Over the years I have repeatedly written and lectured about the condition of Blacks when it involves the two major political parties. That old quotation is relevant, “the more things change the more they remain the same.”
There was a period of time that three Black ward chairmen had access to power, remember?
They were Jake Williams, 5th Ward; Bubbie Hairston, 13th Ward; and the all-powerful Dock Fielder Jr., 12th ward. Collectively they provided more jobs for Blacks than any three Black individuals throughout Allegheny County.
If you can recall in the early days that was all that politics meant to most people, the sophisticated term was economic salvation, the everyday term simply was to obtain a job. There were those who questioned what kind of jobs did they obtained, but I recall a Black retiree who lived in East Liberty described it best. One day he said to some who were teasing him about an issue and he answered by saying, “The so-called little job I had provided me with the capacity to buy a house, send my daughter to college and receive a pension check every month.
The jobs and the Black chairmen no longer exist, and current opportunities are being denied to Black voters who have been loyal to a Democratic Party that continues to prove it doesn’t give a damn about us. The local Republican Party resembles the White Citizens Council. How many Blacks do you know are active Republicans? I don’t know any.
I registered as a Republican in 1954 and was active in the party as a committeeman for about 28 years in conjunction with untold numbers of other Blacks. In those years Elsie Hillman was in charge of the party and under her support we were a political force to be reckoned with but that was yesteryear, the party has gone backwards.
The current leadership has adopted the attitude that if Blacks vote at all they will vote straight Democrat. The local Republican Party has made absolutely no attempt to recruit Blacks for Tom Corbett’s reelection for governor. Remember that old saying, “nothing ventured nothing gained.”
The Democratic Party has an identical belief—“If OUR BLACKS vote at all they will vote straight Democrat.”
Tom Wolf has a few high profiled Black politicians out front for him but he has made absolutely no commitment to improve the quality of life for Blacks across Pennsylvania if he becomes governor.
Some of my best friends are educated, well read and have responsible jobs, but when it comes to politics they are dyed-in-the-wool Democrats. They say that they analyze candidates, look at their records, but they really don’t. There are some who are so caught up in a political party that they totally lose focus.
A number of years ago I paid a neighbor’s three months back rent to prevent his family from being evicted. Two years later I ran for a political office against an individual my neighbor had never met, but when I asked for his vote he said, “I can’t vote for a Republican,” and voted for the Democrat he had never met. Yes much has changed, but too much remains the same.
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(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a weekly contributor to the Forum page.)
