By Lucius Gantt
The Gantt Report appreciates the long time followers and readers of this column. Those readers that have been reading TGR over the years know that I seldom seek to write how or what people like me to write.
The Gantt Report tries to write the truth whether readers, followers, editors, publishers or others like it or not!
If some of the columns appear somewhat similar to previous columns it is because ain’t a damn thing changed!
The 2018 election year will be just like every other election year when African Americans are told it is important to cast their ballots for the “best” candidates.
Well, the smart Black people know there is little difference between the very best and the very worse candidates. They all talk loud and say nothing. They all make false promises and they all try to trick you into believing a single politician here or there can change your lives, your community and your ethnic group immediately and dramatically.
Don’t believe the hype! The most that Black voters will get in 2018 from the federal, state and local elected officials is symbolism!
Don’t blame me blame the people that you voted to represent you, blame the people you elected to serve you and blame the Black community
political pretenders that will sell you out for a wink and a smile!
Before I talk about what you get from politicians, let me talk about what you can get.
The main thing you can get from politicians is money!,
The only thing that Congress, State Legislatures and local governments are required to do is pass a budget! They have to pass a budget that divides the tax money collected, pay the government bills that have been incurred like loans, bonds, salaries, education costs, health care costs, capital outlay or building costs, transportation costs and so forth.
Now, when the sub-committees of opposing political factions and parties confer to work out differences in budgetary proposals, the other elected officials have time to look out for and propose legislation for their campaign contributors, their friends, allies and cronies. If you don’t know, Black people are in none of the relations listed above.
Politicians pretend to be the friends of Black citizens, fake like they are Black community saviors, act like supporters of Black political interests and, more often than not, trick registered Black voters to vote for them!
Yes, they con you, they fool you, they mislead you, they bamboozle you and they politically punk you!
And how do they do that to get your votes, they always use “symbolic sheet”!
Symbolic sheet usually comes in the form of useless campaign jibberish!
Politicians propose laws and policies that will help women, aid Hispanics, benefit big businesses, please gays, satisfy immigration supporters, protect foreign traders and finance military industrial complexes, bad wars and defense contractors!
But all African Americans get are symbolic phrases about criminal justice when every Black family in every city in the United States has a a parent, a sibling, a neighbor, a friend or a coworker in jail or on paper (probation) in a criminal situation.
Blacks are told by politicians about “equal rights” even when Black voters are denied equal rights at polling places, denied equal access to capital from beast bankers and denied equal opportunities in government purchasing transactions, especially !
If you listen to phony political ads, every politician loves HCBUs, loves Martin Luther King, loves Barack Obama and loves the oppressed and exploited Black masses!
Why can’t 2018 be the election year when Black voters stop putting up with symbolic sheet from politicians that only want to trick Black voters by saying what they think Blacks like instead of giving Blacks in America the political support that they desire and deserve?
Finally, candidates for federal, state and local offices are quick to say what they will do in their “first 100 days in office”. If you know how government works you know that is a bald faced lie! A President, for instance, can make an “Executive Decision” in areas or agencies that he or she controls but the President can’t vote on a single law that needs to be considered by the House and Senate!
A President can veto crime bills and other bills that negatively and wrongfully impact African Americans but when has a President done that?
Helping Black people politically doesn’t even happen in Hollywood!.
Stop depending on politicians to help you and start helping yourself. A good way to start helping yourself is to stop basing your votes on symbolic sheet! (Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net. And, if you want to,“Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook.)
Lucius is a contributing columnist to NNPA newspapers around the nation, and the author of “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” available on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.