NAACP: 'We're back ... the streets are ours' Convention vows fight to defend civil rights gains

by Denise Winebrenner

This article was reprinted from the July 19, 1997 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

PITTSBURGH - The streets reverberated with the voices of a new generation of freedom fighters as hundreds of African American and white youth from across the country took over downtown Pittsburgh demanding full equality before the law and an end to police brutality and violence.

"We are here in the streets where we first found ourselves as a people," said Kweisi Mfume, national president of the NAACP.

The rush-hour Youth March to Stop the Violence/Start the Love campaign, shadowed by scores of city cops, answered calls for direct action from the Association's national convention meeting in this Rust Bowl city for the first time in 66 years. The convention opened July 11.

The NAACP youth and college section from Colorado Springs, Colo., lined up behind their hand painted banner, "We Demand Justice for Jonny Gammage." In 1995, suburban Pittsburgh cops murdered African American businessman, Jonny Gammage. The case gained national attention when Allegheny County residents, Black and white, refused to let the case die. However, the five officers were exonerated and one, John Vjojtas, was promoted to sergeant by the borough council of Brentwood.

Dozens of African American teenagers in bright yellow T-shirts from Jeffersonville, Ind. sang "We Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us Around,"an anthem of civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s.

Some African American police officers caught the spirit of the march. Although they asked that their names not be used, one loudly joined in the chant, "Enough is Enough" and another called the police presence excessive. "[The city makes] it appear as if we have something to fear from Black teenagers. If this were a group of white kids, you wouldn't see this," he told this reporter.

At the Grant Street rally, a main downtown artery in the shadow of USX and the federal complex, Kimberly Weaver, 19, chairwoman of the Atlanta, Ga. NAACP Youth Section, articulated the frustration of millions of young people.

"I'm tired. You're tired. Tired of being pulled over [by police]. Terrified of being stopped. Worrying about the 'wrong neighborhood.' We are back in the streets and we will stay in the streets. They belong to us, too."

Terence Williams, 17, from Thibodaux, La. added, "We're tired of what's going on. We're losing patience."

Rev. Jamal H. Bryant, 30, the NAACP national youth and college director, reissued the call for a full federal investigation of Allegheny County police departments on civil rights charges.

"There is a long trail of corruption in the Gammage case that stretches from Pittsburgh to the State House," he told the rally. "It's not just Pittsburgh. It is every city, town and community."

Pittsburgh NAACP President Tim Stevens said NAACP national organization supports the fight against police brutality in speeches and deeds. On Feb. 21, President Mfume and other national NAACP officers joined the Pittsburgh delegation at the Justice Department to deliver petitions demanding federal intervention in Allegheny County. There is no word yet from U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.