Over the years the ongoing questions have been who are the Black leaders, who do they lead? Are they politicians, preachers, those with degrees, individuals who have accumulated wealth, CEOs of non-profits, those who are appointed by White corporations and politicians or athletes?
I have been involved in the communities since 1949 for 65 years and have met almost 100 percent of those who were referred to as Black [colored then] leaders and have personally known over 90 percent of those persons. There have been some—too many to name—who truly earned the title Black leader, but the majority in my estimation did not.
This week’s column is the result of a news story carried by a local daily paper and the headline captured my attention, “Black leaders defend Democratic candidate for governor.”
I read the story with interest and it had to do with two White candidates who are seeking the Democratic nomination for governor and one charged the other with some racist actions a number of years ago where a Black female was killed.
Two Black men, who hold political positions in the Democratic Party—one in the east and the other in the west—staunchly defended the White candidate, who was accused of racist action, and defended him more staunchly than the candidate himself. The one theme that both focused on was the incident occurred in 1969 over 40 years ago. An easy response to that flawed reasoning is slavery happened many years ago, but that does not alter the fact that it happened.
Allow me to ask the readers a question that I asked a group the other day, “Have you ever voted for a racist?” The overwhelming answer was hell no and I just smiled and then a number of them said, “Allow us to retract the answer to not knowingly.”
The point I am making is that the voters generally are not really knowledgeable about candidates they vote for. Voters usually are convinced by slick ads, handsome, well spoken, lovely friendly wife, attends the funeral and events in the neighborhood and even comes to church on Sunday, but they very rarely stay for service.
The main culprits that mislead the voters are those that we elect, overwhelmingly they fail to put their constituents the voters first. They seek to be H.N.I.C., but they put that ambition second as they do old Massa’s biddings.
They too frequently have filled the role of a Judas goat knowing full well the candidate does almost nothing to improve the quality of life in the Black communities, thereby a lot of voters cast their votes for a racist unknowingly. We as Black voters must become more demanding with those we elect to represent us. Black leaders must earn the right to the title.
Please remember to send Kingsley a financial donation.
(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a weekly contributor to the Forum page.)
