Title
Resolution Declaring that Black Pittsburgh Matters in the City of Pittsburgh.
Body
WHEREAS, Article I, ? 26 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania provides that, "Neither the Commonwealth nor any political subdivision thereof shall deny to any person the enjoyment of any civil right, nor discriminate against any person in the exercise of any civil right."; and,
WHEREAS, on December 23, 2019, the Honorable William M. Peduto, Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh, signed into law Resolution Number 843 of 2019, declaring racism a "public health crisis" in the City of Pittsburgh, a Home Rule municipality and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh recognizes the history of racism in our country and how it has led to many current-day disparities in education, health and safety, job attainment, income and wealth, housing and healthcare, disproportionate incarceration rates for people of color and other pernicious systems of injustice. The City further recognizes the existence of white privilege, meaning the systemic advantages that white people have relative to non-white people; and,
WHEREAS, City of Pittsburgh recognizes the need to examine seemingly neutral policies and practices to determine whether they are contributing to racial inequity and, where needed, change or eliminate the policy or practice as the city has a long history of decision and policy making that has resulted in classist and racist outcomes; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh Gender Equity Commission's "Pittsburgh's Inequality Across Gender And Race" report concludes that Pittsburgh's Black residents could move to almost any other U.S. city of comparable size and have a better quality of life; and,
WHEREAS, one of the major the consequences of Pittsburgh's institutional racism and discriminatory practices is predominately Black communities of concentrated intergenerational poverty; and,
WHEREAS, the challenges of po...
Click here for full text