By BARBARA HOWARD

As I listened in disgust to rapper Busta Rhymes call President Donald Trump “President Agent Orange” at the 2017 Grammys and accuse him of “perpetuating evil,” I thought about my friend and one of the most forgotten and vilified Civil Rights Icon, Mrs. C. Delores Tucker.

C. Delores was first in so many areas, not the least of which was the first black Secretary of State (appointed as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania). She also helped Pennsylvania be one of the first states to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and as Chief of Elections she got the state to institute voter registration by mail and reduce the voting age from 21 to 18.

She courageously marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama in 1965 on “Bloody Sunday,” when racist white state troopers beat the marchers as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, named for the Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan.

C. Delores helped create many organizations, including the African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom, the National Congress of Black Women,Inc., (NCBW), and the Commission on the Status of Women, of which I belonged (Dade County chapter).

Her awards were numerous: one of 25 of the World’s Most Intriguing People and a 1996 Yearbook Honoree by People Magazine, 100 Most Influential Black Americans and 100 Most Influential Black Organization Leaders by Ebony Magazine, and the woman most qualified to be Ambassador to the United Nations by Redbook and the National Women’s Political Caucus, to name a few.

When First Lady Hillary Clinton wrote a book entitled “It Takes A Village” in which she recognized C. Delores for her concern for children and John F. Kennedy Jr., featured her in his inaugural issue of “George” Magazine for her crusade against gangsta rap.

It was this crusade that helped shorten her life. C. Delores passed in 2005 and while she may have technically passed from health reasons, my good friend and hero died from a broken heart.

I was one of her soldiers in the fight against the mean and nasty, violent and misogynistic lyrics of the gangsta rap industry. I watched her condemn the sexually explicit and exploitive lyrics of rap songs because she honestly felt that if we didn’t eliminate them, they would eventually erode the very foundation of the black community. She was right.

And now there are generations of black children who have grown up without knowledge of basic family values. We fought for decency and lost and now I watch the very people who fought against us condemn President Donald Trump for saying and/or doing indecent things against a handful of white women while the black community is mired in indecent behavior.

Madonna and other Hollywood elites brag about being “nasty girls” while condemning Trump for being a “nasty boy.” The N.A.A.C.P. nominated Tupac Shakur for one of its “Image Awards” after he cursed C. Delores in one of his songs – “C. Delores Tucker you’s a mother***ker….”

Jay-Z: “I’ve got more hatred in my soul than Pac had for De’ores Tucker,” yet President Barack Obama invited him to the White House several times and even used Jay-Z’s lyrics in his speeches. Kim, Lil’ Wayne and others rapped mean words for C. Delores and Eminem was proud of his line “Tell that C. Delores Tucker slut to suck a d**k.”

C. Delores pleaded with “black preachers/leaders.” She thought they would support her, yet Jesse Jackson made “Uncle Luke – Nasty as I wanna be” Campbell a racism victim when he was arrested in 1990 for having a woman come on stage and do what Eminem told C. Delores to do. Jesse said he was arrested for being black.

Jesse received a large campaign donation from Luke and Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek took a huge contribution from Campbell for her humanitarian trip to Haiti after a natural disaster. They gave him enough credibility that he ran for Mayor of Miami Dade in 2011.

Jesse,the black preachers and even the Congressional Black Caucus (C.B.C.) chose to help rappers get rich instead of helping C. Delores preserve wholesome family values in the black community. Now these holier-than-thou point their fickle fingers at Donald Trump.

What do Madonna, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary, the N.A.A.C.P., the C.B.C., liberal Hollywood, the liberal media and the liberal politicians have in common? C. Delores would say, “They’re a bunch of lying hypocrites who care nothing about black children and real Christian values.

Rest in Peace, my friend. You ran a good race and fought a good fight. “Servant well done”!