Hundreds march through Downtown Pittsburgh against racism, call for change in third week of protests

A couple hundred people snaked through Downtown Pittsburgh streets Tuesday to protest police brutality and racism in the city’s third week of demonstrations following the death of George Floyd.

The peaceful protest began around 1 p.m. when participants gathered outside the City-County Building.

Protests erupted around the nation and world, including in Pittsburgh, after Floyd, a black man, was killed by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd’s death was ruled a homicide.

Chauvin, who during an arrest placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, faces second-­degree murder and other charges. Three other officers who were fired also face charges.

Since May 25, demonstrators have called for police reform, reduced police spending and new legislation aimed at stricter punishment when police improperly use lethal force. In Pittsburgh, black activists have called on Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald to implement a dozen changes, including cutting the police budget and redirecting that money to various social programs as well as removing police from schools.

Nick Anglin, 18, of Penn Hills urged the crowd to lobby for change to Pennsylvania’s law governing police’s use of force in making arrests.

“It’s subjective, and an officer can believe you are a threat and use lethal force against you,” he said. Anglin, a co-founder of Black Young and Educated (B.Y.E.), was not the organizer of Tuesday’s protest. He said he was there to support the movement.

After some chants and words of instruction directed at white protesters to make space for black protesters at the front of the line, the crowd began to march down Grant Street around 2 p.m.

Marching down Grant. Toward Fifth. #PittsburghProtests pic.twitter.com/1iH9CAI7Ev

— Dillon Garrett Carr (@dillonswriting) June 16, 2020

Shortly after, the protesters formed a circle at the intersection of Smithfield Street and Liberty Avenue. There, protesters chanted, sang songs and listened to speakers share personal stories of racism for over an hour.

One of them was Ma E.C. of the Pittsburgh Black Comedy Association. She declined to offer her full name.

“What does color matter when you need a blood transfusion — when you need an organ donation? What does color matter at this point?” she said. “But I’m preaching to the choir. You all here — you get it. It’s the people who aren’t here … Let this message travel beyond Liberty Street today.”

At one point during a sit-in at the intersection of Smithfield and Liberty, organizers began to use chalk to scribe messages: “Black Lives Matter” and “Say His Name.”

They also denounced the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for recent actions that, according to the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, banned a black reporter from covering protests for the paper after she sent a tweet that PG management deemed to be biased.

The reporter, Alexis Johnson, filed a federal lawsuit against the paper Tuesday that claims the PG’s actions against her were racial discrimination and retaliation.

A black PG photographer, Michael Santiago, was pulled off an assignment to cover protests in Pittsburgh after he voiced support for Johnson via Twitter. He has since taken a buyout that was offered employees at the paper in May. The Guild claims other actions were taken against numerous other staffers who voiced their support for Johnson.

At several points during the protest, one organizer, who declined to identify herself, asked protesters to raise their hands to show if they had donated to Black Lives Matter causes. She then called out protesters who did not raise their hands.

“Why not?” she asked one protester.

The protester, a young white man, said: “I’m 16. I don’t have any money.”

She then asked protesters what they could do if they don’t have enough money to donate to Black Lives Matter causes.

Protesters shouted out responses such as “vote,” “sign petitions,” and “call out racism in the workplace.”

Around 4 p.m., the group stopped at the intersection of Grant Street and Seventh Avenue, where they sat to sing and chant. They sang “Which Side Are You On?” — a song originally written by a Kentucky union organizer in 1931 — for 12 minutes.

Stopped on intersection of Seventh and Grant at the moment. More chanting, singing. #PittsburghProtests pic.twitter.com/QPUSH0lkz0

— Dillon Garrett Carr (@dillonswriting) June 16, 2020

Protesters then chanted “Turn up, don’t turn down — we do this for Antwon.”

Antwon Rose, 17, was shot and killed in June 2018 by officer Michael Rosfeld, then with the East Pittsburgh police, during a traffic stop. Rose, along with Zaijuan Hester, were suspects of a drive-by shooting in North Braddock. A jury acquitted Rosfeld of homicide in March 2019 after a four-day trial.

The protesters began to march down Seventh Avenue around 4:35 p.m., where they eventually surrounded the Wood Street T Station until officials there closed it by shutting off the entrances.

#PittsburghProtests Protesters are surrounding the Wood Street Subway Station. pic.twitter.com/c3eUjzM1Jd

— Dillon Garrett Carr (@dillonswriting) June 16, 2020

At around 4:45 p.m., one protester knocked over a trash can along Liberty Avenue. Several people in the crowd discouraged the action, while others picked it up and placed the spilled trash back inside.

The group made its way down Liberty Avenue until turning onto Stanwix Street and eventually onto Boulevard of the Allies. It then turned onto Grant Street to head back to the City-County Building where the protest started.

When they arrived, organizers led a few additional chants before encouraging people to disperse and “go home.”

Pittsburgh Public Safety did not report any arrests or incidents during Tuesday’s protest.

Editor’s note: A paragraph about instructions at the beginning of the march has been revised, removing the direct quote.