Group launches website to provide news and voice to Pittsburgh’s black community

A Pittsburgh-based group of artists and activists have launched a website aimed at amplifying the city’s black voices.

The group behind the site, 1Hood Media, uses their platform to raise awareness about social issues.

By launching BlackPittsburgh.com, 1Hood Media hopes to become a destination for news, events and resources specifically for the black community.

The website received a soft launch on June 15 and was officially unveiled to the public on Tuesday.

The site features stories about policing off black life and expanding notions of Darkness. It also includes news on politics, health and entertainment sections and podcasts.

“BlackPittsburgh.com is an extension of the work we started at 1Hood Media over 10 years ago to authentically tell our own stories,” said Jasiri X, Founder and CEO of 1Hood Media.

The website will aim to capture positive imagery, tell accurate stories about Black Pittsburgh and raise diverse voices, 1Hood Media said.

“There are so many false statements and lies about black people in the mainstream media,” said Keisha N. Blain, award-winning historian, professor and writer. “We deserve places that center black voices and allow us the unfettered space to tell our own stories with nuance and vitality.”

The website will build on the tradition of past publications such as Freedom’s Journal, The North Star, The Chicago Defender, and The New Pittsburgh Courier. The site will recruit journalists and historians.

“Black and brown people and institutions must tell their own stories to ensure that our past, present and future in the Americas are seen for their long, vast, varied and terrible dimensions,” said Chris Jenkins, award-winning freelance journalist. of the Pulitzer Prize. filmmaker and former reporter and editor of the Washington Post. “In an age when the forces that have buried trust redouble their efforts to whitewash the past, controlling our own narratives that honestly dissect our vast and wonderful humanity could not be more vital.

The website provides a platform for 1Hood Media and 1Hood Power podcasts, such as “What Black Pittsburgh Needs to Know” – a virtual town hall co-hosted with UrbanKind Institute and Black Women, Wise Women – and “This Week in White Supremacy, ”which highlights ways to become anti-racist. The “In Your Hood” segment of the site will feature community members, organizations and events.

BlackPittsburgh.com will also bring expert advice to those who are disproportionately affected by racial and gender inequalities.

People can submit article ideas through the site’s contact page or have conversations on the site’s forums.