The Death of a Watchman

Elijah E. Cummings died this morning.  He was 68 years old.  He was a graduate of Howard University and the University of Maryland School of Law and served for 14 years in the Maryland House of Delegates and 13-terms in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, representing Maryland’s 7th District.  He was the third of seven children born to sharecroppers from South Carolina.  

What will be remembered about Elijah Cummings?  Will anyone remember when this son of sharecroppers sat down for a candid talk in the Oval Office with Mr. Trump (the son of a rich real estate developer in New York) in 2017?  Elijah talked with the president about some of things he had said on the campaign trail in  2016 about black neighborhoods—calling them “hellscapes.”  Trump had said of these black neighborhoods, “You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs…What the hell do you have to lose?”

Mr. Cummings told Mr. Trump as they sat together in the Oval Office that those words were “insulting” and that “most black people are doing pretty good.”  Mr. Trump didn’t get defensive, according to Cummings, but listened as Elijah went on to say, “Probably nobody has ever told you that,” to which Trump replied, “You’re right—nobody has ever told me that.”  Can you imagine—the son of sharecroppers talking candidly with the born-rich son of a New York real estate developer?  

Will that meeting be remembered?  Or will we remember Mr. Trump’s reactions when the Oversight Committee (chaired by Cummings) voted to subpoena emails and text messages from the White House, including those of the president’s daughter and her husband?  Mr. Trump’s response, as always, was to assassinate Cummings’ character, tweeting that the congressman “spends all of his time trying to hurt innocent people through ‘Oversight.’” Trump suggested that a lot of money went to the 7th District and, without evidence,  asked how much had been “stolen.”  “Investigate this mess immediately,” tweeted the president, and called the 7th District a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess (where) no human being would want to live…”

What will be remembered about Elijah Cummings?  Will we remember the man and what he stood for?  Or will we remember a rich-born son of a New York real estate developer attempts to discredit and belittle the son of a sharecropper?  I hope we will at least recall Elijah’s warning:  “I’m begging the American people to pay attention to what is going on.”