PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 140 stations in North America. Pioneering the largest public media collaboration in the U.S., Democracy Now! is broadcast on Pacifica, community, and National Public Radio stations, public access cable television stations, satellite television (on Free Speech TV, channel 9415 of the DISH Network), shortwave radio and the internet.

Starting in 2004, Democracy Now is airing in Pittsburgh every weekday on WRCT 88.3 FM at 8AM (and rebroadcast at 9AM on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays). Until technical issues are resolved, the shows are tape-delayed by one day.

[ more info on: Pittsburgh Campaign for Democracy Now | WRCT 88.3 | DN! | Pacifica ]
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On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Pittsburgh, groups marched in the Hill District and Downtown to call on calling on District Attorney Zappala to prosecute muders of African Americans by police officers.

One case, that of Michael Ellerbe, involved an unarmed 12 year old boy. Running from police, Ellerbe was shot from behind in Uniontown. His case has yet to be prosecuted.

The parents of another victim of police violence, Bernard Rogers, were present. Rogers was killed during a "confrontation" with Pittsburgh Housing Authority police on November 15, 2002, allegedly under suspicion that he was selling marijuana. He has not been determined to have committed any crime. Ballistics evidence shows that he was shot at a downwards angle from behind, most likely when running away from police, evidence that contradicts the testimony of co-conspirating police officers.

People Against Police Violence founder Renee Wilson said that the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King has been watered down since his death in 1968. Action has been replaced with prayer breakfasts, she said.

[ Photos: 1 2 ]

On September 27th, 2002, 100 Pittsburghers headed to Washington, DC to participate in the national People's Strike, part of a protest against the policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Others were there for a separate protest of the looming war in Iraq and ongoing war in Afghanistan. Many were arrested preemptively under orders given by Chief of Police Charles Ramsey near Freedom Plaza in downtown DC. Now the City has acknowledged in an internal review that the arrests were illegal.

The first wave of court cases arising from the illegal arrests has resulted in a settlement with the city for $7,000 per protestor for a group of three student reporters swept up in the mass arrests. More than 400 protestors and bystanders were arrested in total, some of whom spent more than 24 hours handcuffed hand to feet and detained on a city bus or on the floor in the District's Blue Plains Police Academy. [ Story ]

Although judgments favoring the other protestors involved in a separate class-action lawsuit is not guaranteed, many already have a plan for what to do with their money: donate it to relief efforts in Afghanistan and efforts to help the homeless in DC or anti-police brutality causes there.

[ Washington Post Story ] [ Original Feature Story ] [ DC Features | Group 1 Group 2 ]
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Late in the afternoon on December 31, 2003 the Pittsburgh City Council adopted the operating budget for the next year. In an action that brought loud sighs of relief from the Downtown corporate towers to the Beechwood Boulevard mansions, the City Council decided to forget about all but parking tax revenue and just screw the poor instead. “Bravo!” shouted the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

[ Read more... | drums of economic justice audio ]
[ Previous coverage: 9/20 photos, video ]