Healing York

     In the summers of 1968 and 1969, race riots raged in York, leaving dozens injured and two people dead. York Police Officer Henry C. Schaad, a 22-year-old white officer just 10 months on the job, was shot July 18, 1969 as he rode in an armored truck on West College Avenue at the Codorus Creek bridge. Three days later, Lillie Belle Allen, a 27-year-old black woman from Aiken, S.C. visiting family in York, died after being shot in the chest on North Newberry Street.

     Even though nearly forty years have past since the race riots of '68 and '69, race relations in York are still strained. Prejudice, racism, and racial inequalities still mark the landscape of York community relations. The Healing York Initiative aims to help community members heal the wounds of our past and create a new vision for our future as a city, county, and community.

     On March 9, 2006, York City Mayor John S. Brenner announced the initiation of Resolution no. 164, the Healing York Initiative. Healing York is a concrete expression of the administration's determination to be part of building a more just, participatory way of living together in York.

     The Guiding Philosophy for Healing York comes Michael Patrick McDonald, author of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie (Beacon 1999; Ballantine 2000). He states, and we believe, that TRUE community and healing can only happen when:

Each person can tell their own story and be heard

Each person's pain is acknowledged

Those who have been most impacted are empowered to leadership

Summary of Resolution

Healing York Vision

News Coverage of Healing York

Healing York Working Group