Faces and Spaces by ArtLikeUs

ArtLikeUs | photograph by Alex Young

Take it back to September 18 two years ago. Photographer ArtLikeUs was set, collected at Stage AE making images of entertainers Choo Jackson, The Come Up, Mac Miller, Quentin Cuff and more in Pittsburgh. Outside, InTheRough handed out stickers and T-shirts to people in line waiting to enter the concert. At this moment, we met this tall kid with a welcoming attitude and supreme afro, sometimes he caged it with a silk head scarf, Yung Mulatto. Put the city's culture into perspective.

Two days later, ArtLikeUs photos from the concert published in an ITR article about some discriminatory mess that went on before the show. ArtLikeUs' photos amplified our words about the injustice to create a legendary piece of journalism that many people championed. The photo of Mac and Q hyping the Stage AE crowd is "one of my favorite photos," ArtLikeUs said.

Two years later, the man behind ArtLikeUs Xavier Thomas is 26 and still capturing images of entertainment and black life in city settings. "I can relate to black on a grand scale," Thomas said. When rap queen Cardi B visited Pittsburgh at Xtaza nightclub, ArtLikeUs was there to photograph. When Levels Agency brought Gucci Mane to the 'Burgh's David L. Lawrence Convention Center, people saw the footage on the ArtLikeUs Instagram feed. Once late rapper and Pittsburgh legend Jimmy Wopo came home from a brief jail sentence, Art, camera in hand, was at his "crackin'" welcome home party at the Galaxy Lounge in Homewood. Big Lonn of the native Pittsburgh Taylor Gang rap crew invited Art to photograph his jiu-jitsu sparring sessions. Art bounced around from local podcasts like the Burgh Boyz to The New Wave Podcast to Straight To The League giving them video footage of each episode. All of this and more, ArtLikeUs was deep in the scene creating visual narratives of daily life in Pittsburgh.

In his home office in Greenfield, Pittsburgh, a news clipping of a feature article about Wiz Khalifa in the New Pittsburgh Courier with ArtLikeUs photos tacked to his cork board. Art scrolled through his Twitter account of Tweets from years ago. "My only dream is to be a sought out photographer," one said from 2013. Each one predicts the future. Now, ArtLikeUs is a prominent photographer making images of superstars like P Diddy.

A post shared by Xavier Thomas (@artlikeus) on Mar 10, 2018 at 5:47am PST

ArtLikeUs stood outside the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on assignment with heavyweight rapper Fabolous for the Global Spin Awards. "Diddy hops out of a truck right next to me," he said. "I tapped Diddy to get a photo." The music mogul's bodyguards muffled under their breaths creating a boundary around Diddy with their arms. "I interjected. I over-stepped. I couldn't let him walk away from me." Art walked away with footage of the Combs family, a private conversation between super producer Pharrell and Fabolous, images of Snoop Dogg and much more. There was "an insane list of people. I don't know how to tell these stories it was so rich," Art said.

“I got celebrities all over my page. If you have a list this long you can be trusted.”

— ArtLikeUs

Thomas shared a Facebook memory when prominent publications XXL Magazine, Hot New Hip Hop and The Source Magazine published his photo.

Thomas got his access card to the stars through his relationship with Fab. The rapper had a show in New Castle, Pa. and Art was there making opportunities for himself. Prominent hip-hop magazine XXL published ArtLikeUs photos of Fab from that night. When Fab came to the 'Burgh for a show at the Strip District's Xtaza club, Art linked with Fab officially and even met with him at Bliss Nightclub in Washington, D.C. "I really spent a considerable amount of time with him," Thomas said. He's able to text the rapper and work with him because "I never fan'd out over nobody. I just try to be distinctive and get my shit done." Well, he did fan out once when R&B songstress Teyana Taylor gave him a hug at a Def Jam Recordings party. "Teyana Taylor is one of the prime examples of a black woman," he said.

In L.A. and other big market cities, "getting in a room is usually the hardest part," Art said. But working diligently and "doing good work" will get you in that room.

Already in rooms photographing the major culture out West, ArtLikeUs worked with Taylor Gang honcho Wiz Khalifa for a week in L.A. Art featured on Khalifa's "420 Freestyle" record screaming "We don't know!" Clips inside the studio promote music from Taylor Chevy Woods. Once, Justin Bieber pulled up on Wiz in a stout Mercedes G-Wagon. DJ Khaled had celebrity guests to his new House in Hollywood Hills, L.A. ArtLikeUs was there with Fabolous and his crew, like Fab's manager Big Fendi. So Art grabbed looks at Khaled's ginormous shoe closet and a family photo of Busta Rhymes, DJ Khaled and Fab. Notoriety stretches in ArtLikeUs photos from cool people like music entrepreneur YesJulz, comedian DC Young Fly and radio DJ Funk Flex.

