Eclipse Magazine - Produced by NABVETS 2015 First Edition | Page 11

are frustrated and living in poverty. What did he expect
would happen,” Rangel asks. “We’ve been fighting for
over 12 years, and it seems to me that President Obama
had high hopes we would extract ourselves from this.
How do we fight a war we have declared, with an enemy
that changes and can’t be identified? How will we know
what victory even looks like?”
He reserves special criticism for religious leaders who
have been largely absent from the debate about not only
the war, but also civil rights issues on American soil.
“The righteous should stand up and say, ‘It’s wrong to kill
people, it’s wrong to kill people with drones, it’s wrong to
jail people like animals. But I haven’t seen one rabbi or
imam or priest come out to speak about these universal
truths. History will record the silence of those who deal
with laws higher than those man has enacted.”
Being in the trenches of Korea may have been the
ultimate training for outlasting his critics in the political
trenches of Washington. Rangel has often said he hasn’t
had a bad day since Kunu-ri, and he means it. “I’ve kept
my promise to not complain after I survived that day. I’ve
had serious health issues, people trying to get to me,
dodging the bullets of trials and failures. But whenever
a bad day tries to come, it takes a good look at me and
steps aside,” says the congressman. In 2007, Rangel
fused his colorful political life and military career into a
memoir, And I Haven’t Had a Bad Day Since: From the
Streets of Harlem to the Halls of Congress (available at
Amazon and other major book sellers). He may have
reconsidered the comment in 2010, though, when he
was censured for ethics violations, which he steadfastly
claimed were not intentional.

When Rangel looks at the situation for African Americans
today, at the violence in Ferguson and elsewhere, he
puts it in perspective using 60 years of history he has
had a hand in making. “I marched the full 54 miles from
Selma to Montgomery, cussing all the way. At that time,
I couldn’t conceive of a way there would ever be an
African-American president. And here we are, with an
African-American president. We’ve come all that way,
but there’s still so far to go, and so many obstacles to
overcome,” he says.
But Rangel also has a possible solution for what still
ails America, and it involves seeing more young AfricanAmericans follow in his political footsteps. “My advice to
young people is to give [public service] a try before you
get involved earning money you don’t want to give up.
So many people who would be good at it, who have the
talent for it and could make a difference, their income
doesn’t allow them to consider changing their life. So if
you’re lucky enough to marry someone like I did, who
wants to share in this adventure, do it. Doing good for
people, you get more back than you ever put in.”

At 84, Rangel is the second-longest serving House
member, behind John Conyers. That doesn’t mean he’s
slowing down, though. Rangel still spends his days
debating his colleagues, pushing forward on his agendas
and voting on the floor as he has since 1971. But the
man who has made public service his life is finally ready
to enjoy retirement with his wife Alma, who he met on
the dance floor of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in 1964.
“When I was campaigning, I announced that this would
be my last term. I came back because I thought Obama
had a good chance to get some things done in the last
two years and he was prepared to use his executive
authority more… I want to be part of that, to finish what
we started.”
Future Congressman Rangel served during the Korean War and was wounded in an
attack by waves of Communist Chinese troops. He was awarded a Purple Heart and the
Bronze Star for Valor after leading his surviving comrades from behind enemy lines.
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