Articles

I voted for 59 years, never had a loser

Category: Opinion Published on Friday, 04 May 2012 11:17 Written by Louis 'Hop' Kendrick

An uninformed colored person stopped me last week and said, “You supported losing candidates in the last two elections.” My response to him was, “Do you have a few minutes, because you are totally confused about my involvement in politics.”

I attempted to explain so he could understand that in my estimation your candidate can be a winner even if the other candidate has more votes. He left somewhat confused and I recognized once again, ignorance prevailed.

In the 1950s I supported a Black candidate against a White politician who had the reputation of being the best vote getter in Alle­gheny County and colored folks laughed at me, but I supported him on principle. The White candidate received the majority of votes, but I considered myself a winner.

There would be a number of identical campaigns before Black candidates would win, but we always stayed the course and viewed ourselves as winners.

Attorney Byrd R. Brown ran against Congressman William Moorehead and I along with others supported Byrd in a tremendous uphill fight. We lost numerically, but we still won.

Algia Gary, a Black candidate had the endorsement for the congressional seat and was the first and only to ever get an endorsement and I supported him. Once again we lost numerically, and once again I won. Over the years I have supported a number of candidates who lost numerically, but I was a winner.

Jesse Jackson ran for president twice and in both campaigns I was a supporter. He lost both times in 1984 and 1988, but I was a winner.

In the mayor’s race in 2005 four White men and one Black ran for mayor. I was the Black candidate. People would say, “Why would you run? You had to realize you could not win.” I ran because the Black population was almost 30 percent in Pittsburgh, and with that population it would have been a disgrace if no Black person ran.

I see myself as a winner, because once again I ran on principle and for our children’s future, yours and mine. A large number of voters brag about how they voted for the winner and nothing changes in their lives or neighborhoods so they still lost. So maybe it’s time for a number of folks to redefine winning and losing.

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(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a weekly contributor to the Forum page.)