New activist group honors MLK, plans protest

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a new Pittsburgh activist group, We Change Pittsburgh, will march against racism and police brutality.

“The best way to commemorate Dr. King is to continue his work to end racism at home, war overseas and militarism everywhere,” said Julia Johnson, organizer of We Change Pittsburgh.

In a press release announcing the Jan. 19 march, We Change Pittsburgh said the activists “feel that Dr. King’s opposition to war and racism are consistent with the theme of this march.”

Activists will march from 6 to 8 p.m. from the intersection of Bigelow Boulevard in Oakland to the City-County Building on Grant Street Downtown. 

Members of We Change Pittsburgh organized the December Pittsburgh protests against police brutality. Johnson led the way during the three-hour police brutality protest last December. Johnson and roughly 200 students and community members marched for about eight miles through Pittsburgh. 

According to the release, We Change Pittsburgh teamed up with the Thomas Merton Center Anti-War Committee, an organization that advocates for peace and social justice, and several other peace and justice groups to organize the march.

Chief Cameron McLay, chief of Pittsburgh’s Bureau of Police, announced his solidarity with anti-police brutality movements on New Year’s Eve when he was photographed holding a protester’s sign that read “I resolve to challenge racism @ work #EndWhiteSilence.”

“Chief McLay’s promise to challenge racism at work is a step in the right direction, but we will keep marching until police brutality, racism and militarism come to end,” said Pete Shell of the Anti-War Committee in the release.

A message on We Change Pittsburgh’s Facebook page detailed the group’s demands. 

“[We] demand an end to all forms of racist wars: from the domestic war waged against the poor and working Black and Latino communities to the imperialist wars on the poor and working people all over the world,” the group said.