The 23rd Annual Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit

The Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit, formerly the Summit Against Racism, is a one-and-a-half-day conference dedicated to providing resources and spaces for community dialogues, sharing strategies and experiences of organizing for racial justice, healing from racial trauma, and providing connections to social support services for all attendees. Our theme for 2021 is “Rise, Revolt, Repeat: Building Sustained Movements for Justice.” The Summit, first held in 1996, was convened in response to the death of Jonny Gammage, a thirty-one-year-old Black man who was murdered by four white police officers in a suburb on the outskirts of Pittsburgh.

This year, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, all Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit events will be held on Zoom. Select sessions and a Keynote will be accessible on our YouTube channel post-event. The Keynote is on Friday night and the Summit is a full day of panels and sessions on Saturday.

The Summit’s goal is to underscore the necessity and importance of critically re-evaluating our respective histories, specifically the impact of white supremacy and how it has caused widespread dehumanization and exploitation throughout global and local history. Workshops and panels will confront historical and current racial issues, including social, economic, political, immigration, and environmental justice.