![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Apr. 8th, 2007
Go, Charlie.
Apr. 8th, 2007 09:47 pmSomeone was nice enough to send me a review copy of Chairman Rangel's book, And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since.
Man's a storyteller.
If you're not familiar with his story, Charlie Rangel is a long-time resident of Harlem. He grew up blowing off anything he could get from society, because it wasn't offering him anything back. Then he went to war (although he doesn't portray it as a heroic decision) and became a decorated hero in Korea.
When he came back, he lost patience with the life he found available to him as an african-american war hero who was also a high school dropout and he used the GI Bill to finish high school and graduate NYU in three years. He went on to earn a law degree at St John's University, where he helped to found the Criminal Law Institute, which provided elite internships to students.
He wasn't offered a slot in the District Attorney's office, because (the guy who did the hiring said) "We told you people you weren't going to get your foot in the door."
Instead he became a federal prosecutor.
Then he whupped Adam Clayton Powell, a remarkable man who'd forgotten who he served.
Thirtysomething years later, he's the Chairman of Ways and Means.
Me, I've been waiting a long time for this.
No kidding, read the book.
Man's a storyteller.
If you're not familiar with his story, Charlie Rangel is a long-time resident of Harlem. He grew up blowing off anything he could get from society, because it wasn't offering him anything back. Then he went to war (although he doesn't portray it as a heroic decision) and became a decorated hero in Korea.
When he came back, he lost patience with the life he found available to him as an african-american war hero who was also a high school dropout and he used the GI Bill to finish high school and graduate NYU in three years. He went on to earn a law degree at St John's University, where he helped to found the Criminal Law Institute, which provided elite internships to students.
He wasn't offered a slot in the District Attorney's office, because (the guy who did the hiring said) "We told you people you weren't going to get your foot in the door."
Instead he became a federal prosecutor.
Then he whupped Adam Clayton Powell, a remarkable man who'd forgotten who he served.
Thirtysomething years later, he's the Chairman of Ways and Means.
Me, I've been waiting a long time for this.
No kidding, read the book.