4063694799?profile=originalA wave of shock and fear overtook me as I hit my brakes on Belle Grove Rd. A lake covered the main road through the lower half of the community where I was raised – where my parents and younger siblings still lived. The only sign of the homes in the lower area of our small black suburban community called Pumphrey was a few tips of roofs. Hurricane Agnes left much of Pumphrey under water.

It was the early 70s. I was a teen living in Baltimore City attending college. Upon hearing about the hurricane hitting Pumphrey, I headed home to check on my family.

We moved to Pumphrey when Dad, along with a few other blacks, broke the color barrier to become Baltimore City firefighters. This afforded us (mom, dad and 5 kids) funds to move out of the government projects in Baltimore City.

It is funny how events in life make or break you. Pumphrey had two churches, one Baptist and the other Methodist. Dad did not pastor either of the Pumphrey churches. He was assistant pastor of a storefront church in an east Baltimore ghetto. And yet, Hurricane Agnes transformed dad into the unsolicited leader of Pumphrey, our suburban community.

Using a rowboat, Dad and my 12 year old brother David rescued neighbors stuck on their roofs. Dad helped those in need of assistance filling out forms and was the community advocate with the Red Cross. We, as a community, helped each other get our homes back together. With her floors covered in mud, I remember washing dishes and cleaning Mrs. Johnson's kitchen. We were Pumphrey. The hurricane made us family.

Obama and the Democrats have hijacked and perverted words such as “community” and “compassion” for your neighbor, redefining them to claim moral authority for their desired government redistribution; extorting the earnings of one group to give to another. Under Obama, government dependency is honorable. Obama's vision of a perfect society is destructive to the human spirit, evil and wrong.

While I do not know how folks in Pumphrey voted, we lived conservative lives. Most of the community attended church on Sunday. We celebrated education, hard work, excellence and individual achievement.

Pumphrey beamed with pride when resident wrestling champions Larry Avery and Lloyd Keaser competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics, for the United States. Lloyd “Butch” Keaser was the first black wrestler to win an Olympic medal. He won the Silver medal. Keaser's sister married my brother David. Pumphrey gave our two Olympic heroes a parade and renamed the community center the Lloyd Keaser Center.

I returned to Pumphrey a year or so ago to see the humble homes of my childhood replaced by huge beautiful homes owned by former Pumphrey kids. These successful black young adults, many entrepreneurs, still love the community and decided to stay. They embraced, pursued and achieved their American Dreams.

Upon seeing all the new mansions in Pumphrey, I said sarcastically, “How can this be? Everyone knows that blacks can not make it in racist America.” Despite a black man occupying the Oval Office, Democrats despicably speak as if America has not progressed racially beyond the 1950s. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus are still singing, “We Shall Overcome Someday”. Democrats irresponsibly and shamelessly continue to use race as a bludgeon to beat Conservatives/Republicans into submission. Opposing Obama on any issue is regarded as racist by Democrats and their sycophant white-guilt-consumed liberal mainstream media.

 

I pray that fellow blacks along with all Americans will awaken from their Obama-zombie trance and see the man for who he truly is; a false prophet spreading the virtues of mediocrity and cradle-to-grave reliance on government. Such a mindset and philosophy does not produce achievers/winners such as Olympians Larry Avery and Lloyd Keaser and the other successful Americans of Pumphrey.

When we first moved to Pumphrey, the grass in our backyard was over six feet high. Our entire family was cutting the grass with various hand tools. Our neighbor, a tall thin wrinkled black man with working-man-hands wearing a straw hat and bib-jeans showed up with a huge sickle to instruct and help us. Mr. Charlie and dad became good friends. Welcome to Pumphrey.

A pickup truck loaded with free tomatoes arrived in Pumphrey. Everyone came out of their homes with baskets and containers which they filled with tomatoes and took them home. Then, a rotten tomato hit my dad, Reverend Marcus. It launched our Great Community Tomato Fight, parents and kids, everyone laughing and having a wonderful time. It was silly and fun.

As I said, we were Pumphrey and we were family. In those days, community and compassion meant looking out for one another, not Obama's perversion of demonizing achievers, government confiscating and redistributing wealth; acting like an Imperial Ruler over our lives.

Lloyd Marcus, Proud Unhyphenated American
Chairman, Conservative Campaign Committee
LloydMarcus.com

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  • I share those same thoughts, Marcus. I grew up in a small town in the midwest. A devastating tornado tore through our town when I  was about eleven. I vividly remember the devastation as well as how everyone jumped in to clean up the debris from trees and homes as well as donating food, clothing, and shelter to those hardest hit. It was neighbors helping neighbors, not government confiscating and redistributing. Charity should be given, not stolen. Obama is destroying America with his ideas of taxing those who work and giving welfare to those who do not work and will not even make those people look for jobs. This harms all communities as it breeds resentment. Americans have proven time after time that they will pitch in in times of crisis, but the heavy burden of food stamps for 1 of every seven and welfare on taxpayers is breaking our country. Government is not the answer!

  • Keep the faith Mr. Marcus, there are those of you who see clearly the decline of our country, so keep spreading the word that we CAN become again what we once were!

  • Excellent article and reminiscing of days gone by and hoping for them to return. Thank you Mr. Marcus for sharing this story and with great reflection too.

  • THIS IS A GREAT ARTICLE . YES , THERE WAS A TIME WHEN FAMILY AND COMMUNITY WERE ONE AND THE SAME. WE ALL PITCHED IN . BHO CAN'T INSPIRE BECAUSE HES MEDIOCRE HIMSELF .
  • Mr. Marcus, THIS is a great article and well said Sir.

  • I long for those days!
  • Mr. Marcus, may I just say Thank you and GOD BLESS YOU. I do believe that you are the light at the end of the tunnel. 

  • A Great Lesson!

  • Lloyd Marcus don't ever change Thank You.

  • Lloyd,

    I saw you at a campaign rally in Omaha last year and wished I had met you. 100 years ago, Omaha was devasted by a hurricane. The president of the United States asked the mayor back then if he wanted federal assistance. "No, we will take care of ourselves" was his polite reply. We will not have small government until Americans change their minds about entitlements. Thank you for your leadership.

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