that Malcolm X spoke truth when he asked and answered, “What do Whites call a Negro with a PhD?  A Nigger!”

Recently, I had a reminder that “dogs could be put on me too.  The rear deck of my home is about 15 feet from the water that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay.  An armed White police officer walked past my home many evenings and spoke to me as I sat on my deck.  His seemingly friendly “hellos” caused me to have a lapse in judgment, but I was reminded of who I was when I went down to the boardwalk to fish.  

As the White officer approached, I said “Hello,” and he said, “Excuse me, do you live here?” I said “Yes” and, pointing to my home, I added, “I speak to you from that deck behind us when you pass by each evening.”  He said, “Oh and, by the way, you have to move your stool off the boardwalk.  There are no chairs allowed on the boardwalk.”  Noticing the gun strapped on the officer’s hip, I knew being a Black man was in play, not “Dr. Jack L. Daniel, the emeritus Vice Provost and Distinguished Service Professor.”  Hence, I said nothing and moved my stool.  

After the officer left, I thought about what could have happened had I gotten angry, jumped up and asked, “How can you ask me if I live here when, after so many evenings, you passed by my home and spoke to me?”  In minutes, the story could have become, “After fearing for his life, officer accidentally shoots angry man who was breaking the law on residential boardwalk,” followed shortly thereafter with “#Jack L. Daniel, say his name.”

If you are Black in America, then you don’t drive your car; walk down the street; barbecue in a public park; enter your own apartment late at night; fall asleep in the reception area of a dorm hall; attempt to cash a check with “Dr.” in front of your name; or engage in any normal activity without the nagging realization that you could become a fatal statistic.  You can’t be stopped at a red light without the possibility of a White male throwing lighter fluid on you and setting you on fire as was done recently to a Black woman in Wisconsin.  Even in death, as was the case for Congressman John Lewis, racist derived inhumanity was put on full display when, in  their “tributes to John Lewis,” Republican Congressman Marco Rubio and Senator Dan Sullivan mistakenly posted pictures of themselves and Elijah Cummings.  

Notwithstanding the woes of being Black in America, we of good faith will continue to do as John Lewis commanded, i.e., “get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”  We will do so  because we know, as John Legend sang, “One day when the glory comes; It will be ours, it will be ours; One day… When the war is won; When it's all said and done; We'll cry glory, oh glory.”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

July 29, 2020

Mayor Ed Gainey Statement:

"Today is an extraordinary moment in the history of our country. The confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is not only historic, but another significant step forward in shattering the proverbial glass ceiling. Her confirmation represents a milestone opportunity for our democracy to acknowledge the leadership Black women have always exhibited." 

Statement from Johnnie Miott, President of Pittsburgh Branch NAACP, on Senate confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court:
"The Pittsburgh Branch NAACP applauds the Senate’s vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. The nation’s highest Court will finally have a Black woman justice deciding our most significant cases with tremendous impact on our lives and the lives of our families. Today Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson shatters the glass ceiling to finally make room for a Black woman on our nation's highest court. It was 55 years ago that former NAACP Chief Counsel Thurgood Marshall broke down barriers and was confirmed as the first Black American to sit on the Supreme Court." 

 U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released the following statement on the Senate’s confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.  

“Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States is nothing short of historic. For the first time in our Nation’s history, a Black woman will take her seat on our highest court. This distinction is long overdue, but it could not go to a more deserving, well-qualified judge. Rising up to overcome so many barriers, Judge Jackson’s story—and her family’s story—is truly an American story of hard work, sacrifice and commitment to excellence. Her unparalleled professional credentials and the breadth of her legal experiences equal or exceed any nominee in recent history. What’s more, her brilliance and dedication to the rule of law are matched by her graciousness and warmth.  “At its core, our court system, more so than any other institution, is dedicated to the idea that everyone deserves a fair shot at justice and no one is above the law. From her time as a public defender to her tenure on the federal bench, Judge Jackson has long fought to make this ideal a reality. No Supreme Court Justice has ever served as a public defender, until now. Judge Jackson is uniquely positioned to uphold ‘equal justice under law,’ words inscribed on the front of the Supreme Court itself. She understands that our legal system can only work when it protects all Americans; she has lived a commitment to equal justice.  “Today is a good day for America. Judge Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court is an inspiration for future generations, particularly young Black women and girls. Make no mistake, we have a long way to go to make our institutions reflect the diversity of our Nation. For too long, we’ve come up short. But today, we took an historic step forward. I was honored to vote to confirm Judge Jackson to our highest court and I have no doubt she will help realize our highest ideal of equal justice under the law.”

 State House Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton joined lawmakers and advocates today in demanding an end to hair discrimination in the commonwealth. McClinton’s CROWN Act (HB1066) has been held up in the House State Government Committee for over a year.

“It is unconscionable that in 2022 our neighbors can still be denied educational, professional, and employment opportunities based on their natural hair texture or hairstyle,” McClinton, D-Phila/Delaware said. “More and more states and cities have acted to end this often-overlooked form of discrimination, and it is time for Pennsylvania to join them in outlawing this relic of legal racism.”

More than a dozen states, including Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, as well as cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, have already enacted the CROWN Act protections.

McClinton was joined at today’s press conference by Senator Vincent Hughes, D-Phila., and Reps. Summer Lee, D-Allegheny; Patty Kim, D-Dauphin; Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Phila; Morgan Cephas, D-Phila; Donna Bullock, D-Phila., as well as advocates Alicia Allen, Harrisburg NAACP; Darcel Kimble, Harrisburg Chapter, PA Links; Amber Harris, National Coalition of 100 Black Women - Pennsylvania Chapter; Trena Brown and Dr. Ebonnie Vazquez, National Coalition of 100 Black Women- Harrisburg; Robert Bruce Hill, Jr., Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.; Charlene Neal Collins, president, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; Macawi Thomas, student, Cheney University; Maria James-Thiaw, Natural Hair Writer and Poet; Marvetta Coleman, Delta Sigma Theta, Inc.; and Kathy Charles, Alpha Kappa Alpha, The York Pearls.

Video of today’s press conference is available for download.