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Meet Your Neighbor: Philip Pannell – Activist, Mentor, Friend by Eva Herscowitz
Meet Your Neighbor Philip Pannell – Activist, Mentor, Friend
by Eva Herscowitz Philip Pannell remembers times where, at the height of the HIV/ Phil Pannell at a meeting of the Anacostia Coordinating Council AIDS crisis in the District, multiple friends’ funerals were scheduled for the same day. A grassroot advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and care, particularly in Ward 8, Pannell recalls his young adulthood as a time when he spent sad and painful hours with friends in their final days.
For Pannell, activism focused on pressuring the Whitman-Walker Clinic to open its first AIDS outreach center east of the Anacostia River, and working to bring together the District’s LGBTQ+ residents across racial lines.
Pannell was then, as he is now, equal parts empath, organizer and friend.
“At a fundamental level,” he said, “I’m looking at the situation like, ‘Hey, this could be me. I really want somebody to be advocating for me.’ That’s why I got in- against a police raid and ignited the gay liberation movevolved with the HIV/AIDS issue.” ment. His activism continued in the District, where get-
Pannell, who turns 70 this September, has remained at ting arrested at protests — from demonstrations for DC the helm of Ward 8 community organizing since he moved statehood to those agitating for HIV/AIDS treatment — to D.C. in the mid-1970s. His lifetime of advocacy has of- became routine. ten intersected with his identity as a Black Washingtonian, The 230-mile move from New York City to DC did gay man and Ward 8 resident. Spanning elected official, more than embed Pannell in the country’s political pulse. spokesman, campaign organizer, agitator and loyal local It sparked an “enduring” friendship with former Council leader, he has transcended labels despite accumulating a Chairman Arrington Dixon, who hired 25-year-old Panlaundry list of bureaucratic titles. nell to manage the community side of his campaign for
His influence is undeniable. Ward 4 Councilmember.
“He really does have a heart for community,” DC Working for Dixon, then a member of the District’s Democratic Party Chair Charles Wilson said. “He’s al- first home rule government, was a “totally new world,” ways excited about the kind of work he does, and he’s al- Pannell recalled. When Dixon won the election, Pannell ways wanting to get other people excited about it. He’s al- ran his constituent service office. This was Pannell’s first ways willing to keep pushing.” DC job, but it certainly wouldn’t be his last. To name a few: Ward 8 Democrats President, Ward D.C. Transplant Turned Ward 8 Leader 8 coordinator for Mayor Anthony Williams, Congress Heights Community Association President, Advisory Pannell developed a concern for civil rights growing up in Neighborhood Commissioner, Friends of the Parkland“rigidly segregated” Newport News, VA, and as an under- Turner Neighborhood Library Treasurer and East of the graduate at New York City’s Fordham University joined River Community Court Advisory Board Member. The the burgeoning Anti-Vietnam War movement. list goes on.
In the summer of 1969, he found himself in Green- Many of these positions he’s held for multiple terms, wich Village the night of the Stonewall riots, when pa- and nearly all share a location: Ward 8. Pannell moved trons at the gay, lesbian and transgender bar fought back to the ward 32 years ago, and has served as the Execu-
tive Director of the Anacostia Coordinating Council (ACC) since 1995.
“I intentionally moved here to see how I can be helpful in a part of town which in many cases is neglected and underserved,” he said. “When you’re in that type of community and you want to better things, you can’t help but be active.”
Pannell has thrived as the Executive Director of the ACC, a role where “his personality and capacity and talent has flourished,” Dixon said. Under Pannell’s leadership, the ACC has attracted hundreds of attendees at its meetings and connected with community organizations serving what Dixon calls “Anacostia River East,” or A.R.E. “His range is broad,” Dixon said. “From education to crime to environment, you name it, he has a feel for it and commitment to it, particularly as it relates to our community and in the land of A.R.E.”
Like his list of titles, Pannell has amassed a catalog of official-sounding awards, like the 2011 U.S. President’s Call to Service Award, which recognized his five decades of advocacy. That advocacy can be aggressive and, at times, blunt: “When he wants you to do something, he will stay on you,” Dixon laughed. But that’s “why he gets results,” he added.
ANC-6D04 Commissioner Andy Litsky met Pannell nearly 30 years ago when their paths first crossed while working on a political campaign. He said Phil’s quick wit and “legendary rhetorical command” is unmatched.
“If I had only one word to describe Phil, it would be fierce,” Litsky said. “You know, in 1976 he testified before the City Council in support of same sex marriage. Forty-five years ago!”
Pannell’s friends echo that his impact cannot be overstated. From sweeping reforms (moving the Ward 8 Democrats to embrace vote-by-mail in the 80s) to on-theground work (sponsoring local Christmas caroling and spending hours registering others to vote), Pannell has “always been there to organize,” Wilson, the DC Democratic Party Chair, said. (continued on pg. 45)