@Woponese going crazy at his birthday bash. @octo3er_ made it happen! #ArtLikeUs x #WopoBdayBash

A post shared by Xavier Thomas (@artlikeus) on Feb 9, 2018 at 8:55am PST

Although Thomas has built a foundation in Pittsburgh, speaking to his well-known camera talents and the family he's created, he needs more and "I'm willing to go get it," he said. Just then, his youngest son toddled toward a slice of pizza on Thomas' living room table. "I need to get paid like I want to. The budget for music projects here isn't industry standard and I need industry standard," Thomas said.

A post shared by Xavier Thomas (@artlikeus) on Jun 25, 2018 at 8:08pm PDT

So far in 2018, Atlanta and Los Angeles have facilitated Art's financial goals. The big markets with pools of entertainment can support talent in multiple industries like photography. But, "my come up was here in Pittsburgh," ArtLikeUs admits. "The Pittsburgh art community super fucks with me," the scene just needs to grow so that local heroes and talented people don't feel like an "A1 prospect playing in the D League," Thomas said. After all, people in some Pittsburgh entertainment industries, like musicians, say making money is nearly impossible. The Pittsburgh Music Ecosystem Study by Sound Music Cities states that 69% of musicians here earn less than $10,000 per year from performing or selling music. 10% of musicians earn $35,000 and above.

Something must be done to expand the scene because "this is about me achieving my dreams and not compromising," Thomas said.

ArtLikeUs: To get paid like I want to I have to leave. I'm not trying to get paid $10,000 per shoot, but I literally get paid by companies here [Pittsburgh] $100 to shoot. I'm going to grind and get something out of this photography. 'I gotta get this money. Understand me?' (Chief Keef "Sosa Baby" lyrics)

InTheRough: Do you think Pittsburgh is able to sustain your dreams or do you think Pittsburgh is capable of paying industry level budgets for photographers and other artists?

ArtLikeUs: Yes, once my industry is broader. You need to pursue weddings if you're a photographer. If you want to be a good photographer and guarantee to make money get into weddings. I'm looking for entertainment though. I'm into the hip-hop scene. I'm into the urban. I'm into Black on a grand scale and Pittsburgh isn't that. It could get there one day with the way music streaming is going. I'm just saying the people that have money to spend on foolish shit aren't in Pittsburgh. We don't take that and build something here. Say Wiz built a club or Mac opened a restaurant. People would gravitate towards that. But people hate so hard, so I get why people wouldn't come back.

ITR: What is it that you need from the city to come back whenever you make it?

ArtLikeUs: I need the city more geared toward youth. This is an old ass city. We don't have anybody that represents us in politics or the stuff where the power is really at. It's not geared toward us. This is currently geared toward settling down. If we could broaden the technology stuff people talk about here to other business sectors that would be lit. If we get recreational marijuana here that will change a lot. That's when our money will matter.

Thomas at his home in Pittsburgh | photograph by Alex Young

ITR: When you look back at the photos you've taken, especially of stars like Wiz, Fabolous or Gucci Mane, which one sticks out?

ArtLikeUs: Definitely Fab and definitely Wiz. Fab, I got to him first. My first time shooting Fab's image went to XXL, Hot New Hip Hop and The Source and hella other blogs. That was amazing People were hitting me up like, 'Yo! It went to XXL!' I was like, 'What? That's my picture?' I couldn't believe it. I shot Wiz in Atlantic Records' studio in New York. Man, I was the biggest Wiz Khalifa fan since a long time ago. That was a personal thing. When I first moved to Pittsburgh and got into the scene I was like, 'I think I can get to Mac and Wiz if they come to town.' And I got to both of them. I got to go to New York with Wiz. Just because of those things that happened to me I don't doubt my path anymore because I didn't expect that. That shit happened to me by accident. I was just doing shit and that's why I keep doing shit and shit keep happening.

ITR: I've heard you say you look up to Dan Folger.

ArtLikeUs: Dan Folger is probably my primary reason for getting a camera, especially with what he was doing with Wiz Khalifa in the "DayToday" episodes. Besides photography though, Dan Folger was on his grind. He had a job and was doing this photography. He was on the Galaxy [Galaxy Lounge] grind like I was. He was doing things I do now, the behind the scenes stuff. That was really cool for me. Cam Kirk, Johnathan Manion, and Terry Richardson are a few photographers who are big inspirations too.

