Recently, in the halls of Congress, Republicans in the House and Senate have threatened to fight Committee witnesses and each other during business like children fighting on the playground.
The Gantt Report, by Lucius Gantt
If you have small kids or grandchildren, you may have had an opportunity to visit a nursery school at an outdoor playtime.
If you see what looks like a more aggressive child, it may be the little one that gets spanked at home and acts as a regulator in the sandbox.
On the playground, oftentimes the five-year-olds push and pull on each other on the merry-go-round or the monkey bars.
Recently, in the halls of Congress, Republicans in the House and Senate wanted to throw blows at each other and threatened to fight a witness at a Senate Committee meeting.
I would love for elected officials to battle each other but I want politicians to fight for the people. I would also like to see gang members fight for, and not against, the people in America’s Black communities.
It’s important for all of us to continue fights for equal rights, justice, voting rights, financial rights, and, access to capital, housing rights, and more.
For many people who follow politics, it always seems like most elected officials only want to “fight” for their re-elections. The retention of their political seats and titles might be their primary governmental motivations.
I know how hard it is to be a fighter for the people. The people in your city, state, or community who stand up, speak out, or fight for the people will not be the ones who get hired by the employer, fighters will not be the
ones that get executive or administrative jobs, and the activists and the freedom fighters will never be winners of any government bids or government contracts.
Back in the days of slavery, a Black man called Denmark Vesey won a lottery and purchased his freedom from cruel and wicked slave masters, but he was unable to purchase freedom for his first wife and their children.
Vesey was a carpenter and became active in his church. He later helped to found an independent African Methodist Episcopal (AME) in Carolina.
I have never seen a photo of Denmark Vesey. There have been drawings that allegedly were made in his image.
Denmark Vesey fell out of favor with the Carolina powers that be after he and some friends plotted a slave revolt and instructed Blacks who stood up to fight for justice to kill everything white they ran into, including women and children.
Negroes that loved their masters snitched on Denmark and Vesey and many of his followers were executed and hung by their necks.
Yes, it is tough fighting for something worth fighting for, but I believe God will take care of his soldiers who fight for righteousness in today’s world just like God took care of David, Danial, Joshua, and other Biblical figures.
Now, back to the politicians fighting on the Congressional playground.
Recent verbal and physical fighting by Republicans was disgusting and not Congressional. However, recent fights in Washington, D.C. were not the worst examples of political fisticuffs.
The most outrageous Congressional battle, in my mind, occurred when a member of the political party that Black Americans love walked from the House over to the Senate to fight a colleague.
The columnists and newsmen you enjoy won’t tell you, but a racist, Southern segregationist member of the Democratic Party took a cane one day in the past and beat the living sheet out of a Republican in the Senate who protested slavery.
When elected officials fight for the people and fight for what is right, the battles are desirable.
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.