President Barack Obama once stated, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” The University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work and the Center on Race and Social Problems takes that challenge to heart, determined to make a positive transition in the world of diversity that will impact the world as we know it.

The university played host to a “Race in America—Restructuring Inequality National Conference” from June 3-6. The presentations were designed to be the most solution-focused conference on race ever held.

The worst oil spill in this country’s history has occurred in the Gulf. We asked Pittsburghers who is responsible for paying for it and who should clean it up? Here’s what you said:

“It’s the biggest environmental and economic castatrophe that we have had in 40 years. The person/people responsible should pay for the damage and the cleanup costs. BP took shortcuts that caused the explosion and the equipment manufacturers produced faulty equipment. All responsible parties should pay.”
Alice Pittrell
East Liberty
Legacy Arts Project program manager

Arnetha F. Ball, Ph.D., the Visiting Barbara A. Sizemore Distinguished Professor of Urban Education at Duquesne University, was recently presented with the Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award by the American Educational Research Association.

ARNETHA F. BALL

The Johnson award recognizes the highest quality of academic scholarship published in one four AERA journals during the 2008 volume year. Ball’s article, “Towards a Theory of Generative Change in Linguistically Complex Classrooms,” was published in the American Educational Research Journal.

Celebrity basketball event

JULY 3—B. Marshall and the Community Empowerment Association will host the DeJuan Blair and LaMarr Woodley Independence’s Day Celebrity Basketball Extravaganza event at 12 p.m. at the Peterson Event Center, 3719 Terrace St., Oakland. The event will showcase four games, which includes City High School stars vs. WPIAL stars, media and former pro and semi-pro players. Blair and Woodley will be coaching teams in the final game. For more information, call T. Rashad Byrdsong at 412-371-3689, ext. 14 or 15.