ITR: What did you want to be when you grew up?

ArtLikeUs: Bro, I wanted to play basketball and just be rich.

ITR: Where are some venues in Pittsburgh that you liked to shoot?

ArtLikeUs: The Spot and Galaxy Lounge, they're gems. If you know, you know. Owey had it crackin' and same with Hardo and Wopo. I want you to go there. It's a bit harder, but you have to get the whole city.

ITR: What tips do you have for networking?

ArtLikeUs: I don't mind expressing an idea that somebody might steal. I want to express something to somebody so they know I'm trying to grow. Don't be a weirdo and just talk to people.

ITR: What about your photos makes them so good? What's your talent in image making?

ArtLikeUs: I want the moment to last. The other day I saw an image of when my son was first born. That was lit. I have a really good family album or life album of shit, and now there's all this entertainment and poppin' shit that fills in there. It's crackin'.

Definitely, keep up with the ArtLikeUs Instagram page. Check out his photos from the Pittsburgh stop of Wiz Khalifa and Rae Sremmurd's Dazed & Blazed Summer 2018 Tour and more content as Art follows music star Hardo on the tour.

Streetwear Update

If you want to get in the game, move to further your product.

In 2011, Jake Sullivan walked into a local Pittsburgh clothing store called Timebomb. He bought powder blue Wiz Khalifa Taylor Gang Bombay Gin Cup shirts and sold them on eBay.

His enjoyment of clothing turned into a budding apparel and media company in 2015 that he operates with Steven Crump.

At the Make Sure You Have Fun Mixed Threads clothing fair in 2017, Crump and Sullivan were selling their own brand Good Sports. Even cooler, the experience came full circle because Ryan Brown, the designer of the Gin Cup shirt that Sullivan had bought years earlier, hosted the local streetwear market.  Another local apparel brand that was at the Mixed Threads market was Reviving Real.

Owners of Good Sports Jake Sullivan (left) and Steven Crump (right) | photograph by Alex Young

“[People could have] Pittsburgh clothes for the whole year if you look into it.”

— Jake Sullivan of Good Sports

S.O.S.I.M.O. pushes a new T-Shirt concept seemingly every month. The brand drives demand for the product that sells out quickly as designer Ivan Rodriguez of Pittsburgh's east side, known as smoke.myth on Instagram, deals his shirts in person first and then off the Internet second. The gray SOSIMO Sluggers joint sold out in 21 hours. S.O.S. limited product only leaves the community trying to find more of it.

Now, Good Sports, Sports for short, Reviving Real, SOSIMO and more are examples of an emerging streetwear culture in the city.

“To have a brand you have to have people know the feeling. You want to make it have a meaning.”

— Steven Crump of Good Sports

I asked if either of the Good Sports partners skates because that’s the feeling I got looking at their collections, like the Exordium run. Turns out, only Crump skates, but the love for culture grew from the two’s fondness of Nike SB sneakers back in seventh grade, P-ROD 2 specifically. That’s how they conceptualized “how everything ties together, the shoes, the clothes, the music,” Crump said.

Black and white monochrome tees with characters like Fidel Castro and Malcolm X's meeting in Harlem or Felix the Cat show the tone S.O.S. The archived culture is serious and familiar. The strongest of celebrated human history survives in the fabric of SOSIMO.

For Mike Caraballo, the founder of Reviving Real, his company succeeds because “a lot of us share a genuine love for what we are pursuing, as well as the culture of the city,” he said.

Sports try to support the culture too with a goal to “get more involved.” The 23-year-old Bethel Park and Wexford natives in Crump and Sullivan conduct an interview series called Pittsburgh Culture showing the energy coming out of the creative scene and “the ones behind it all.” Musician Linwood and thrift store owner and barber Zed have segments.

Caraballo noted clothing brands in Pittsburgh aim to help communities of local artists. They “are doing the most to not only serve the people with quality products but continue to help push the culture and arts here in the city,” he said.

via @Shop412 on Instagram

Aaron and Christian Kinkela, the brothers who operate the legendary Pittsburgh lifestyle label named after the city's 412 area code, said in a 2014 interview with ITR, "A lot of what we do is supporting the local economy with anything whether it's local seamstresses or local printers. A lot of things happen right here. That's another part of giving back and doing what you can to keep the money in this town."

