A number of years ago I was afforded the opportunity to write my column titled “To Tell The Truth”. Over the years I made contact with an unbelievable number of people who are readers of the column, and their response has been overwhelmingly positive.
It is a wonderful feeling when people stop you and oft times ask are you “Hop” Kendrick, who writes the column in the Courier? After answering yes, I then thank them for being complimentary and for reading the New Pittsburgh Courier. Often the question is asked why doesn’t the Courier publish at least twice a week? We wish we were able to.
All of my life I have lived by you can’t judge a book by its cover. Men and women, of all walks of life have stopped and explained to me how they look forward to reading the Courier. There are two incidents that really stand out. One was a young father who had just bought a Courier and looked up and said to me, “are you Hop?” I said yes and he said, “Would you just wait for two minutes?” He went outside and came back with his son, who was about 5 years old and introduced us by saying, “This is Mr. Hop who writes a column in the Courier and I just want you to meet a real stand up man.”
The other was a woman, who introduced herself to me and said, “I want you to know that my children and I read your column in the Courier every week.”
Another time I was in a store and a Black man in front of me bought both of the local daily papers, so I reached on the newsstand and picked up the Courier and said, “Try this paper, I’ll pay for it.” He responded by saying, “Thanks but no thanks. I bought the Courier first, it’s under my arm.”
If you want more truism then turn your radio to WRCT FM 88.3 and you will be able to hear “Hop” Kendrick Monday and Friday twice a day at 7:55 a.m. and 4:55 p.m. Be sure to listen.
(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a weekly contributor to the Forum page.)
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