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www.newpittsburghcourier.com Vol. 113 No. 50 Two Sections
DECEMBER 14-20, 2022
‘There is no room...for this type of behavior.’ - Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey
Black community denounces racist signs, video directed at Westinghouse football team
WESTINGHOUSE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACH DONTA GREEN, left, with members of the team that went all the way to the state title game, Dec. 9. (Photo by Ben Tenuta)
by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
On the field, Southern Columbia High School defeated Pittsburgh’s own Westinghouse Bulldogs in
the state football championship game in Mechanicsburg, Pa., 37-22. But for some members of Southern Columbia’s s u p e r- m a j o r i t y - W h i t e football team, they had to
take it one step further off the field. And that step has them—and the school district—in super-hot water. Hours after the victory on Dec. 9, unidentified
members of the team taunted the Westinghouse team and used a racial slur, the “N” word, on a social media video that’s gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
Then, photos surfaced online of two racist signs that were made and displayed at a pep rally for Southern Columbia High School prior to the PIAA 2A championship
game. Those signs read, “Whip Westinghouse” and “Southern State of Mind.” Mayor Ed Gainey, who was at the championship SEE WESTINGHOUSE A4
Liv Bennett announces candidacy for Allegheny County Executive by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
“Thank God people don’t have the final say.” Olivia “Liv” Bennett spoke the above sentence, as, standing before the media, family, friends and supporters, she officially declared her run for the office of Allegheny County Executive. But to some, to those doubters whom Bennett did not name, they thought Bennett wouldn’t amount to much. Especially after having her first child at age 15, growing up in Manchester. “I was told as a teenage mom that my life was over and I wouldn’t amount to anything,” Bennett
said. Following that line was the aforementioned, “Thank God people don’t have the final say.” Now Bennett, the outspoken Black woman who sits on Allegheny County Council, wants to be the person to lead Allegheny County into 2024 and beyond. She wants to lead with the passion and fire that she said she has when fighting for the underserved, the Black and brown people, the LGBTQ community... “I have fought for workers, the incarcerated, and those who don’t have a voice to fight for themselves,” Bennett said at a Dec. 12 news conferSEE BENNETT A5
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LIV BENNETT (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)