To those who know me you can remember that for the first 30 years of my political involvement I was an active proud Republican. As a person too young to register as a graduate of Fifth Avenue High, I decided in the year of 1949 to visit the polling place in my district out of curiosity. Over the following years I became extremely more interested in how the existing political process was not serving the colored (not Black yet) well. I began to interview persons and ask questions such as why was there only one colored committeeperson out of 32 in the ward? The following questions such as why were 95 percent of political jobs occupied by colored voters in the ward were in the refuse division; all positions in the court system district attorney, sheriff, truck drivers (excluding refuse), police, firefighters, row offices, magistrate, constable, and ward chairman were occupied by White residents?
I lived in the Lower Hill when the URA began to demolish it and all of our White neighbors began to move into other sections of Pittsburgh, but they remained registered in the Lower Hill third ward and kept their jobs. Time passes so fast and the conditions for colored persons in particular were worsened and when persons such as myself sought to question why those in control would dismiss my complaints by saying, “You are too young and it has always been the way it is and your people never complained.” However in my mind it was now the time to not only complain but also take positive action.
I vividly remember sitting down with my father seeking his direction on what political party I should register with. Daddy simply stated, “You have a high school diploma and the capacity to think for yourself, so go and figure it out and then come back.” The ward was overwhelmingly registered Democrat and almost to a person that I questioned the answer was almost identical, “You should register as a Democrat because it is the party of President Franklin Roosevelt, who created the welfare for colored folks.”
There were some Republicans in the ward and upon questioning them they were on the identical page with their response how I should register. Almost to a person they stated because of the actions of President Abraham Lincoln slavery in United States was abolished so you should register as a Republican. It now became apparent to me how smart daddy is, his words began to resonate: “You have the capacity to think.” I now found myself in Carnegie Library on Wylie Avenue with several books about the history of the Republican and Democrat parties. It became apparent to me that both political parties had what they considered party philosophies and the Democratic Party professed to champion the plight of the people from the cradle to the grave and referred often to the welfare system.
The Republican Party professed to have the same concerns for the people, but they focused on being available to provide you with a helping hand. They concentrated more on independency and self help. I had witnessed first hand in my neighborhoods the devastating effect that the Democratic Party had upon colored people as they sought to keep colored people locked in the “welfare mentality” frame of mind.
My registration from the Republican Party occurred when one of the most gracious, concerned and committed persons in the form of Mrs. Elsie Hillman resigned from the helm of the party she had molded into a party of inclusion. The following leadership converted the party into a party of exclusion, and I resigned. Now I have registered as a Democrat and it was not long before it was apparent that I had left a Republican Party of exclusion to join a Democrat Party of unbelievable exclusion, because of their almost total indifference to the Black bloc of voters, who had been totally unbelievably loyal to the Democrat Party. I had left nothing to join nothing.
I listened to the speech of the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and he reflected on the terrible conditions in our inner cities that have been under total control of the same party for 70 to 80 years, the Democrat Party.
The very next day in the local newspaper there appeared a story that the five elected Black officials in Pittsburgh were in total agreement with Donald Trump about the deplorable conditions that exist not only in Pittsburgh but in every predominant Black neighborhood in Allegheny County. As you read this column ask yourself which political party governs your city, borough or township Democrats or Republicans?
The time is long overdue for Black voters to make demands for their votes. It is extremely disturbing to me and should be for all of us that the only ethnic group in America that the polls have already predicted how we —you and I—will vote. No poll predicts how Jews, Polish, Germans, Italians, Irish, only Blacks. It is long overdue for Black voters to place demands on those who have not earned our votes, we have just given them away.
I witnessed a political commercial and it stated the children are watching, but those same children are sitting at the table with mother and father and watching and listening.
(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a contributor to the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
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