Pitts 2021 Diversity Forum spanned more than 80 workshops and featured events over four days this week covering everything from ableism and anti-racism in academia to transgender issues and empowering change.
In welcoming those attending the morning session on July 28, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said: The Pitt community knows that achieving a more just and inclusive environment wont just happen because we want it to happen, it takes intention and personal reflection, and it takes work.
My hope is that the discussions we engage in generate concrete actual ideas for making the spaces where we live and work more equitable, where everyone is welcome and everyone has an opportunity to thrive.
Below find short synopses of several of the featured events at the forum. For more information, go to the Pitt Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion website. Videos of many of the events can be found on the Pitt Diversity YouTube page.
Speakers:
Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent 30 years on death row in Alabama for a crime for he didnt commit.
Candi Castleberry Singleton, vice president of Diversity Partnership Strategy & Engagement at Twitter
ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU Racial Justice Project
Sheila Velez Martinez, director of the Immigration Law Clinic, co-director of the Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice at Pitt.
Tomar Pierson-Brown, moderator of the session and the associate dean for Equity and Inclusive Excellence at the School of Law.
Key takeaways
Hinton kicked off the 2021 Diversity Forum by sharing his story about how he became one of the longest-serving death row prisoners in Alabama and how he gained his freedom.
You dont know how bad I want to say that the state made an honest mistake, Hinton said. But the state of Alabama didnt make no mistake. The state of Alabama knew from day one, I was not the person who had committed the crime.
Hinton spent 30 years in solitary confinement until he was exonerated in 2015. Bryan Stevenson, attorney and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, reviewed his case and secured his release
And I never will forget, Hinton said. The judge proudly stood up that day and said Anthony Ray Hinton, you have been found guilty by a jury of your peers. And it is the order of this court that I sentence you to death. That judge had the audacity to say, May God have mercy on your soul. The prosecution that prosecuted me could be overheard saying we didnt get the right n***er today, but at least we got a n***er off the street. That is your justice.
Since his release, Hinton has been advocating for the abolition of the death penalty and working to end mass incarceration in the U.S. as a community educator with the Equal Justice Initiative.
I hear people often say that we are dealing with mass incarceration. But Im here this evening to tell you, were not dealing with mass incarceration, were dealing with a new form of slavery. And we must call it what it is.
Hinton still hasnt received an apology or any form of compensation from the state of Alabama.
Donovan Harrell
Speakers:
Valerie Kinloch, (moderator) dean of the Pitt School of Education
Charlene Dukes, principal of The Dukes Group LLC and interim president of Montgomery College
Jason Irizarry, dean of the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut
Tyrone Howard, professor of education in the School of Education & Information Studies at UCLA
Erika Gold Kestenberg, a diversity, inclusion, equity and justice consultant and former associate director of educator development and practice and community engagement at the Center for Urban Education
Christy McGuire, doctoral student and graduate research assistant at the Center for Urban Education.
Shallegra Moye, director of the Center for Urban Education
Key takeaways:
In her opening statements, Dukes said the work of building a just education system depends on collaboration between businesses and industries, community-based organizations, local and state governments.
Howard added that higher education must play a leading role in building a more equitable and just education system by collaborating with community stakeholders to create loving systems that see the best in young people. We have to make sure we are very intentional and making sure that our most vulnerable and historically harmed groups are always going to be prioritized, Howard said. If we can create systems that are just in caring and loving and affirming that prioritizes those populations, I think were on track.
Irizarry commented on the current wave of conservative criticism against teaching critical race theory, calling it a catch-all for any justice-oriented work that addresses race or other marginalized identities. This criticism mirrors similar criticism following the Civil Rights Movement, he said.
Moore said that the dismantling of oppressive systems cannot happen without people recognizing that the systems exist in the first place. And this work shouldve been done a long time ago. We have got to dismantle oppression and get these equitable systems and just communities built like yesterday because theres no more time, Moore said.
Dukes said the key to ensuring that efforts towards improving the state of education in the U.S. are more than just symbolic is not looking for symbolic people, and for University leaders to openly acknowledge the psychological harm caused by placement and standardized tests.
Howard said the work of creating a just education system can be done, but dont expect the work to come without conflict and backlash. The bottom line is, I mean, we cant do this work in a way that is nice, Howard said. We cant do this work in a way thats always going to sort of cater to the status quo. We cant do this work in a way thats going to continue to reinforce the existing systems that we have.
