Pittsburgh’s 19th annual Summit Against Racism takes place Saturday.
This year’s summit coordinator Mary Parker said with so many other events going on this weekend surrounding the inauguration of Donald Trump, she received some requests to move the date of her event.
She said the summit is always held the Saturday after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“It’s just important to come out of a weekend of celebration focused around Dr. King’s ideas around community to immediately then go in that following weekend and build that community literally in Pittsburgh,” said Parker.
The theme of this year’s summit is “Polarization to Cooperation: How do we get there?”
Parker said, in a divided country, that theme gets more relevant every day. She said workshops at the summit are a good entry point for people who want to challenge the status quo.
Workshop topics range from the basics of understanding privilege and oppression and how to talk about racism to more focused conversations such as the role of art in activism.
“Working on becoming less racist is difficult work. I want to say that from the beginning,” Parker said. “It’s not easy to work on taking a stand against racism.”
Parker said the summit offers half-day registration, making it possible for those participating in marches earlier in the day to attend afternoon sessions at the summit.
The Summit was founded in 1998 in response to the murder of a black Pittsburgh man, Jonny Gammage, at the hands of law enforcement.
Proceeds from the summit fund the Jonny Gammage Memorial Scholarship for law students.
