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A BRIEF HISTORY OF PENNTRIFICATION
"Gentrification is the process where wealthy investors displace families and communities— often with deep roots in the community — by purchasing and upgrading property, making it unbearably expensive..."
WHO IS PENN COMMUNITY FOR JUSTICE?
"Dear Community:
There have been some questions as to who Penn Community for Justice (PCJ) is and what we stand for. Let us tell you!"
PENN MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE TO PHILLY'S BLACK COMMUNITIES
"The University of Pennsylvania is proud of its history as the first university in the United States. Penn also hosted the first student union and had the first female president of an Ivy League institution. However, Penn also has the second-largest private university police force in the country and is rapidly ceding the opportunity to be on the right side of history when it comes to the current movement for racial justice and ending police violence."
ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE 2020 ELECTION: OUR SURVIVAL IS POLITICAL
“Asian Americans must become more civically engaged for the liberation of all people. I now call myself an Asian American woman as a political act and exercise my vote as an act of resistance and solidarity with marginalized communities.”
PENN'S SHAMEFUL DIVESTMENT FROM PHILLY SCHOOLS
“'Black and brown communities are being taken under siege by a system that is designed to fail our children, and what we cannot and will not do is stand back and allow it to happen.'
– Antoine Little, former chair of Our City Our Schools Coalition"
PENN COMMUNITY FOR JUSTICE MISSION, VALUES, & DEMANDS
"Penn Community for Justice (PCJ) provides a platform for Penn and Philadelphia community members who are committed to direct action to organize for racial and economic justice, and an equitable redistribution of Penn’s hoarded wealth and influence."
DEFUNDING POLICE WOULD BE THE FIRST STEP IN BUILDING A CITY WHERE WALTER WALLACE JR. WOULD HAVE SURVIVED
"We know that reform isn’t enough. Experience has shown Philadelphia that shoring up law and order by padding police budgets for more training and “less lethal” weapons will not fix the deep-seated problems we face. This can only be done by breaking down these systems and reimagining public safety rooted in community care. We have to keep pressure up on city officials and private institutions to fund a world rich in social services so we can rebuild after the burning stops."
WHEN WE ORGANIZE, WE WIN!
"Today Penn announced that it would pay $10 million a year for the next 10 years to the School District of Philadelphia. The funds will go towards remediating the toxic public school infrastructure that the City and Penn have long neglected, despite students, educators, parents, and community members raising the alarm about unsafe conditions for decades...
We should celebrate this historic agreement, which would not have been possible without the relentless work of heightened direct action and media attention. During a nationwide reckoning with white supremacy, we stood up to our institutions and made them understand that funding our public schools is a matter of racial justice."
