Dakota Castro-Jarrett was born and raised in East Allegheny on the North Side of Pittsburgh. Currently a senior at Allderdice High School, Dakota, like so many young people in Pittsburgh, across Appalachia, and around the country has committed himself to building and supporting movements for social, racial, and economic justice. Being raised by parents who he describes as debating politics over his crib, Dakota comes to his political beliefs in part due to their influence, however growing up into a precarious world and city that has been so shaped by the histories and current realities of racial injustice, economic inequality, and climate collapse has also deeply informed Dakota’s understanding of the current world and his vision for a more just future. He has always been a firm believer that “we should be creating a society in which everyone’s needs are met,” and he has lived this commitment to egalitarianism in his work with the Allderdice Black Student Union, the Pittsburgh chapter of the Socialist Alternative, and the East Liberty based #StopTheStation movement.
Randall Taylor, though he prefers to drop his last name—he points out that it “is a slave name,” a vestige of America’s historical ownership of African American people—was born in Homewood and raised in East Liberty on Pittsburgh’s East End. Randall’s work has been based in the community since the 90s when he was hired by the Urban League to help organize the Pittsburgh Coalition Against Substance Abuse. Since then he has served on the Pittsburgh School Board for 12 years, organized against the demolition of the Penn Plaza housing complex and displacement of it’s nearly 300 residents, and worked with organizations like the NAACP and Action United to bring resources and opportunities to Pittsburgh’s Black and working class communities. Through his years of service Randall has not lost his commitment to building a Pittsburgh that lifts up and celebrates its cultural power, that practices true democracy, and that takes care of and centers the needs and wants of its residents instead of monied interests like Walnut Capital, UPMC, or the Fraternal Order of Police.
Randall addresses the crowd at a #StopTheStation teach-in. Photo by Jesse Shussett.
We sat down with Dakota and Randall to learn about the East Liberty based #StopTheStation movement that has been organizing against the reoccupation of the Zone 5 police station and against police brutality, gentrification, and systemic racism more broadly. For some background, In 2008 the Zone 5 precinct moved from East Liberty to its current location on Washington Blvd. at the edge of Highland Park. Last November Mayor Peduto announced, much to the surprise of East Liberty residents, that the precinct would be moving back to a newly renovated station at its former location—a project that would cost taxpayers nearly 3 million dollars. When the nationwide uprising for racial justice began this summer after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others, the #StopTheStation movement looked to harness the momentum and passion of the movement into local efforts to combat systemic racism in our neighborhoods and city government. The leader-full, democratic people’s movement announced three demands for city officials:
Stop the relocation of the Zone 5 police station! Suspend all police-related capital budget projects pending community review.
Defund the police by at least 50%! Reinvest these funds in democratically-owned and permanently affordable housing, social services, and public health initiatives.
Bring the police and public safety under the full control of a democratically elected civilian board with the power to hire, discipline, fire, subpoena, review budget priorities, independently investigate and determine the usage of police.
East Liberty’s gentrification and transformation from one of the most diverse and integrated communities in the city, full of Black owned businesses and a hub for Black and working class communities to the home of Google, unaffordable housing, Target, and Bakery Square has not gone unrecognized. Many of these changes came at the cost of connection and available gathering space, affecting not only businesses, but public space. The local middle school that doubled as a community space was closed and turned into luxury condos, huge investment has been made in “development” projects such as welcoming Google, high end retail establishments, and luxury realty, and, infamously, the Penn Plaza apartment complex was demolished. This was the building that Randall lived in before its residents received notice that they had 90 days to vacate. This displaced nearly 300 people from the affordable and beloved apartment building. “I loved living there,” Randall told us, recalling the panoramic view of the East End from his 9th floor apartment. And though he and the other Penn Plaza residents fought hard to stay in the homes that they loved so much, organizing the Penn Plaza Support and Action coalition to push back, the owners would not concede. This was a fight against the giants LG Realty (the owners of the building) Amazon and Whole Foods, (the current owners of the now empty lot where Penn Plaza previously lay), and Mayor Peduto himself, who personally condoned the displacement of nearly 300 vulnerable citizens by signing the papers which allowed for the demolition. Though the public housing at Penn Plaza could not be saved, Randall’s sense of justice prevails: “I knew it was a grave injustice that had been done in this city so I promised that I was not gonna let that slide if there was anything I could do to hold this city and LG Realty accountable for what they had done, I was gonna do [it].”
Dakota leads chants at a protest to #StopTheStation in East Liberty. Photo by Steve Capri.