A local online publication and conversation series called Style412 ran an audit on Pittsburgh’s fashion scene throughout 2016 and 2017. Style412 founder Elysia Newman mentioned authenticity attracts customers to a local business.

“Consumers of this generation are placing value on immediacy, practicality, authenticity and the ‘small shop’ experience.”

— Elysia Newman of Style412

With each clothing collection that Reviving Real releases, a music mixtape with highlights from Steel City hip-hop, other musicians and cover art by a local visual artist accompanies the release. “We like to curate sounds from artist around the city that we see working hard and putting that time and effort into their craft,” Caraballo said. “Vol. 3” of Reviving Real’s music compilation highlights this aspect through songs by My Favorite Color or Sierra Sellers. Reviving Real's latest "Idora" T-Shirt was a collaboration with artist Dalton (@lovedullt) that celebrated the Idora amusement park roller coasters. By branching out, Reviving Real roots itself to other communities. “The artists here can see what everyone else is doing and create connections with fellow artist,” Carabllo said.

Dalton's design for Reviving Real's "Idora" Tee

Additionally, people have been receptive to Sports, obviously, we love our teams, but the Good Sports kind message and general aesthetic promote quality. Crump remembers local rapper Mars Jackson being the first notable person to wear their clothes. Quentin Cuff, a.k.a. InnerviewQ, has also been seen wearing Sports. Musician Benji wears his Doc Ellis T-Shirt that celebrates the Pirates baseball legend.

Part of creating a clothing label is selling a lifestyle and that’s what Good Sports does with their Pittsburgh Culture series and that’s what Reviving Real does with their showcase mixtape. SOSIMO does the same with reverent graphics.

“We are seeing an emergence of online lifestyle brands (versus the traditional boutique), which is definitely something new to our city,” Style412’s Panda said.

Although, vintage thrift shop Senseless in East Liberty creates an atmosphere people want to shop in by curating special experiences. For instance, Senseless, along with the help of craftsman Stew Frick, will release Nike Air Force 1 with the Swoosh donned by repurposed leather from Louis Vuitton handbags on July 6. Three different velcro LV Swoosh and colorful laces come with the sneaker.

Photographs by Tyler Calpin

The Sports’ lifestyle clothing, which is sold online at www.goodsportspgh.com and once at One Up Skate Shop and Shop Zeds in Pittsburgh’s Southside, isn’t trying to be in your face with its simplistic designs.  “A lot of things are just overdone now,” Crump said. He mentioned the We’re Proud long-sleeve shirt comes from looking at old ‘80s and ‘90s Sports Illustrated. Garments like polos and quarter zips highlight the ranges. 

“[Make] moves to further the product.”

— Shop412 in a 2014 Interview with ITR

With limited quantities in each Sports collection, “we focus on every little detail because they all matter,” Sullivan said. Patience helps them, as the business pays no attention to typical season-by-season collections.

Down the line, Crump and Sullivan hope to grow into a brick and mortar store, much like Shop412's store on the Southside, to build a Pittsburgh foundation.

As more clothes and culture stem from Pittsburgh, especially as native designers like John Geiger, Aris Tatalovich and Makayla Wray put on for the city in big markets like New York City, it just depends on "how it all gets put together," Crump said.

---

Portions of this article come from an ITR article written about Good Sports on April 4, 2018, to create a more thorough conversation on the streetwear scene in Pittsburgh.

Schenley High School Memorabilia

Three years ago, Hannibal Hopson hopped up on the ledge of a construction dumpster and climbed through the broken bathroom window in the first floor of what was his Schenley High School. The facility looked different. There weren't lockers or functioning classrooms with desks. There were no school club flyers on the walls. No students or teachers in sight. Instead, the floors were dusty with wood residue from sawing and sanding. A bulldozer sat in the hallway. Hopson pushed past wires that hung down from the ceiling. Creeks and screech echoed through the hollow building. The basketball court that was home to former Pennsylvania State Champion Spartans had cracks in it. People began picking the wood off the court. Concrete scraps from the deconstruction project were thrown in the empty pool. The construction workers littered their lunch scraps in the showers. They were turning Schenley High School into an apartment complex, effectively displacing inner-city students who called the place their alma mater for 95 years.

Now, the Schenley Apartments mock alumni and the history that came from Schenley High School.

