THE GANTT REPORT, by Lucius Gantt
I recently attended homegoing services for a great man and good friend, the Rev. Dr. Herman Haynes, who was called to take his final journey to The Land of Plenty. Brother Haynes gave the eulogy for my mother, who was sometimes called “Mama Black” by my activist and radical friends.
Herm said, “The apple didn’t fall far from the tree! Mother and son, were never afraid to express themselves.”
It is not unusual to see friends and family at funerals and weddings that you haven’t seen in years.
I would never show it in public, but words from many people I reconnected with almost brought me to tears.
You see, my long-time friends get it. From day one, Lucius and The Gantt Report has been on a mission from God.
One friend said when TGR began, people thought I was crazy but after more than 40 years, they now say, I was “ahead of my time”.
Another person asked me if I knew about a powerful column written by someone named Gantt. I said, “Yes, I’m the author.”
I tell my media friends all the time, “Don’t sleep on TGR. The Gantt Report is read all over the world by all kinds of people.”
Anyway, today’s column is about “The Mini Man March”!
Don’t laugh. The imperialist press in Atlanta is reporting that Democratic politicians in Georgia were urged by MAGA male Democrats to drum up support from Black male voters by orchestrating poorly attended marches.
The very highly paid white male consultants suggested the best way to get Black men to vote for Stacey Abrams and Rafael Warnock was to have a march, not a million-man march but a mini man march.
I wasn’t there to personally count the marchers. The white reporters that were there didn’t mention the numbers of marchers in their news reports either. There were no pictures. There were only mentions of signs about Black Lives Matter and other miscellaneous topics.
TGR has been saying and writing for years about how Democrats are using 1950 strategies to try to turn out 2022 voters, there is no comprehensive Black media push, no organized and funded Black church push, no utilization of Black political professionals, no effective direct mail and social media messaging to Black voters and no use of political science and technology in a Black way.
1950 false promises will get politicians nowhere in 2022.
I know how to turn out our voters but if you pay the MAGA male consultants you have to pay me too.
However, let me just throw out an idea.
Almost every state has famous athletes, entertainers and community activists that are known and trusted by Black voters.
Georgia probably has more rappers, more singers, more mega churches, more Black colleges, more Black TV, movie, video and radio producers than any other state but MAGA consultants insist that Black men and women are politically and professionally inferior.
If Abrams, Warnock and others wanted to win, why couldn’t they pay expenses to send T.I. to Macon to do a free show for registered voters and if a person is not registered to vote they can get registered at the GOTV event?
Send, Two Chains to Ft. Valley, send Jeezy to Albany, send Migos to Savannah, Send Ludacris to Athens, for example, to generate large crowds.
Or, they could have more mini man marches to try to turn out Black male voters.
The timing may not be the best today to register voters for a November election but it is time to recognize and respect the talent and skill of Black people to turn out their own kind!
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.