Organization ‘PittsFORWARD’ holds rally for unity in Pittsford

Pittsford, New York – On Sunday afternoon a rally was held outside Pittsford Town Hall.

The rally was organized by the group PittsFORWARD, whose goal is to address systemic and institutional racism in the community.

Following recent alleged incidents of racism among students in the Pittsford Central School District, this event was planned one year ago.

A freshman at Pittsford Sutherland High School, Grace Evans, was among the speakers at the event.

“With the events that have happened especially in the past week, I was just angered and outraged about the events themselves and how they were handled,” said Evans.

Those events include a Pittsford Mendon High student, now suspended, who allegedly recorded a video months ago expressing racial threats while displaying an airsoft gun. The latest incident involved members of the varsity boys and girls soccer teams at Pittsford Mendon, who are accused of making racist comments in games against Greece Arcadia High School.

“These incidents keep happening throughout the years. Unfortunately, sometimes I think we look at the incident as the problem. The problem is much more below the surface. These are happening because fundamentals haven’t changed,” said Beckford.

According to Beckford, a town council member and parent, new leadership in the community is necessary.

“If we want to change, we need new leadership at our schools as well as our town to actually create meaningful change,” said Beckford.

According to Evans, racism is an ongoing issue in the school district and it’s not being addressed properly.

“They start from the bottom like it’s foreign or new like they’ve never seen it before. It’s been around. They’ve seen it. It’s happened so many times,” said Evans.

Both investigations are ongoing.