The message was often strident, but the mood of Friday afternoon’s “Still We Rise” march was spirited. More than 1,500 demonstrators, some in strollers, marched down Grant Street under the wing of a gold-crested phoenix, a mythical bird whose rebirth from its own ashes captured the march theme.
“It was beautiful, it was powerful, and it was peaceful,” said Erin Kramer, the head of local activist group One Pittsburgh.
The march drew support from People’s Convention, a two-day gathering of left-leaning community activist groups from 30 states. Demonstrators wielded caricatures of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and UPMC head Jeffrey Romoff, in complementary shades of red-orange. And they made frequent stops along Grant Street, where speakers denounced what they saw as cases of racial and economic injustice.
A key concern was rising distrust between police and minority groups nationwide. This week, two African-American men, Louisiana resident Alton Sterling and Minnesota resident Philando Castile, died at the hands of police. Five officers were killed by a sniper during a Thursday protest in Dallas.
Outside the Allegheny County Courthouse, demonstrators chanted “Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail. The whole damn system is guilty as hell.” Still, while a stepped-up police presence was noticeable during the march, there was little tension.
“I’m not feeling any concern” about the marchers, said Police Chief Cameron McLay, who was on hand for the event. Police, he said, were watching for “what else is out there,” including possible attacks on the marchers themselves. The chief called the event “a positive demonstration of First Amendment rights.”
Michelle Tremillo, executive director of the Texas Organizing Project, said members of her organization had participated in the Dallas protest. "It took us until 1 a.m. to make sure that all of our people were home safely," she said. "I was struggling to be here."
"My heart aches for Alton’s family, my heart aches for Philando’s family, and my heart aches for those police officers and their families," Ms. Tremillo said.
But she and others said they hoped shock over the Dallas shooting wouldn’t obscure the racial- and economic-justice issues raised by the march. "I'd hate for that to get lost."
Outside the federal courthouse, demonstrators called for the release of Martin Esquivel-Hernandez, a Mexico-born Pittsburgh resident facing deportation. In May, the Department of Justice said Mr. Esquivel-Hernandez had previously been removed from the United States four times. But Friday his wife, Alma, held aloft his shoes and through an interpreter called him a “father of a U.S. citizen [and] a hard worker. The system has failed him and all of us.”
The march ended outside Republican Sen. Pat Toomey’s office in Station Square, where demonstrators decried fracking for natural gas.
“We wanted to display unity and make the connection between racial justice and economic justice,” said Ana Maria Archila, a co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, which is hosting the convention. “And the march really achieved that.”
Chris Potter: cpotter@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2533.
Coming Sunday in the Post-Gazette: Security measures for the Cleveland GOP Convention.
First Published: July 9, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
