Jun 04 2008
Moody-Lawrence Retires With Dignity
“The Velvet Hammer.”
She earned the nickname from the Black Caucus and the Democratic Caucus. Years ago, she told another House speaker — in a tone that caused the House to halt like a tornado had struck –”I will not be disrespected!”
On Tuesday, Moody-Lawrence thanked her peers, and in the next breath, she threw down a gauntlet of challenges. She may have had cancer, but her voice sounded like thunderclaps.
Moody-Lawrence spoke for just a few minutes, yet the place was spellbound. She did not talk of laws she created or defeated. All she talked about is what is right and what is wrong.
“People have put you here because they have confidence in you,” she said. “They thought you had good sense.”
So, she demanded action.
“Improve the human condition,” she told the legislators, using her longtime catch-phrase. “Do it for ordinary people. Every nationality. Rich and poor. Young and old. Black and white. Make life better for that little boy or girl, barefooted today, so they can be contributors to society. Not fodder for prisons.”
Fundamentally, I agree with everything Bessie said. I just take difference with her as to the method of how we achieve those goals.
And she’s right about those who have been elected. People put the trust in them to go to Columbia to make the right decisions for the state. So far, most of those who have been elected have failed in their duty. It’s yet another reminder that we have an important primary coming up on Tuesday and have some important changes to make.
Good luck to Bessie Moody-Lawrence and Godspeed.
