Let me ask you a question. If one of your coworkers was offered a job that pays him or her about $15,000 a month, gives them a new car to ride around in while at work or on personal travel, gives them a new I-phone and pays all cell phone bills, gives them a new up to date laptop computer for work and personal use and gives the worker a $5000 expense account to wine and dine anyone they want to, would you want the paycheck and benefits or would you want to volunteer and get paid zero dollars for working just as hard?
You don’t need to answer the question. If you’re smart, you’d take the paper, the moolah, the cheese and the benefits!
The scenario described above happens every year and in every city where an election takes place!
The political parties that you love, the politicians that you love and the political operatives that you love will seek to get the votes, the campaign contributions and all of the political endorsements they can from you and give you back as little as possible.
Politicos will disrespect you, disparage you, demean you, doubt you and decimate Black communities around the world.
In the United States alone, more than $5,000,000,000 (five billion) was spent in the 2018 elections. I’m not a math major but one percent of five billion dollars is $50,000,000.
How many of your friends got million dollar political contracts? Not many, if any!
Two of your political heroes of the moment, Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum, are currently heading massive and widespread voting registration efforts in the South that could easily turn national and generate millions and millions of dollars to spend.
Stacey and Andrew are Black. Do you think they know any Blacks in politics that can provide professional political services? Do you think they will hire and contract Black political contractors and vendors in decision making positions for huge monetary political positions?
Time will tell but time has already told us the political devils of the world have no plans whatsoever to make any Black political operative or consultant rich, wealthy multi-millionaires!
The political devils will advise candidates to give you false promises, proposed street and building name changes, useless proclamations and every now and then give you a mullet fish dinner or some free hot dogs and beer but save all of the major money to give to people outside of the district, the city and the state!
Gantt Report readers love their HBCUs. So tell me why Black college grads and Black graduates from other schools are all “qualified” to become Mayors, Commissioners, Councilmen, Sheriffs, Judges, Legislators, Congressmen and other elected officials but there are no Black college journalism school graduates that are qualified to call a TV or radio station and place a political TV or radio commercial? A 12 year old that can read and write can perform that task.
Labor unions will quickly demand that politicians use union printers and show the “union bug” on all of their political signage and literature and the people you love are afraid to even say I want a Black professional to handle Black media, Black GOTV, Black polling, Black messaging, Black fund raising and other political services.
The political devil isn’t so tricky. Satan is out front. Black and white candidates will tell you, “I’m going to pay the white people but colored people can only volunteer!”
Black families, friends and neighbors might agree to be a devil’s volunteer because they believe politicians hire volunteers.
If you believe that you should go on Def Comedy Jam because that’s always the political joke of the year. The people hired on the campaign are the first people considered for jobs after the campaign.
Pimping ain’t easy but politics is. All a candidate has to do to get Black votes is to say, “I love Martin Luther King, I listen to Michael Jackson and I laugh at Tiffany Haddish.” Some political devils will tell you, “I’m not a racist because I “gave a cup of water to the garbage man” or “I let the maid and the lawn boy sit at my table for a Thanksgiving meal of leftovers!”
We need equal rights and justice but we also need equal, or similar, pay checks and equal opportunities to participate in political purchasing transactions!
If you know a political candidate that you love and support, help them but stop racing to be a devil volunteer because even if he or she wins, political devils will never go to political Heaven! The Gantt Report –
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.