Rep. Gainey would be Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor
by The Courier Editorial Board
This Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers, our beloved pride and joy, will head 133 miles northwest to Cleveland to face the Browns, the team (and city) we love to hate.
But if there’s one thing Cleveland has over us here in Pittsburgh, it’s that 53 years ago, its residents broke barriers by making Carl B. Stokes the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city.
Since 1968, Black mayors have popped up pretty much everywhere — Coleman Young, the first Black mayor of Detroit (1974), Harold Washington, the first Black mayor of Chicago (1983), David Dinkins, the first Black mayor of New York City (1990), Michael B. Coleman, the first Black mayor of Columbus, Ohio (2000)…
The list goes on and on, even in places with smaller Black populations — Carl Brewer became Wichita, Kansas’ first Black mayor in 2008, Daniel Brown became Knoxville, Tennessee’s first Black mayor in 2012, Corey Woods became Tempe, Arizona’s first Black mayor last year, and Kim Janey, a Black woman, is Boston’s current mayor, after the city saw 54 White men serve as mayor in the city’s 199-year history before her.
Pittsburgh, it’s time for you to join the party.
The New Pittsburgh Courier emphatically endorses state Rep. Ed Gainey, a proud African American family man, the pride of joy of Peabody High School and Lincoln-Lemington, for mayor of the City of Pittsburgh.
STATE REP. ED GAINEY
If Rep. Gainey is elected by you, the residents of Pittsburgh, on Nov. 2, he will be Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor. It will be official, unlike six months ago when Rep. Gainey won the Democratic mayoral nomination over contenders Bill Peduto (the current mayor) and retired police officer Tony Moreno.
When Rep. Gainey won the May 18 Primary Election, it looked to be a foregone conclusion that he would cruise into the mayor’s seat in the upcoming Nov. 2 General Election, because Pittsburgh residents vote Democratic as much as they love their Primanti’s.
But Moreno, a registered Democrat, decided to run against Rep. Gainey in next week’s election as a Republican, rather than take the May Primary loss like a man and go home.
Mayor Peduto had the chance, like Moreno, to run on the Republican ticket for mayor against Rep. Gainey, but unlike Moreno, Mayor Peduto took his loss like a man, bowed out, and wished Rep. Gainey well.
As much as we would want to believe that Rep. Gainey’s victory on Nov. 2 will be a slam dunk, nothing is for certain. You just never know how Pittsburgh will roll. This is why we at the Courier are practically pleading with you, Black Pittsburgh, to get to the polls next Tuesday and cast your vote. Every single vote will matter in this historic election. This is not a time for you to skip out on voting. Representative Gainey needs the entire Black voting community to help make this official.
Just as it was time for America to have a Black president, it’s time for Pittsburgh to be led by a person that looks like us. A person that can truly understand our plight, living in a city that wants to be a city for all but has lost 7,000 African Americans in the past few years. Pittsburgh has never been a majority-Black town, but what was a 27, 28 percent Black population in 2000 is now hovering below 22 percent. If there is anyone who can help African Americans in terms of economics, education and housing in Pittsburgh, it’s Rep. Gainey. Representative Gainey also knows that African Americans in town will hold him accountable for his actions to better our community, as well.
When Robert Lee Vann was the Courier’s famed editor and publisher up until his death in 1940, he worked tirelessly to showcase Pittsburgh’s Black community in a positive light, and shed light on the issues that Black Pittsburghers faced. The Courier, as you may know, began its famous “Double V” campaign in the ‘40s, which advocated for Blacks to receive freedom and better treatment in the U.S. in addition to helping the U.S. win the war overseas. Back in those days, it wasn’t even a thought that Pittsburgh would have a Black mayor.
But alas, here we are, generations later, with a chance to see something that many of you thought would never happen.
Let’s make history, Pittsburgh. Make sure that the next mayor of the City of Pittsburgh is Edward Charles Gainey.
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