When a new Allegheny County Council is sworn in in January, it will have a lone African American representative: DeWitt Walton who is succeeding Bill Robinson as the District 10 representative.
Khalid Raheem, founder of the New Afrikan Independence Party, is trying to prevent that by running for the District 13 seat.
“I think it’s important to bring a fresh perspective to Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, noting that people of color should have other options beside the Democrat or Republican Party,” he said. “Both have failed the Black community in dealing with systemic structural problems we have. We need a party that speaks to our needs. The New Afrikan Independence Party can be that party.”
Raheem, the longtime leader of the National Council for Urban Peace and Justice, is probably best known for his work alongside Richard Garland in arranging a cease fire between rival gangs during the city’s worst gang violence in the 1990s.
More recently, his New Afrikan Independence Party has been monitoring the arbitration battle between the City of Pittsburgh and the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge Number 1 over issues such as residency, pay and staffing limits.
Raheem has recently been focused on pursuing justice for Blacks who have been victims of police brutality. But as a council representative he said he would continue his long fight to reduce street violence in Pittsburgh, and specifically in the 13th District.
“I’m not going to reveal our entire strategy, but we are looking at addressing issues of unemployment, underemployment, mass incarceration, poverty, education and housing,” he said.
“While Blacks are disproportionally disadvantaged in all these categories, I want to make it clear that what we are pushing will benefit all the residents of the district.”
Raheem said he also plans to address the paucity of Black workers on the many city and county funded construction projects currently underway, and the ongoing issue of income disparity.
“I also think we have to work on preserving our environment in our parks and around schools,” he said. “I realize there are economic and employment opportunities with fracking, but we have to have a balance and first make sure our homes and families are safe.”
Though there is no Republican running in District 13, Raheem faces more than just the usual long odds of a write-in candidate. His Democratic Party opponent for the seat is Denise Ranalli-Russell, a barbershop owner from Brighton Heights who, with the backing of the county committee, defeated County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s handpicked candidate, attorney Dan Connolly.
Raheem said he has a plan to get his message to the district’s 95,000 residents.
“We’ll take our message to the voters. Yeah, it’s a big district, but we’re going to lay it out and urge people to come out and vote. Naturally we want to get Black voters and we will stand firmly on issues affecting the Black community, but we will make it clear that our agenda will benefit everyone in the district.”
The District 13 seat is open because current representative labor attorney Amanda Green Hawkins opted not to run for another term. The district includes large sections of Pittsburgh, including Downtown, the North Side which includes Manchester, Woods Run, Brighton Road, Perrysville, Riverview, Fineview, Troy Hill and Spring Garden, the South Side Flats and Slopes, Allentown, Beltzhoover, Lawrenceville, The Strip District, Polish Hill, Latimer Jr. High School-H.J. Heinz Co. area, and the Borough of Bellevue.
(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)
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