North Shore-toDowntown march addresses social justice concerns,
An event Sunday that was publicized as an immigration protest turned into an all-encompassing forum for social justice activism as roughly 200 demonstrators marched throughDowntown.
Participants addressed issues ranging from the shooting of Antwon Rose II to President Donald Trump’s immigration policy to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling againstpublic sector unions.
The rally, which began at 2:45 p.m. on the North Shore end of the Roberto Clemente Bridge and ended by 4 p.m. in Market Square, was in part a reaction to the U.S. policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexican border when they are caught entering the country illegally. Under that “zero tolerance” policy, children have been housed in dormitorystyle facilities near the border or transported to other facilities across the country, including Holy Family Institutein Emsworth.
“I spent most of my childhood living in fear,” Fernanda Ruiz, a Penn State University student who qualified for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, told the crowd. “We’re all here today to say that we’ve had enough and we’re all here together.”
Some marchers called for sweeping immigration reform, including a clear pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Immigration, though, was only one issue of many that activists addressed during the protest. Also on their mindswas the recent death of Antwon, 17, who was shot June 19 by East Pittsburgh police Officer Michael H. Rosfeld, 30, of Penn Hills. After days of protests, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. charged Officer Rosfeld with criminal homicideWednesday.
“If you watched the video [of Antwon’s shooting], you witnessed a murder. Point blank. Period,” Jasiri X, an activist, hip hop artist and founder of the social justice group 1Hood, said at Sunday’s march. “We shouldn’t be afraid to call it that.”
Some demonstrators called on the judge overseeing Officer Rosfeld’s case to send him to jail immediately. District Judge Regis Welsh Jr. released Officer Rosfeld on $250,000 bond with electronic home monitoring at the officer’s arraignment Wednesday.
Some protesters came to the demonstration after marching in an East Liberty protest for Antwon earlier in the day.
Demonstrators also decried the Supreme Court’s recent Janus v. AFSCME verdict, in which the court ruled that labor unions cannot require public sector workers to pay fees. Labor lawyer Nancy Parker, who addressed the crowd, said the verdict was aimed “to cripple unions,to divide workers.”
The mix of issues addressed by the protest was aimed to foster “solidarity” among activists who work on a variety of social justice causes, said Wasi Mohamed, executive director of the Pennsylvania branch of the Muslim social justice group Emgage and one of the rally’s organizers.
“All of us are under attack in some way, shape or form and it’s kind of saying to people, ‘We’ve got to come together, stand together and figure out how do we protect each other as well as our own communities,’ “he said.