The Gantt Report
By Lucius Gantt
No, this column is not about soap opera actors Victor and Nikki New-man.
Today I’m writing about the young public servants in America and around the world that are not afraid to stand up and speak out about issues that are important to the people they serve.
The young are restless! Political offices in the United States are overwhelmingly held by modern-day versions of “Fiddler”, a character from the “Roots” television series about the days of slavery.
The idea that Black elected officials should sit in the back of House and Senate chambers in Washington and in state legislatures and shut up because klansmen in blue suits and red ties have no desire to hear what young people have to say is ridiculous and inappropriate.
Why do the senior and elder Black elected officials of today only want to speak out from the confines of their homes and offices via “Zoom” news interviews rather than being the political leaders they promised they would be during campaign times?
You know the answer to the question. Politicians are reluctant to risk their political careers by speaking truth to power.
Most politicians love to be called “Representative” or “Senator”, they love free trips, free dinners, and free drinks.
Too many elected officials are hesitant to protest political procedures if the protests are not authorized and endorsed by the Congressional and Legislative powers that be.
Thank God for the fearless young Black members of the Tennessee State Legislature that stood up to complain about their political colleagues that refuse to address needed gun control legislation that would better protect school children and other members of communities.
The behavior of nationalists and supremacists in state legislatures is no secret and nothing new.
The Gantt Report wrote years and years and years ago that America’s greatest political satans were in the states.
It was state legislators that gerrymandered state and federal districts to ensure the elections of more political conservatives, it was state legislators that perpetuated the Big Lies about the 2020 elections, and it was the state legislators in Tennessee that expelled two young Black Representatives (while allowing a white female legislator who protested gun violence with the Blacks to retain her seat).
If you don’t know, the Black legislators were basically expelled for disrupting House business when the Tennessee House of Representatives was in recess even though it is impossible to conduct House business when the House of Representatives is in recess.
Young people everywhere on earth have always been the main ones to stand up and speak out about injustice and political misconduct.
It was young people who sat in, young people that marched and protested in the past, young people that boycotted, and it was young people on the frontlines of every battle for freedom, justice, equality, and peace in every political confrontation that ever took place.
Keep on protesting young people and young politicians. There are mature warriors ready to join you in your fight.
The young Black men, and women, are restless but you have experienced soldiers in your community that are not afraid to help you.
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