DR. JAMES JOHNSON, co-founder of the Afro-American Music Institute, in Homewood, addresses the controversy surrounding Juneteenth payments during a news conference, Aug. 14. (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)
When “Dr. J,” James Johnson, co-founder of the esteemed Afro-American Music Institute in Homewood, speaks, people listen.
When Tim Stevens, the decades-long community activist and leader of the Black Political Empowerment Project, speaks, people listen.
Collectively, they are “angry as all-get-out” about the fact that as of Aug. 20, 2024, the City of Pittsburgh has not paid the $125,000 to B. Marshall’s 2024 Juneteenth celebration, even when Pittsburgh City Council voted in June to award B. Marshall and the POISE Foundation the money.
However, the City of Pittsburgh practically raced to the bank to pay $125,000 to Bounce Marketing and Events, the company that put on the city-sponsored Juneteenth celebration (Fusion Fest). The check, the New Pittsburgh Courier has learned, was “cut” to the company on June 27, two days before the June 29 “Fusion Fest” Juneteenth event occurred.
“We have been there from Day 1 supporting (B. Marshall),” voiced Dr. Johnson, during a news conference, Aug. 14, outside City Council chambers, Downtown. “He’s bringing this city together with different ethnic groups, the White community, and letting them understand how Black people operate and how Black people come together for Juneteenth. For the City Council to approve a resolution to pay us $125,000 and we don’t get it, there’s something going on behind closed doors that I don’t understand.”
B. MARSHALL AND DR. JAMES JOHNSON speak to reporters during a news conference, Aug. 14. (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)
B. Marshall, who was also at the news conference, said that the Afro-American Music Institute fronted B. Marshall some money to help pay for Juneteenth celebration expenses. As long as the city doesn’t pay the $125,000 to B. Marshall and the POISE Foundation (B. Marshall’s fiscal partner), “Dr. J” can’t be repaid.
“I’ve traveled around this nation to other cities…and I know there’s divisiveness among people in the Black community, whether it’s a personal vendetta or jealousy or what, but the level of this disrespect in our community to work this hard to bring together these national artists and people from all over the nation, it’s a travesty,” Dr. Johnson said. “This is wrong by any standard. I don’t care if you don’t like B. Marshall, I don’t care if you don’t like me. It is wrong.”
Jake Pawlak, Deputy Mayor and Director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in an email response to B. Marshall that B. Marshall or POISE had to “provide appropriate documentation in order for funds to be disbursed.” Pawlak said that Bounce Marketing and Events “submitted such documentation in the form of an itemized budget of projected expenses with their invoice for payment.” Pawlak ended his email by saying that “the city cannot release funding to the POISE Foundation for your 2024 event until after an agreement is signed. We are working with the POISE Foundation on such an agreement presently.”
Still, days after Pawlak’s email response, that didn’t stop Stevens, the B-PEP Chairman and CEO, from issuing a public statement on Aug. 15: “It is with sadness that I write this letter. Something that should have been a great opportunity for all of Pittsburgh, and beyond, to celebrate one of the most significant dates on the calendars of Black Americans across Pittsburgh and beyond, has become locked in extended conversation of charges and counter charge with regard to why William B. Marshall and Stop the Violence Pittsburgh has not as yet been paid for the services rendered to produce another outstanding Juneteenth Celebration, even though City Council had approved such an expenditure many weeks ago. This entire situation is not a good look for the administration, City Council, nor Stop the Violence, in that many citizens of Pittsburgh have felt, for sometime, that this situation could, and should have been handled with less acrimony.”
What has many members of Pittsburgh’s Black community confused is, what exact document or documents does the City of Pittsburgh need from B. Marshall that are so vastly different from Bounce Marketing and Events? If both organizations were awarded $125,000 from City Council, if both organizations put on Juneteenth celebrations in Downtown Pittsburgh, then what did Bounce Marketing and Events do so differently than B. Marshall and POISE to have them get the check from the city around the time of the June 29 event, while B. Marshall waits and waits for his check for his event that was held, June 14-16?
“I need some answers,” Dr. Johnson said. “I really need some answers.”
B. Marshall took it one step further. He believes there is at the very least, some animosity against him by Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor, Ed Gainey.
“For 10 years we have supported Ed Gainey and all his endeavors,” B. Marshall said. “We have put him up on our platforms and allowed him to speak to the community. We voted for him. We have given him money so he could be the mayor of Pittsburgh. We thought it would be a change.”
But according to B. Marshall, he feels as though Mayor Gainey “is the one trying to stop these events that we actually do for the City of Pittsburgh and for Black people.”