Good Trouble and Good Hate

The Gantt Report

By Lucius Gantt

      Everyone that is reading this week’s edition of The Gantt Report has had troubles, trouble in mind, trouble with their body, family troubles, career troubles, bankroll troubles, legal troubles, relation troubles, and more.

The late Congressman John Lewis suggested that getting into trouble for marching, protesting, and fighting for equal rights and justice were examples of “good trouble”.

In addition to troubles, Gantt Report readers probably have haters. If you are a righteous reader, most of your hate is “good hate”.

Let me explain. If you’re hated because you are a freedom fighter, hated because you stand up and speak out for your rights, hated because you avoid stress and drama, or hated because you protect your family, your community, and yourself, the hate will be “good hate”.

True Christians claim love for Jesus Christ but not everyone loved Jesus during his lifetime. Jesus was persecuted, spat on, nailed to a cross, and ultimately killed and buried in a dark cave.

The same is true, in some respects about too many Black men and women that have been considered Black heroes.

Outspoken and rebellious slaves that were involved in slave revolts were hated by slave masters; and fellow slaves that were happy to be on the plantations or more afraid of slavers than living a life of freedom.

When you do and say the right things, you will be disliked. People with wicked, deceitful, and devilish intentions will label you as a troublemaker, a radical, or a problem-causer.

Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Fannie Lou Hammer, James Baldwin, Kwame Nkruma, Chaka Zulu, Patrice Lumumba, and many, many others at some times, were hated as much as there were loved.

Now, don’t accuse me of going overboard with “good hate”. I’m fully aware that all of us can’t be civil rights leaders, community activists, radicals, or revolutionaries but we can support the men and women that are.

Newspaper publishers tell me all the time that I often write about how Black Americans feel, but the majority of Black men and women are reluctant to talk about their thoughts and feelings regarding Black life in the United States.

I understand that. However, I must do what I do. God gave me skills and talent that I must use. I could have kept quiet and had a long illustrative career as a media professional. I can write like the columnists you enjoy, but in my mind, I am the voice of the voiceless.

If you don’t know, Pulitzer Prize-winning Black columnists have called me a ranter, a raver, a militant, and other things. Klansmen and separatists have threatened to kill me, and fake friends have rejoiced and celebrated when they thought I’d die in a hospital.

But like the Williams Brother’s song, I’m “Still Here”!

Bad people hate good people. I guess good people love their neighbors.

My experience is you can tell a lot about men and women by looking at who dislikes or hates them.

If your oppressors or exploiters hate someone you know and respect, hate from devils, witches, and wrongdoers is “good hate”!