Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, reminded us all on Feb. 9 exactly why Democrats are as soft as Charmin toilet tissue. Maybe even softer.
Dude had the unmitigated gall to say, in front of God and all creation, that his party had no power to fight President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress.When I saw that a Black man who called himself a leader went on national television during Black History month of all times and said that, I had a single question: who’s mans is this? I wasn’t alone. Black folks took to social media to question his statements.
But we were not alone. Even those who need 1,000 SPF sunscreen were outraged and voiced their concerns.
America is under attack, but it is not from whom you would expect. There is no foreign power invading our land to wage war. It is not a cyberattack that is making our lives unlivable...it is the man who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The one who took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States that is tearing the country apart from within.
(Well, him and Elon Musk, a billionaire from South Africa who has made no such commitment.)
But where are the Democrats? More pointedly, where are the Black Democrats? Surely, they do not agree with Jeffries. The Democrats lost the White House to Trump, and now in the wake of his (and Musk’s) reign of terror, they are doing…nothing. Please tell me that they have not all displayed the classic sign of resignation and thrown their hands in the air in defeat.
Black folks specialize in finding ways to combat insurmountable odds. That’s what inspired Martin Luther (the) Kaing to give his “I have a Dream” speech. That’s what inspired Rosa Parks to say ‘nah’ when she was asked to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery on Dec. 1, 1955.
It’s why John Lewis got his skull fractured when he marched on the Edmund Pettis Bridge on Bloody Sunday in 1965. And if we want to get international, it’s why Steve Biko in South Africa showed us that resignation in the face of tyranny is not how Black folks get down. Don’t even get me started on Patrice Lumumba.
Every single one of those people faced insurmountable odds and found a way to fight back. Surely Malcolm X, Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer and Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) would be turning in their graves had they heard Jefferies words. No, Democrats...you are not powerless. You may have to get innovative to respond to the President, but you have power.
Someone tell Jefferies to sit down and learn about Black history. Or just vote him out of office. Whatever works.