By Lucius Gantt<\/p>\n
Some of the most loyal readers and supporters of The Gantt Report have asked me why I don\u2019t write about political misconduct and corruption every week. I don\u2019t because I\u2019ve been saying and writing about how local, state and federal governments have been treating all people of color for years.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you\u2019re thirsty about columns that mimic, parrot, imitate and intentionally copy the writings of their white colleagues, they are easy to find.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Guess what? I know who Leonard Pitts is and I know about Charles Blow, Roger Brown, Jonathan Capehart, Byron Dobson, Harold Jackson, Bill Maxwell, Clarence Page and other opinion and, believe it or not, most Black editorial columnists know who I am.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So, if you want their takes on what the world\u2019s white columnists thinks are the hot topics, just go on the internet and you\u2019ll find them.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since TGR won\u2019t be around forever, I\u2019m going to touch on some subjects that our people need to know about.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let\u2019s go! Vamanos!<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t care where you live. If you live in a so-called urban area that has a predominately Black population, your community is being gentrified.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In other words, your community has seen changes. You, your parents and your grandparents are being forced to leave the neighborhoods where your immediate family has always lived.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, you\u2019re not being forced out with a gun and a whip. You are being forced out by development deals that always result in skyrocketing taxes, rents and home prices. The white \u201cmarket rate\u201d is not the rate in Black neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Why?<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gentrification in 2022 can only occur with the willing assistance of the people you voted for.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let me explain. Jesus Christ, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, to name a few, were all sold out by informants, traitors and opportunists that were only concerned about how gentrification, for instance, would benefit them personally.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In Biblical days, people were bought out with pieces of silver, in slavery days you could be sold out for a \u201cwood floor\u201d to sleep on and today, urban residents are sold down the river for a one-game sky box seat at a professional sports event or a chicken dinner at fancy restaurant, for example.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But compensation is not the worst part of it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The people you\u2019re represented by know, or should know, about government planning offices, commissions and agencies.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your government, wherever you are, plans where development, gentrification, displacement and relocation will occur years and years in advance.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How easy is it for your elected official to tell you, \u201cdevelopers are building high rises, sports stadiums, malls and other projects in Black communities, so buy all the property you can in the hood\u201d?<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Instead, so-called leaders want you to march to state capitols and city halls on the day of the deciding votes to protest the impact on inner city residents and neighborhoods even though the decisions to remove residents and take properties was made five or ten years ago.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your leaders, some of whom were bamboozled, allege the developers will bring jobs and economic prosperity to blighted areas.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, it will but not for you!<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After reading a page or two of a Malcolm X book, a few Blacks suggest that their urban philosophy is akin to Black Nationalism.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Who\u2019s kidding who? You can\u2019t claim nationalism if you don\u2019t believe you have a nation. Also, Black nationalists believe the land, the money and the politics of Black communities should be controlled by Black people that live in Black communities.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Soon, Americans will go to the polls to re-elect officials or to get rid of the old and replace old politicians with new and better ones.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I won\u2019t tell you who you vote for but I can tell you what to ask the candidates about what they will do for you.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m on a mission to inform my people in a way that other columnists can\u2019t do and won\u2019t try.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many editorial columnists have syndication and distribution deals because they write what they are told to write. Oreos are good to eat but they may not be the best to read.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I try to write about issues and events that can help and\/or inform my people. I write the truth whether imperialist newspapers and websites want me to or not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Some writers and some elected officials can’t be bought out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Lucius Gantt Some of the most loyal readers and supporters of The Gantt Report have asked me why I don\u2019t write about political misconduct and corruption every week. I don\u2019t because I\u2019ve been saying and writing about how local, state and federal governments have been treating all people of color for years. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[56,866],"tags":[793,12,310,201,66,25,65],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16844"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16849,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16844\/revisions\/16849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}