Donovan Harrell
Speakers:
Jacqueline Patterson, founder and head of The Chisholm Legacy Project
Kyle Whyte, an indigenous philosopher and faculty member at the University of Michigans School for Environment and Sustainability
Allison Acevedo, director of the states Office of Environmental Justice
Ali Aslam, an undergraduate member of Fossil-Free Pitt
Jamil Bey, founder and president of PittsburghsUrbanKind Institute
Aurora Sharrard (moderator), Pitts director of sustainability
Key takeaways:
If the world is ever to move away from energy extraction and exploitation, and address the degradation these efforts have caused the planet and its most vulnerable people, were going to need more than a tweak to the system, Jacqueline Patterson said at the Combating Environmental Racism and Injustice session of Pitts Diversity Forum on July 29.
Its not that the system is broken, its that the system is really doing exactly what it was designed to do, she said. The solutions are going to have to go beyond the kinds of solutions that are considered progressive now.
Patterson outlined how BIPOC (Black, indigenous and people of color) communities face environmental injustices: from polluting industrial plants, which are disproportionately located in BIPOC neighborhoods, to living near roadway-area pollution, which affects BIPOC people disproportionately as well; from not having access to healthier food at grocery stores (as opposed to corner stores) to being cut off from energys benefits literally, in the case of disproportionate threats of utility shut offs.
The disasters themselves dont discriminate, she said, but the vulnerabilities do, and they are larger for those in minority and poorer communities.
The cumulative impacts of policies, bad policies, for decades, for centuries, got us to this place, noted panelist Jamil Bey, founder and president of PittsburghsUrbanKind Institute. Where do we put the highway, the plants, the incinerator? Lets put them where property values are lowest where BIPOC and poorer people are living. How do we think of policies that reverse those policies?
One difficulty in Pennsylvania, said Allison Acevedo, director of the states Office of Environmental Justice,is that environmental justice is a policy in Pennsylvania. Its not a law. What can we do? First we have to be prepared as an agency to respond to community concerns.
Kyle Whyte, an indigenous philosopher and faculty member at the University of Michigans School for Environment and Sustainability, noted that indigenous peoples have been left behind from every infrastructure investment in the U.S. To bring sustainable energys benefits to indigenous communities, this country would first need to supply these places with the basics, such as better roads and clean water.
The industries causing climate change, he said, were able to take root because of the disposition of indigenous lands.
Ali Aslam, an undergraduate member of Fossil-Free Pitt, which is pushing the University to divest its endowment funds from fossil fuels, noted that too often the responsibility for the climate crisis is pushed onto individuals. We are told we must get rid of plastic straws, for instance, when much more environmental damage is being done by world-destroying industries like fast fashion, fracking or fossil fuels, he said.
The solution? Keep putting pressure on elected officials to make decisions, Bey said, and reject the idea that it is either/or that it is these workers versus those workers.
We all need to be thinking about campaign finance reform, Patterson said. Too much of our system is being controlled by these well-monied puppeteers in traditional power industries.
Marty Levine
Speakers:
Julie Beaulieu (moderator), lecturer for the Gender, Sexuality, and Womens Studies Program.
Jules Gill-Peterson, associate professor of English at Pitt who is leaving for Johns Hopkins University
Darren L Whitfield, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work and former faculty member at Pitts School of Social Work
Miracle Jones, director of policy and advocacy at 1Hood Media
Ari Rubinson, a registered nurse and transgender man who helps to educate healthcare providers on LGBTQ competent healthcare
Max Reiver, a recent Pitt graduate who worked on numerous initiatives to improve the experiences of Pitt LGBTQIA+ community members
Dena Stanley, founder and executive director of TransYOUniting
Key takeaways:
The main message delivered during this session focused on transgender equality is that its time to move beyond workshops and events like this and start taking action.
I think we have to just say time is up on universities in failing to protect gender diverse communities, Whitfield said, for being silent and passive and oftentimes active participants of oppression and neglect of gender diverse communities.
We have to stop talking and we have to act, he said. I challenge the University to think about action, and that does start with education and it does start with this panel, because I think training and education is important, but that training just cant be for faculty and staff and students. It also has to be of administrators and board of trustees and board of directors.