Though Dakota notes that East Liberty is “notorious in Pittsburgh because it’s one of the most insane examples of gentrification in the city,” he explained that he too has grown up in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood on the North Side. “The community has been aggressively gentrified, so a lot of my friends that used to live here don’t live here anymore.” He described how dozens of unhoused people can often be seen in Allegheny Commons Park where we met, despite there being houses lying empty just blocks away as well as unaffordable, upscale apartment complexes lining the neighborhood. “It’s so paradoxical because the reason that homeless people exist isn’t because there isn’t enough housing or because there aren’t enough places to properly treat the issue, there are. The reason it exists is because it benefits them, it benefits them to have a layer of people who are suffering, who can be easily exploited, who are willing to take those horrible low paying jobs, who are willing to not unionize. I don’t think you need to be aggressively political, you just see it happen and you gain that understanding. It’s something that is just the reality of living in Pittsburgh now.”
Dakota and Randall have made explicit that the issue of gentrification and the struggle for affordable housing are inextricably linked to issues of police brutality, racism, austerity politics, and worker exploitation, and the #StopTheStation movement has worked to highlight those connections. “It’s not just a struggle against police, it’s not just a struggle against racism, it’s not just a struggle against gentrification, because all of them, especially under capitalism, are connected and they never will not be connected. And if you have to fight against one you have to recognize that you’re fighting against all of them,” Dakota told us.
Randall, Dakota, and Steve (l to r) at a protest to #StopTheStation in East Liberty.
In Randall’s words, “the Mayor announced the move of the Number 5 Station last November and you just open up the newspaper—now Homewood is viciously treated like that, where you actually have to open up the newspaper to see what’s going on in your community—but it happens in a lot of places and it certainly happens here. It just shows you who is in control of this city. Walnut Capital, these developers, they’re calling the shots. We still have no idea who said we need to bring the number 5 station back. We know it wasn’t the residents because we don’t have a crime problem in East Liberty, we don’t have a crime problem in Pittsburgh. So that’s where I think #StopTheStation comes in—we live in a place where the people are just here, [and] city policy is done for somebody else. It’s certainly not done for our people, our neighborhoods, [or] our youth. It’s certainly not.”
Each of their lived experiences, along with the deep legacies of movements for social, economic, and racial justice offer Dakota and Randall clear critiques of how undemocratic and unjust our current systems are. And yet they readily respond to this analysis of our world with visions for a more just future. Both Dakota and Randall spoke about their visions for East Liberty, for Pittsburgh, and for the country, imagining a future where people can live in health, where communities have the right to self-determination, and where true democracy is practiced; a future where Black lives matter and police brutality is a thing of the past; a socialist future where caring for families and communities is a higher priority than the profits of developers and corporations.
“I just love East Liberty,” Randall told us. “It’s been a part of my whole life and I have such wonderful memories of growing up here, so I just love it. I just love it. I love it still, but we’re struggling to hold onto that part of East Liberty.”
Dakota and Randall represent two generations of Pittsburgh organizing for social, economic, and racial justice. They embody the current iteration of a long legacy of intergenerational, youth-led movements for justice in Pittsburgh, in Appalachia, and in this country. They embody a deep love for this place and its people and a belief that we can build an East Liberty, a Pittsburgh, and a world that is just and made for the flourishing of all.
When asked how people can support their work, Dakota emphasized that he thinks “the most important thing you can do to help out is get directly involved. Any movement is only as powerful as the people who are involved in it, and we need as many people involved in this movement as possible. Whatever way you can, whether that’s helping out through canvassing, whether it’s helping plan actions, whether it’s through just coming to the general meetings that we host online and just sharing your opinion on where the movement is going and what you want to see.” Randall encouraged people to “educate themselves about how deeply undemocratic this city is and then try to support people who are out there in the streets. If it’s just a letter to the editor or a phone call to the radio station or a phone call to your council person or state representative, that’s how people can be helpful with what we’re trying to do.” Currently, #StopTheStation is organizing for democratic control over the police by demanding a democratically elected civilian oversight board of the police that would have the power to hire, fire, discipline, subpoena, control budgets, and set policy. If you are interested in learning more about #StopTheStation or getting involved with their work check out their website at stopthestationpgh.com.
Jalina, the forum moderator, addresses a large crowd as she stands in front of empty chairs placed and labeled for each invited city representative at the #StopTheStation organized “People’s Budget Forum” in October. Photo by Jesse Shussett