By David W. Marshall
(Trice Edney Wire) – As a Black man in America, if I were placed on trial for a major crime such as first-degree murder and knowing I was totally innocent, it would be impossible for me to forget the long criminal justice history of this nation, particularly when it resulted in the incarceration and sometimes execution of Black men who did not commit the alleged crime.
Therefore, my freedom and entire future would depend on having a competent and aggressive lawyer fighting on my behalf. My representative would need to be a meticulous, strategically bold, and grounded attorney – one who will hold the opposition accountable. Since my life is on the line, I would need a lawyer who has a little “bulldog” in them and is fighting for me. Someone who, at the right moments, can be highly aggressive and combative in a righteous, indignant way when shameless lies, schemes, and hypocrisy need to be exposed and destroyed. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, as a civil rights lawyer and member of the U. S. Congress, exemplifies the type of fighter I would need if my future were at stake in the courtroom, the public square, city hall, state legislatures, and throughout the halls of Congress.
America’s 250th anniversary celebration was a reminder of how critical it is for people of color to have competent yet aggressive representatives fighting for their futures. When President Trump sidelined America 250, the long-standing bipartisan commission tasked a decade ago with planning anniversary festivities, he replaced it with his own group of political allies, called Freedom 250.
The national celebration was then redefined in Trump’s terms, reflecting his personal vision of America. What should have been a national civic milestone highlighting patriotism in inclusive and unifying terms became a MAGA campaign rally. John Pitney, a former national Republican official who now teaches political science at Claremont McKenna College, said Trump is diverging from the tradition of presidents who have used moments of national triumph and tragedy to speak as Americans first, not as partisans.
The meaning behind America’s 250th anniversary and national patriotism differs for Black Americans, who have shown love for a country that has not always returned it. It is true that America is the “Land of Opportunity,” a phrase and theme received because of its historical promise of economic mobility, vast available land, and freedom that allowed immigrants to build a better life through hard work. This contrasted with the rigid European class structures, offering hope that anyone could succeed regardless of their background.
This description of opportunity has its caveats when it comes to the Black community. The caveats come from the fact that America is a land of denied opportunities. At other times it has become the land of opportunity gained, and then the land of opportunities taken back. Opportunities, whether they are denied, gained, or taken back, all depend on who is fighting for you and who is fighting against you. If we don’t win the fight, denied opportunities will never be gained, and gained opportunities will ultimately be taken back. Therefore, 250 years for Black Americans means 250 years of fighting and maintaining.
We need to know who is fighting for us (Rep. Jasmine Crockett) and who is fighting against us (Rep. Byron Donalds). For example, last year Rep. Donalds authored a bill (D.C. Crimes Act of 2025) aimed at aggressively cracking down on juvenile crime in the nation’s capital, which drew sharp criticism from Democrats for rolling back judicial discretion and leniency for young offenders.
Rep. Crockett took to the House floor to publicly detail Donalds’s own criminal history as a young adult. She noted that Donalds was charged with a felony at age 21, but avoided permanent conviction due to a mercy and expungement program that he then opposed for others. “Imagine being a young man born to Jamaican and Panamanian parents who messed up not once but twice. Imagine standing in front of a judge with your whole future hanging in the balance, and instead of prison, you are given a promise of mercy,” Crockett said of Donalds, without mentioning his name.
She continued, “Your record gets wiped clean; you get a second chance at life. Now, imagine taking that promise and turning it into a promotion. You go to college, you get a job, and even become a member of Congress. That’s what redemption looks like. That’s what America is supposed to be about, and that is exactly the story of the next wannabe governor from Florida as a young man,” Crockett said of Donalds, who is now a gubernatorial candidate in Florida.
She continued, “Now, he’s the face of a bill that would not afford young people in Washington, D.C. the same opportunities afforded to him. Let me be real, if he had grown up under Donald Trump’s America, or under the very D.C. Crimes Bill he’s pushing…He wouldn’t be standing here as a member of Congress.” Calling out the hypocrisy, Crockett said, “I will not sit quiet while a man who was saved by grace turns around and tries to snatch grace away from others….”
We should feel pride and patriotism knowing that we have Rep. Crockett fighting on our behalf. She will be missed as she leaves Congress this year.
David W. Marshall is the founder of the faith-based organization TRB: The Reconciled Body and author of God Bless Our Divided America.