One area that need attention, Gill-Peterson said is the unprecedented avalanche of anti-trans legislative proposals in over 30 states in the U.S., directly targeting trans people under 18. In particular, bills impeding their equal access to education by preventing them from participating in sports, but also bills banning or outright criminalizing trans health care for young people.
Gill-Peterson, a trans woman of color, said, Theres no secret here. Theres nothing that we need to tell all of you today to raise your awareness or theres no light bulb moment. Its actually just, are you committed to ending forms of racial and gender discrimination and oppression or are you not. She said this applies to Pitt and other higher education institutions who either want more faculty of color or more trans faculty, or they dont.
Miracle Jones said universities also need to look at what theyre funding, researching and teaching. We dont want education to reinforce stereotyping and negative perceptions of people as well, because whats the point of bringing trans students to a classroom and all they get to hear and learn and teach about themselves is stereotypes and negative perceptions of portrayals.
Dena Stanley said her focus is on trans women on color. When you uplift the most oppressed and the most vulnerable people in a community, you uplift the whole community. And right now, black trans women of color are those folks, she said.
Susan Jones
Continue reading here:
Diversity Forum: Featured events covered a wide variety of topics - University Times
- Student-Led Working Group to Abolish GUPD Calls for Greater Community Involvement - Georgetown University The Hoya - April 10th, 2024 [April 10th, 2024]
- Nobel Peace Prize - Wikipedia - January 10th, 2023 [January 10th, 2023]
- Albanese government neuters ABCC ahead of abolition - The Australian Financial Review - October 28th, 2022 [October 28th, 2022]
- 3 Good Reasons You Should Learn More About Angela Davis - Because of Them We Can - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Eradication of forced labor -- striking example of political will - The Korea Herald - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Intrusion impending: what contractors need to know about proposed abolition of the ABCC - Lexology - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- What Does It Mean To 'Abolish the Family'? - ArtReview - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- UN experts call for complete abolition of death penalty as 'only viable path' - UN News - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Opinion | Social justice work must continue - UI The Daily Iowan - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Rank-and-file action committees independent of IG Metall union needed to defend all jobs at all sites - WSWS - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Japan plans to abolish health insurance cards in fall 2024 | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis - - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Are you buying the copaganda? - mlk50.com - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- 'Crown Jewel of Criminal Justice System': Voters In Five States Will Address Legal Loophole That Still Allows Slavery - Atlanta Black Star - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- TUPD aims to connect with Tufts community over coffee - Tufts Daily - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Ex-condemned prisoner relives 11-year wait for hangmans noose - The Herald - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- The Ongoing Fight Against Femicides and Violence Against Women in the Caribbean - Rolling Stone - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- At Tate Britain, Hew Locke Powerfully Reckons with Colonialist Histories and Their Lingering Aftereffects - ARTnews - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Presentation of the Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - World - ReliefWeb - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Sanitation staff on strike over salary delay in Delhi - The New Indian Express - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Human Rights Watch Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Burundi - Human Rights Watch - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- UN experts warn of associated torture and cruel punishment - OHCHR - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- How Lead Belly twice won freedom from prison through his music - Far Out Magazine - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Why don't Popes ever win the Nobel Peace Prize? - Crux Now - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Hunting: Where the end began - Reaction - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Greece is committed to reforming its mass media and protecting personal data - Hellenic News of America - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Standing against war and nuclear catastrophe: lessons from Port Kembla - Red Flag - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Liz Truss warned tax cuts like hers could lead to 'boom and bust' in unearthed 2018 clip - The Mirror - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Opinion | The Puppets and the Puppet Masters - Common Dreams - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Intersecting Drug Policy and Abolition: A Conversation - TalkingDrugs - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Rival parties to lock horns over Gender Ministry in government organization reform plan - The Korea Herald - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Reforms, roll-outs and freezes in the tax and benefit system | Institute for Fiscal Studies - ifs.org.uk - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Kwasi Kwarteng to bring forward planned fiscal statement in another U-turn as it happened - The Guardian - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- IR35 reforms repeal: How it stands to benefit the tech sectors SMEs and contractors - ComputerWeekly.com - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The Future of Truth - Portsmouth Daily Times - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Governor Hochul Names Canal Corporation Vessel in Honor of the Inspirational Life and Legacy of Harriet Tubman - ny.gov - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Tory MPs hit back after