Jeannette, Irwin racism protests peaceful, well-attended

Allyson Dinsmore of Unity had reservations about throwing her support behind her father Ron’s idea: to hold a rally in downtown Jeannette calling for justice for George Floyd.

“As a white woman, I wasn’t sure if it was my place to ask for people to come out in support,” she said.

She’s glad she did, though, as more than 150 people met up in the Magee Avenue parking lot Saturday afternoon as Dinsmore, local pastors and others decried racial injustice.

“We want to stand with our neighbors, decry what happened to George Floyd and to other people of color, and to let our neighbors know we’ll stand and walk with them,” Dinsmore said.

In Irwin, a crowd of nearly 300 packed one end of Irwin Park during a demonstration organized in part by Norwin High School student Lily Jarosz.

“We experienced a lot of backlash,” said Jarosz, 17. “But we could not be more happy with the turnout, that people from not just our community but outside the community are coming in to enact a much-needed change.”

Both protests were among those that have occurred daily across the nation since George Floyd was killed at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer May 25. That officer and three others have since been fired and charged in his death.

Shawn Short, 28, attended a protest earlier in the week in his Greensburg hometown, and decided to attend the Jeannette protest “because I had to make sure that our voice is heard peacefully.

“This is a war on racism,” he said. “This isn’t black-versus-white. It’s a war on racism. At the end of the day, I shouldn’t know that Trayvon Martin died unjustly. I shouldn’t know Breonna Taylor died unjustly. There’s too many people, random people, who were just trying to live a normal life, and were taken away because of racism and hatred.”

Kristin Gault, who recently moved to Jeannette, said the “temperament of the world” is what brought her to the Magee Avenue parking lot.

“Everyone needs to stand up, be seen and fight the division that’s happening,” Gault said. “And I want to support my community.”

Police in both communities were present on the outskirts of each event, and county emergency officials said both events came off without incident.

Pastor Robert Ross of Heritage Baptist Church in Jeannette praised those in attendance.

“We can all say it has to stop, but we have to do something to make that happen,” Ross said.

Lisa Keller of Irwin, holding a sign that said “Eracism” — a play on “erase racism” — has taken part in protests in Downtown Pittsburgh, and was both surprised and proud of the turnout in Irwin Park.

“This is my little hometown,” said Keller, who has lived in Irwin for more than two decades. “It is a very homogeneous community. There’s not a lot of diversity … I’ve always felt strongly about civil rights, and I was just so pleased that students from Norwin High School decided to put this together. I’m impressed that this number showed up.”