Great progress made in politics for African Americans since MLK's day, but more to do
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — When Martin Luther King was fighting for civil rights in the 1960s, very few people of color were elected to public office.
But as KDKA-TV political editor Jon Delano reports, that has changed since Dr. King's assassination nearly 55 years ago.
It's hard to minimize the political progress in recent years, says University of Pittsburgh Law School professor Jerry Dickinson.
"We look at that moment and now look at today, and that's extraordinary that we have so many African Americans in public office," says Dickinson.
On Tuesday, Pennsylvania will swear in the first African American lieutenant governor, Austin Davis.
We have the first African American state auditor general in Timothy DeFoor, Pittsburgh elected its first African American mayor, Ed Gainey, and Summer Lee became the state's first African American woman in Congress two weeks ago.
"Those are unprecedented moments in Pennsylvania history that we should be applauding, that we should be very proud of," says Dickinson.
Dickinson notes that people of color – Blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans – are now winning majority white districts like Gainey and Lee, but it's still not common.
"As we move forward, we're going to have to work harder to get African Americans elected in 'majority majority' districts. What I mean by that is electing African Americans in predominately white states, predominately white districts, predominately white counties. That is still a rare phenomenon, and we still need to work at that in order to bring more political equality across the system," says Dickinson.
In Harrisburg, the Legislative Black Caucus now has 37 members or nearly 15 percent of all members. While in Washington, 133 members of the House and Senate identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian American, or American Indian, representing one-quarter of Congress.
So what would Dr. King say today?
"He would say his vision for a colorblind or accepting, tolerant nation certainly has made progress, but I think he would say this, that there's unfinished business," says Dickinson.
"We as a society are becoming far more pluralistic. We are becoming far more inclusive in our way of life and, as a result, we are becoming far more tolerant."
But Dickinson adds, "To what extent can we minimize subconscious racism? That is, when people don't mean to be explicitly racist, but they do certain things or enact policies that have the effect of harming another minority group. I think we still need to work on that, but that being said, there's no doubt there's been a decline in racism."
State Rep. Aerion Abney, a 34-year-old Democrat from Manchester recently elected to the state House from Pittsburgh, credits young Black activists for pushing politics in the right direction.
"We are finally moving closer to bringing Black and brown folks out of the margins, out of the shadows and into access to opportunity," says Abney.
"We are finally moving a little bit closer to push for policies that can end systemic racism and oppression," Abney added.
"Racial inequities and systemic injustice is something that we experience every single day even in the days when it's not in your face, the legacy of it, the vestiges of it is still persistent," says Lee, a Swissvale Democrat.
One solution, says Lee, is greater diversity in government.
"We need people who will represent diverse perspectives. As the first Black woman, we know there are an entire demographic of people in Pennsylvania who have never ever had representation," says Lee.
Dr. King once said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
While Pennsylvania has a ways to go – especially when it comes to women in politics – most would say it's bending in the right direction.
