Pitt, high school students rally for Freddie Gray

In a show of solidarity, local high school students and young Pittsburgh activists took a stand to display their angst over the death of Freddie Gray Saturday night..

Police estimated approximately 200 people attended a rally in Schenley Plaza at 6 p.m. to remember Freddie Gray, the Baltimore man who died after suffering a spinal injury while in police custody in April. The rally came on the same day that Baltimore District Attorney Marilyn Mosby charged six police officers in the Baltimore Police Department with murder and manslaughter in the arrest and fatal injury of Gray.

Joan Mukogosi, 16, of the Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh, along with several of her classmates, organized the rally.

The students spoke about the importance of young people participating in the fight against police brutality and racism.

“People don’t think [students] know about it or care about it,” Mukogosi said. “We talk about people dying in the streets. We’re students, we’re learners.”  

Older activists, too, like Julia Johnson with We Change Pittsburgh, a social justice organization for the Black Lives Matter Movement, made passionate speeches.

“Whether or not an officer is racist in his heart, if they are not held accountable, the death rate will continue to rise,” Johnson said.

Many of the speakers, like performance artist Devyn Swain, 28, of Penn Hills, emphasized the effects of social media on social justice movements.

“I have been the biggest arm-chair activist,” Swain said about using social media to promote causes. “But we need to come out here and put our names on the line.”

Swain also attended one of the police brutality marches in Oakland in December. Swain said participation has shrunk since then, and he doesn’t want people to forget about the cause.

“When you’re hot, bothered and uncomfortable, you’re more likely to come out,” Swain said.

But his goal is to keep the energy alive.

“If I’m not changed when I walk out of that place, then it’s just an exercise in futility,” Swain said.

Mukogosi, who is half-Kenyan, said the fight was not just about black men. The movement aims to improve the lives of women of color, transgender people and international citizens.

Mukogosi said she was happy with the night’s turnout, but expressed her disappointment with the national atmosphere for people of color in the past few months.

“In some ways, it has changed for the worse,” Mukogosi said. “The number of black people killed has gone from one every 28 hours to one every eight.”