In an attempt to memorialize the legendary school, Hopson and InTheRough partner to offer memorabilia to celebrate what once was. We created a two-page magazine spread in the latest issue of Pittsburgh-based EW Mag publication. The spread features photos from the night Hopson and ITR explored the empty school three years ago. Photos and words begin to comment on the gentrifying aspect that the apartments imposed on the Schenley community. Additionally, authentic Schenley gym shorts pair with the reading material. The Champion mesh shorts feature a "Schenley" font taken from the basketball jerseys of the 2007 Spartans who won the state championship thanks to legends like DeJuan Blair, DeAndre Kane and D.J. Kennedy.

The magazine spread and shorts combine to create the Schenley High School Memorabilia Collection. Available are 10. More shorts will be available only after the combo sells out. The 11 photos from the excursion around abandoned Schenley High School will release at a later date.

Shop the collection here.

[Shorts model Don Bell & photographs by Alex Young]

"For 400 years? That sounds like a choice." - Kanye West, Slavery in Washington D.C.

Last week, performance artists Maya Sun and Maps Glover poignantly resurrected images of American slavery on the greens of Dumbarton House in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.  Completed in 1800, the Federal style landmark is preserved to showcase the lifestyle of the first government officials who took office in the United States' new capital, the District of Columbia.

Maps Glover and Maya Sun performing 'The Landing' at the Kennedy Center March 15, 2018.

Supporting the post-colonial decadence were indentured servants, and while slavery in D.C. wasn't as overt as the textbook cotton-picking, plantation life that is synonymous with the South, slaves were used as chauffeurs, childcare, and to fetch groceries from the market.  In fact, roughly 20 years before the Civil War, Georgetown University sold a number of slaves to settle financial debts.

However, few primary sources of slave life in D.C. remain due to loss and destruction, which is why Dumbarton House commissioned Sun to create a moment of tension at the estate.  Professionals young and old, white and black gathered in the courtyard for wine and cheese, some, noticeably uncomfortable by the two artists' three-part retrospective.

The beginning was lighthearted, though short-lived as they frolicked on the front yard--Glover playing a violin and Sun seemingly care free in a floral dress, braiding Glover's hair.  It was reminiscent of a Sunday on a plantation or after dusk when the master fell asleep, the slaves free to ease the pain and suffering of indentured servitude.  The second part represented a harsher side of reality.  Sun stood on a trading block hooded and chained--livestock--while Glover observed the scene through the reflection of a broken mirror pane as if to recall the original context of why his ancestors and other black bodies were brought to America.  Later, Sun emerged from Dumbarton House dressed in a suit introducing herself as "Professor Sun."  Not only was this a liberating juxtaposition to images of bondage, but it also symbolized the knowledge and power of black people, integral to the education of future souls.

"I felt appreciated by my ancestors.  I was incredibly moved when I was under the hood.  I was definitely in a different space than what was around me," Sun said.

From a macro lens, Sun’s performance piece was perhaps more relevant given Kanye West's comments calling slavery a choice just a couple days prior.  Where Kanye chose to glaze over realities of oppression and control in the matter of a thirty second sound bite, Sun and Glover echoed two different aspects of slave life with a refusal to forget the African American experience.

Black Politics in Pittsburgh

Graphic by Quaishawn Whitlock

There's a "crack" in the old-guard political system, which presents opportunities for people to "run for office who have sat and let other people run," Kevin Carter said. Carter is in the third year of his first term on the Pittsburgh Public School Board of Directors as the Chair of the Business and Finance Committee.

Summer Lee, a current candidate for the Pennsylvania State Representative of District 34, explained during a candidate’s panel at the University of Pittsburgh that she’s running due to a "lack of representation" of black people in public office.

Aerion Abney, a candidate for Pennsylvania's District 19, spoke at the same panel about "renewing lines of accountability" to elected officials.

They are examples of the new era of politics in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, where young black people and women are entering the realm of political activism for the first time, which is causing a progressive shift in leadership.

The “climate in the Pittsburgh region as a whole is why people are ready for new leadership,” Abney said.

A sign of this is apparent with the win of Democratic Representative Conor Lamb of District 18 in March of this year. The district includes communities like Mount Lebanon and Upper St. Clair and Lamb’s win was significant because President Donald Trump won the district by more than 20 percentage points in 2016. Lamb’s race “sends a message that people are ready for some change,” Abney said.

“The region is changing. We’re striving to be more inclusive,” Rep. Austin Davis said.

The shift towards progress gives “opportunities for African Americans [to take office],” Rep. Davis said.

