The recent deaths of former Pennsylvania state Sen. Hardy Williams and businessman and civic leader Percy Sutton will be a great loss for the African-American community and all supporters of equality and justice. Both Williams, 78, and Sutton, 89, were trained as lawyers who used their legal training and skills to advance the empowerment of their people.

They were both trailblazers who broke down barriers and opened doors and served as mentors for other African-American politicians and leaders.

To the public, SCLC, co-founded by Dr. King, has been on the rise after almost going out of business in 2004. Charles Steele Jr., one of my childhood friends from Tuscaloosa, Ala., brought the organization back from the brink of extinction as president and CEO, raising $8 million during his tenure from 2004 to 2009.

On Jan. 4 Pittsburgh City Council was swore in and the first major order of business was to elect a council president. Councilman Bill Peduto and councilman Ricky Burgess both had four votes. Newly elected councilman Daniel Lavelle failed to vote for either and it is assumed that it was driven to a great degree, in my estimation, by his brain trust. I was informed that he absolutely refused to accept a phone call from councilman Burgess.

This proves to me that the newly elected councilman does not care or fails to recognize that Louis Mason was the last Black person to occupy the position of president of Pittsburgh Council.

W.E.B. DuBois was right, and he was wrong. Certainly race matters were critically important in the United States and in the world (think decolonialization) in the latter part of the 20th century, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s, D-Nev., foolish comments about President Obama suggest that we are dragging 20th century problems into the 21st century.