threats issued to those opposing 45p tax rate abolition - The Guardian - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- John Hood: Don't That Just Beat All? Neuse News - Neuse News - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Scrapping inheritance tax is a terrible idea - The Spectator - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Reeves: Government instincts in mini-Budget were to cut taxes for wealthiest - LabourList - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The Biggest Exhibitions To See In London And Beyond: Autumn 2022 - Londonist - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Actually, Black Mermaid Folklore Has Been Around Long Before Disneys The Little Mermaid - Yahoo Life - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Build solidarity with rail workers fight! Help strengthen, expand the labor movement! The Militant - The Militant - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- The Most Absolute Abolitionnew book explores abolition and lives of escaped slaves - Socialist Worker - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Democracy Cant Be Reduced to Voting in 2022 We Must Build the Future We Want - Truthout - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Christophe Ferrari denounces the announced abolition of the CVAE - US Sports - US Sports - - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Child labour: Nashik tribals struggle to survive, give kids to goatherds for Rs 10K - The New Indian Express - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Library Takeover Returns: Submit Your Application! | City of Madison - City of Madison, Wisconsin - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Do Britain and the world really need a king? - People's World - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Soka Gakkai International's Nuclear Abolition Work - Tricycle - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Clinton nonprofit funneled $75,000 to 'defund the police' group: report - New York Post - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Cops and Prosecutors Truly Work the Same Side: Ingrid Raphal and Melissa Gira Grant on their FOV Doc They Wont Call It Murder - Filmmaker Magazine - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- The Iran Man Behind the Nuclear Curtain Jewish Policy Center - Jewish Policy Center - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Dorothy Roberts Tried to Warn Us - New York Magazine - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Hear Me Now: The Black Potters Of Old Edgefield, South Carolina - Antiques And The Arts Weekly - Antiques and the Arts Online - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- The Spin | Zimbabwe's upset win should spur England to be good global citizens - The Guardian - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Letter of the week: The Proms deserve better - The New Statesman - September 7th, 2022 [September 7th, 2022]
- Why We Should Abolish the Family Current Affairs - Current Affairs - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- On the Need for Honest Abolitionists. | Jeff Hood - Patheos - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- Chile rejects a progressive constitution with big changes - NPR - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- Where Solidarity, Abolition, and Queer History Meet - The Nation - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- Addressing the sugar crisis long term - Manila Bulletin - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- Experts react: The United Kingdom has a new prime minister. What should the world expect from Liz Truss? - Atlantic Council - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- Explained Books | An eminent cardiac surgeon's account of his work, and of Kashmir - The Indian Express - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- Formerly incarcerated women of color face worse health in later life | OUPblog - OUPblog - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- The crime against humanity that is the modern OS desktop, and how to kill it - The Register - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- Kenya: William Ruto's triumph, By Reuben Abati - Premium Times - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- What shall we do with the climate refugees? - Trinidad & Tobago Express Newspapers - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- Digitisation of records, land reforms turn 'Naya J&K' hi-tech - Rising Kashmir - September 6th, 2022 [September 6th, 2022]
- What year was slavery abolished in the US? - Fox News - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- The United Nations Human Rights Council met for its 50th Regular Session from June 13 to July 8, 2022. - WCADP - World Coalition Against the Death... - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Special Tax Regimes for Mobile Individuals and Their Impact on the EU's Single Market - Bloomberg Tax - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Undergraduate Summer Research Highlights - Newsroom | University of St. Thomas - University of St. Thomas Newsroom - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- A safe and healthy working environment is now a human right - Workplace Insight - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Haryana dismisses alleged abolition of teachers post as baseless - The Statesman - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- New book explores wicked problems facing peace studies scholars and practitioners // Department of Political Science // University of Notre Dame -... - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Universities Are Plundering Cities. How Can This Relationship Change? - Truthout - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Edinburgh should apologise for role in slavery and colonialism, says academic - STV News - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- The inside story of the CIA v Russia from cold war conspiracy to 'black' propaganda in Ukraine - The Conversation Indonesia - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Radical gender theory has now made its way into more than 4,000 US schools - Home - WSFX - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Infanticide: Excitement as 5-year-old reunites with family in FCT - Blueprint Newspapers Limited - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]