Local pastors and concerned citizens in the Harrisburg area are inviting/urging others to join them in a series of “Jericho Marches” every Monday at the new federal courthouse site in Harrisburg (6th and Reilly Streets) after learning that the general contractor has awarded no contracts to local contractors. Learn more in the article below, and consider promoting/joining the marches. The next two are scheduled for February 25 and March 4 at noon.
Updated Feb 17Posted Feb 17
By Jana Benscoter | jbenscoter@pennlive.com
A new federal courthouse that’s been in the works for ten years isn’t using local labor to build it the Rev. Earl Harris said, and he’s trying to do something about it.
Harris, along with Rev. Frank E. Hairston-Allen, Harrisburg’s NAACP president, want the federal government to influence its general contractor to hire local workers to build the new 243,000-square-foot federal courthouse in Harrisburg. To show they’re serious, they’ve organized a “Jericho March” at the Sixth and Reilly streets job site.
The reference is Biblical, Harris explained. An inaugural march was held Feb. 11, he said, with participants walking around the site. They plan to add a lap every time they meet, up to seven.
In December, Mascaro Construction Company of Pittsburgh, the project’s general contractor, relayed to Harrisburg’s local leaders that 70 percent of the project’s construction contracts had already been awarded. None were given to local contractors.
“Mascaro has maintained the idea that they can come in and be the Goliath, and not suffer the consequences of the David,” Hairston-Allen said. “We will march until something breaks, or until something appears that has not appeared, which is negotiation.”
Read more at https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/02/jericho-march-against-economic-injustice-planned-for-monday.html.
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