“Hop” Kendrick: Too many of us are permitting ourselves to be played out of position

by Louis ‘Hop’ Kendrick, For New Pittsburgh Courier

It is important that I clarify to some of the readers the meaning of the headline of this column.

A majority of Blacks are consumed with discussing or talking about former President Donald Trump. They include too many of our church leaders (where the civil rights movement was born), “colored” elected officials who still have the mindset, “we be all right boss,” professional talk show callers, the untold numbers of Blacks who just talk but fail to vote for anyone, and we must remember those who have access to those people with money who fund their programs. This is just a sampling of those who allow themselves to be played out of position.

There exists almost complete silence about the oldest civil rights organization in Pittsburgh—the Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP—being closed. Why?

When is the last time a meeting was convened to remind ourselves and our youth that Barack Obama, a Black man, was president for two terms? That’s 8 years.

We fail to discuss Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was the first Black man to run for President of the United States; he ran twice.

Are our youth who currently duplicate what we did in the sixties knowledgeable about Medgar Evers, Stokely Carmichael, Nelson Mandela, and Congressman Rev. Adam Clayton Powell?

Who has informed the uninformed in Pittsburgh that we have often been described as “Up South?” Why? Colored folks were treated identically as in the Deep South. We were denied jobs at every level—police, firefighters, elevator operators, and unions. Banks would not accept your money (if you had any to bank). We were denied certain cars, mortgages, and access to Pittsburgh and Allegheny County-owned recreational facilities.

To those of you that are so consumed with discussing an ex-Republican president, why don’t you inform yourselves and others about the current condition of Black Americans locally? This is the year 2022. If not now, then when?

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