THE GANTT REPORT, By Lucius Gantt
As a boy growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, the people I looked up to and admired could be seen on the streets. There were the respectable business owners, the holy rolling preachers and there were also a handful of pimps, prostitutes, pick pockets, panhandlers, gamblers and other assorted neighborhood hustlers.
When I visited grandmama’s house on Auburn Avenue, I played in her yard that was two doors away from the King family home. I never interacted with Martin Luther King, Jr. during my days in Atlanta’s Fourth Ward but I’m sure I saw Junior and other King family members coming and going in the ‘hood.
There are all kinds of people in every Black neighborhood in every nation on every continent in the world.
And all of us have a role to play in our struggles for justice, equality, liberation, financial progress, security and peace.
Well, it appears as though Black political, financial, intellectual and other kinds of unity is akin to a fleeting illusion that is pursued but can never be attained.
Too many so-called Black leaders have a “my way or the highway” attitude.
When two or more “Black leaders” have good but different ideas about how Black men and women can improve their lot, instead of having a peaceful and positive conversation together, oftentimes they resort to arguing and attacking their community adversaries.
This type of leadership behavior has been going on since the Black man and Black woman and so-called Black leaders have been on earth!
Don’t act like you don’t know about ideological and philosophical differences between the thoughts of W.E.B. Dubois and the thoughts of Booker T. Washington. Marcus, Martin, Malcolm, Stokely, Huey, Angela and others all had some difference of opinion about when, where and how to attack Black exploitation and oppression.
Today, Black religious leaders get most of the attention on the pages of “major” newspapers and much of the airtime on television and radio. They are cordial with each other, most of the time, but they all say, “God, Allah, Oludumare, Jehovah and other Godly names called them into their ministry. If they don’t know God communicates with all of His children but no God speaks to any human by picking up an I-phone and “calling you”.
I believe God can and does send us signs but most people can’t recognize or interpret Heavenly messages like, “Your ass is in the trauma center, emergency room or ICU because you refused to take care of yourself”!
We don’t all have to walk hand in hand, mind in mind in locked steps. All we have to do is be willing to communicate with each other and work together on things that we all are comfortable with.
The idea that Christianity and Islam are our only choices for religious and spiritual guidance must be discredited. We all have to reach our God in our own way.
There are too many divisions in Black communities for me to list in this column. Stop being afraid to discuss ideas about Black progress because of your fear that your good ideas will be unacceptable or your bad ideas will be exposed.
It is not unusual for the masses of Black people to treat you like you treat them. For instance, if you don’t want to talk to the people, the people will not want to talk to you.
I want Gantt Report readers and supporters to know you can line your Black “leaders” up and I’ll talk to any of them or all of them. If you think a Black bank that is merely a white bank dipped in chocolate is the key to Black financial progress, holler at me.
If you think no Democrat could be a Dixiecrat, give me a call.
And if you think that snuggling and cuddling up with Americans that hate you is a way to improve your long-term status, after reading this column go see your mental health doctor!
Your so-called Black leaders are who you think they are. They do not want Black people around the world to be united!
Suspicious Black minds perpetrate the division in Black thought and that division results in our lack of Black progress.
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.