Rep. Austin Davis in his office in White Oak, Pa. | photograph by Alex Young

Before Austin Davis became the first African American to be the Pennsylvania State Representative of District 35 on January 23, 2018, there were only two black legislators in Western Pa, Rep. Ed Gainey of District 24 and Rep. Jake Wheatley of District 19.

Now, more black people take public office than ever before, but the consensus is the progress is still not enough.

The disconnect between the establishment with power and community members who face every day struggles are because “Policymakers haven’t lived it,” Lee said at the National Association of Social Workers candidate’s panel on March 19, 2018. So, they have a hard time relating to people’s plight while one “half who live like the Jetsons and the other who live like the Flintstones,” Abney continued.

It comes down to the “covert” dealings of the Grand Old Party to maintain their influence. Abney said, “They don’t want people who don’t look like them to be in [power].” The Old Guard disenfranchises people by affecting their economics and all its connections, like education, job access, and transportation. On their way out, the G.O.P. still lurks to create disadvantages for incoming minority officials.

When Nikole Nesby became Duquesne's first woman African American mayor, the former Duquesne mayor Philip Krivacek and the city manager Frank Piccolino III, two white men, transferred the township's Redevelopment Authority funds of $1.3 million to a new non-profit called the Duquesne Business Advisory Corporation (DBAC), which lists the former mayor as the organization's president.

"They effectively made her ineffective by appropriating her funds elsewhere," Bellevue, Pa. Councilman Valon Pennington said. He was Nesby's classmate in their Local Government Academy which was instruction for newly elected officials. "They economically barred her from her office," Councilman Pennington finished.

Further, Councilman Pennington became the first non-white elected official in Bellevue history this January. He mentioned he suffered personal attacks on his family when the predominantly white community members would "dig into our backgrounds" to find financial and property information he said.

Black public officials and people face racial injustice like this regularly. Councilman Pennington recalls in 2017 when the first black male mayor of Camilla, Ga. Rufus Davis was denied the keys to his office in city hall for two years by a white privileged city council in a 70% black majority community (with a majority white police force who would've thought).

Actions like these limits the building of a black political foundation across the country and in Western Pa., which limits equality and progress nonetheless.

“Black people have been constantly represented by white people. Whereas white people find it more difficult to be represented by a black person.”

— Kevin Carter

Summer Lee, Aerion Abney, Rep. Jake Wheatley, Mike Devine, Rep. Ed Gainey | photographs by Alex Young

But remember this is a piece of the system of oppression. People like Mayors Davis and Nesby get denied the opportunity to do jobs or gain economic advancements because of a racial prejudice.

The new hipster spot close to a Target, lux apartments, artisanal grocery chains and coffee shops are part of systematic oppression. Call it the gentrifying city development project that affects neighborhoods like Pittsburgh's East Liberty. Demolishing the Penn Plaza apartment complex in East Liberty displaced 200 residents in 2015 according to PublicSource. The 1950s development of Pittsburgh's culturally significant and excellently black lower Hill District neighborhood for the Civic Arena displaced 8,000 residents, which destroyed the historic Hill District.

They’ve “cleansed [locals] out of their own neighborhood through economics,” Abney said. "Development without displacement. How do you build place and build people at the same time?" Abney questioned.

Current officials like Rep. Austin Davis or Rep. Jake Wheatley of District 19 takes responsibility for solving issues such as these that cause disparagement.

Although public officials speak delicately about generalizing issues to specific people or groups because they strive to represent everybody.

“The issues that African Americans face are issues that poor people face. They’re not just African American issues. They’re economic issues. They affect black people at a disproportionate rate, but they also affect white people.”

— Rep. Austin Davis

For those affected by gentrification, Rep. Davis states they move to his Mon Valley district or Penn Hills according to the Census Tract. He focuses on improving workforce development so those facing displacement or minorities have "access to those jobs," he said.

“I fight for people who are impoverished. We have a second-class city,” Rep. Wheatley said. Yet, he recognizes the “acuteness of poverty as it relates to African American families.”

Kevin Carter with students at Sto Rox High School & Aerion Abney at Arnold's Tea | photographs by Alex Young

Carter feels a "responsibility to the people I represent not just black people," he said. "I can't be the black councilman. That can't be the only thing that I'm here for," Councilman Pennington said. The candidate to represent Pennsylvania’s District 20 Mike Devine echoes that message saying, “everyone is vulnerable in some way or another.”

As representatives of the people, “elected officials have to work together [and] put aside personal politics,” Rep. Davis said. The people of the republic need to hold elected officials accountable as we give them the opportunity to “impact people’s quality of life,” Abney said.