The local daily newspapers carried two stories that cast a negative light on America’s alleged most livable city, Pittsburgh, PA. First was a study done by the University of Pittsburgh that confirmed what I already knew: The conditions of Blacks have not improved substantially in at least the last 25 years.
The second story was released by a national group out of New York, and their observation was that contrary to what we are fed daily Pittsburgh is almost at the bottom of major cities when it comes to growth.
My family bought a home in the lower Hill District in 1943 and the neighborhood was overwhelmingly White and I was too young to understand the value of politics. In 1949 I was introduced to politics and over the next few years I came to the conclusion that the fastest way for Pittsburgh colored folks to really be free was to vote selectively. I was absolutely shocked at what I found.
The real tragedy is that in 2015, when it comes to Black people, politics may be worse now than then. In the early years of my political baptism I made allowances for the stupid inactions of colored voters. There were only two committee persons of color out of 32, and of course the ward chair, vice chair, magistrate, constable were all White positions. However it is 66 years later and we have gone through the transitions of colored, Negro, Black, uneducated, and our political power bases have almost completely eroded.
We have more Blacks with high school diplomas and college degrees than ever before, we now live in neighborhoods we could not drive though, we own cars that we have difficulty pronouncing the brand name, but we lack focus when it comes to politics. The limited numbers of Blacks that have an elected position are Democratic Party persons instead of being a power for their constituents. Pittsburgh has been a Democratic controlled city for over a half century, but look at the condition of your family, neighborhoods, and schools. I don’t blame them I blame us. It is obvious they don’t give a damn about us; my overwhelming concern is do we care enough about us to do what must be done?
If it is possible, the local Republican Party (if they even exist) is worse. They have proven particularly over the last 14 years they have no concern about Republicans or Black voters.
I remember that every Black section of Allegheny County had Black chairmen and committee persons. I don’t know of a single Black in Allegheny County who is active. If you exist respond to my column by writing a letter to the editor and allow the public to know who you are. I was an active Republican for 27 years and everybody knew it, but in those years those who controlled the party had a sense of caring about Blacks and it was a party of inclusion.
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(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a weekly contributor to the Forum page.)
