Why Aren’t We Talking About The Ties Between the Armstrong County Billboards, White Nationalism, and Domestic Terrorism?

Peanuts Racist

Inflammatory question? Perhaps. John Placek denies that he is a racist white man, but spends thousands of dollars ‘trolling’ Worthington, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania with racist, white nationalist content. And as he told WPXI, he plans to erect two more billboards somewere nearby. When we look at the early deconstruction of white nationalism’s role in the […]

‘Take your blog and get the hell out of our town’ – Some Folx from Worthington, Armstrong County Are Not Happy With Me

Dame Judi Dench

Content Note: racism, bigotry, rape culture Please click the links for the backstory. In mid-February, I posted about racist fear-mongering billboard content on an electronic billboard in Worthington Borough, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. Along with describing the billboards, I shared 11 suggestions for getting involved to resist this messaging. A few days later, the billboard’s lessee […]

Fight White Supremacy; Google ‘Dennis Mowrey’

Do you remember in July 2015 when a local gay white cis man was harassing two of the Roots Pride organizers (a Black woman, Joy KMT, and a Black trans man, Michael David Battle) with fake profiles, nasty comments, etc? Joy was direct with identifying and calling out this man’s very bad behavior. She and […]

White Supremacist Billboards in Armstrong County Refreshes Content with Worse Racist Hate

Worthington Armstrong County John Placek Racist Billboard

A few days ago, I wrote a post about billboard in Worthington Borough, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. It is an electronic billboard located on the property of the Worthington-West Franklin Volunteer Fire Dept, facing west at the intersection of 422 and Bear Street, which is an intersection with a traffic light. Yes, this hate is helping […]

Pizza Milano and the Post-Gazette: Anti-Blackness in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Pizza Milano

I’ve been a little off the grid this past week. Of course, I’ve been paying attention to critical stories unfolding in Pittsburgh this week. These are stories I’ve been sharing via social media and would normally blog about. Front and center are the stories about the assault of Jade Martin by employees at Pizza Milano […]

Grief Is No Excuse for Racism

Grief Is No Excuse for Racism

You can condemn Rahmael Holt for his actions. You can condemn the content of his character. But condemning him for being black eliminates your moral high ground. And you know what I mean. You know the things people are saying. Do you push back? Using the murder of a young cop to unleash your racist […]

Brad, 33, is a Gay, Black Man Who Does Charity Work as a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence #AMPLIFY

gay black man pittsburgh

We talked for maybe 20 seconds, and he invited me to the first group meeting of the semester. It was all quick and mundane, but my mind lingered on him afterwards as I thought, “This is a man, and he is gay. He is a gay man.” It wasn’t even about sex, just the idea that a man could be gay and live his life without shame.

Luna, 25, is a Poly, Gender fluid, Queer Performance Artist #AMPLIFY

As part of our partnership with FIERCE! International Queer Burlesque, #AMPLIFY will be featuring some of the performers this week. Today, we hear from Luna La Creme who is scheduled to perform at the Friday evening showcase, 7 PM. Tickets still available. Burlesque and queer performing arts are an important part of our community heritage. Name: Luna La […]

Two Women’s Marches Illustrate The Two Pittsburghs

Two Pittsburghs

(This post grew out of a Facebook post I wrote on Sunday morning.) I think having two marches/rallies centering women in Pittsburgh was a positive thing because it shined a light on the reality that we live in two Pittsburghs, divided by race. There’s an honesty there that is so rarely evident or acknowledged elsewhere. […]

17 #AMPLIFY Quotes About Hope, Intersectionality and LGBTQ Identity

AMPLIFY MLK Day

As we near 200 Q&A’s, we recognize the need to disseminate the information as well as continue to collect stories. We ask you to support out work with a donation today.  Your investment helps us build the relationships necessary to find new Q&A contributors and give a signal boost to their stories. Thank you. We asked […]