New 'Stand for All' organization created in Pittsburgh to combat hate

Community members on Monday launched a grassroots push to bridge cultural and neighborhood divides and curb hate.

The announcement of Stand For All Pittsburgh came during Pittsburgh’s fifth annual Eradicate Hate Global Summit, being held through Wednesday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.

The introduction of the organization, sponsored by The Hear Foundation, comes after acts of political violence across the nation this year. They include the attempted assassination of Gov. Josh Shapiro by arson at his official residence in April, the assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband in June, and — just last week — the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In addition, there have been high-profile school shootings in Minneapolis and Denver since the beginning of the school year.

Now, Stand For All Pittsburgh organizers say, it is time to develop relationships that bridge divides.

Maggie Feinstein, executive director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, who has worked with individuals and their loved ones impacted by the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at Tree of Life Synagogue that killed 11 and wounded six, will act as a member of Stand for All’s Steering Committee.

“I believe that a lot of violence is motivated by a grievance narrative. We have to find somebody to blame for what doesn’t feel good in ourselves,” Feinstein said Monday. “I think we have to figure out, how do we have less of that self hate?”

From Oct. 19 to 25, Stand For All will be hosting Pittsburgh’s first “United Against Hate Week,” which will have a range of programs across the community, educational programs, celebrations of diversity, ways to better understand hate and bias, and ways to learn how to respond.

The United Against Hate Week website has 20 suggestions for action, resources on how to respond to hate, toolkits for schools and local government, and more.

“Just as the events of 10/27 were a deeply moral, social, civic injury to this community … the events of the last week are civic injuries. I think that we hope to prevent that,” said Prabha Sankaranarayan, president and CEO of Mediators Beyond Borders International, on Monday. “We hope coming together as a coalition will help us prevent those kinds of acts, because they are preventable.”

At a news conference, activist Leon Ford — co-founder of The Hear Foundation — reminded the crowd that he was shot five times by a Pittsburgh police officer during a 2012 traffic stop, a life-altering ordeal that pushed him to help train officers on cultural competency and press lawmakers to change use-of-force laws. He gestured behind him, to where Pittsburgh police Sgt. Eric Baker stood.

“You know me as someone who was a victim of violence, right? I was shot five times by a Pittsburgh police officer,” Ford said. “We can model what healing and reconciliation looks because, unfortunately, violence does happen, and when it does happen, we have a choice to perpetuate violence … or to actually focus on healing and reconciliation.”