A couple of years back, I was given the honor of speaking at
the Greater New Orleans Tea Party’s Anti-Tax Rally. Also on the agenda was Rev.
Bryant. While I had heard the name “C.L. Bryant” before, I never had the
pleasure of speaking to him in person or hearing him speak to a group.
After I spoke and talked about the Mayor of Kenner's failed attempt to double property taxes, Rev.
Bryant took that stage and gave a riveting speech about International, National
and State issues.
After he finished speaking, I told C.L. that I was
grateful that the GNOTP organizers had the foresight to ask me to speak BEFORE
him as it would have been a huge letdown for the group if I followed him. We
laughed, although I was being serious.
I’m pretty good at public speaking but I’m no C.L. Bryant. I
don’t even know if I’m really qualified to be his warm up act.
Since that day in April 2011, I’ve had the pleasure of
speaking with and hearing Rev. Bryant speak several more times and watching his movie, “The
Runaway Slave”. While I respected Rev. Bryant immediately, my respect has grown
considerably since we met.
Well, this morning on “The Ken & Bernie Show” on KPEL
96.5fm in Acadiana, I was Rev. Bryant’s opening act again.
Rev. Bryant was in Orlando at the NAACP Convention and he
took time out of his day to speak with Ken Romero and Bernadette Lee about race
and the George Zimmerman verdict.
With the rampant speculation that the Federal Justice
Department is considering their own charges against Zimmerman, Rev. Bryant had
some interesting thoughts about the not guilty verdict.
“There was almost no way that they (the Jury) would come
back with a ‘guilty’ verdict,” Bryant said. “This was a self-defense issue.”
Commenting about Race, Rev. Bryant echoed the thoughts of
many.
“Nobody would have known about this,” if Zimmerman was
Black.
Rev. Bryant was also asked about President Obama attempting
to politicize this sad event.
Regardless of who is President “When you as the leader of
the free world would insert yourself into a local issue, it is going to have
far reaching implications,” Rev. Bryant said.
No matter where you fall in the Zimmerman verdict debate,
you can’t help but respect Rev. Bryant’s opinions.
If you are ever lucky enough to hear him speak, I’m sure
that you’ll join me in respecting a lot more than just his opinions.
Here’s a link to the entire interview. It’s well worth 8
minutes of your time.