Listen to Grapple: How one Pa. community has been dealing with racial tension

August 16, 2017

Jeff Kirkland is a local historian who recently founded the Historical African American Preservation Society in the city of York, Pennsylvania. (Jessica Kourkounis/For Keystone Crossroads)
Kirkland, 68, a history researcher who founded the newly formed Historical African American Preservation Society, points to an article in a collage of news clips hanging in his home in York, Pennsylvania. (Jessica Kourkounis/For Keystone Crossroads)
A Confederate flag is prominently displayed in a truck bed parked in a strip mall in York, Pennsylvania. (Jessica Kourkounis/For Keystone Crossroads)
York-based hip-hop artist Nakuu produced a song called, “Brothers,” as a way to get people talking about racial tension. (Jessica Kourkounis/For Keystone Crossroads)
Mike Smith grew up in York, and works with kids to deal with obstacles they face growing up here – including dealing with racial tension. As part of his job, Mike runs an after school college prep program, the York Temple Guard program and spends time counseling families on where to send their kids to high school. (Jessica Kourkounis/For Keystone Crossroads)
Students can earn money toward college while they’re still in high school by getting good grades and being accountable for their time outside the classroom through the York YWCA’s Quantum Opportunities program. Program Director Mike Smith says he also mentors students on social issues – including dealing with racial tension. (Jessica Kourkounis/For Keystone Crossroads)
Liz Herrera-Reynoso, 14, left, and Escarleny Conce-Molina, 14, right, both students of York County School of Technology, attend the Quantum Opportunities program with kids from all over the county. The program’s after school sessions take place at William Penn High School in the city of York. (Jessica Kourkounis/For Keystone Crossroads)

Keystone Crossroads recently examined one Pennsylvania community where racial tension has turned violent, even fatal, multiple times over the years.

In the aftermath of last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, there’s been discussion about the racial tension that’s existed there for centuries. Keystone Crossroads recently examined one Pennsylvania community where racial tension has turned violent, even fatal, multiple times over the years.

York County, which borders the Mason-Dixon line, is the focus of a two-part podcast that dropped last spring. Initially prompted by a rash of incidents locally and nationally around the time of the 2016 elections, it’s relevant again right now.

One episode delves into the history of hate group activity in the York and the rest of the state, generally, and provides insight on community responses to racial tension from a longtime investigator for the state’s Human Relations Commission.

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It’s all more context for the other installment, which takes us to a school where students and administrators are trying to deal with racial tension. We also hear one resident’s recounting of the tumultuous 1960’s leading up to the race riots that left two people dead in the city of York and prompted criminal charges decades later against a popular mayor.

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