Donald M. Payne: “Well, Mr. Richmond, let me just say, and we have discussed it in private before, that I am the product of a very blessed…”

“Well, Mr. Richmond, let me just say, and we have discussed it in private before, that I am the product of a very blessed circumstance in my life. My mother died when I was 4, and my father raised us, my sister and me. All the things you talk about benefiting from, I have benefited from. But I have never lost the sight and was taught: There but for the grace of God go I. So I have had circumstances in my life where I have been stopped by the police and have been told by that officer using the N word that if I did not find my license, they would throw me so far under the jail they would never find me. Well, I was able to find my license after that and showed it to the police officer, and lo and behold, I become a human being again. Because, you see, my father was a councilman in that town. But prior to me showing my identification, there was the potential of someone never seeing me again because a police officer decided that that should be my fate. So now this police officer becomes nurturing and is parental and he is asking me: Well, don't you know you could get hurt by doing that? I had made a U-turn somewhere as a youngster I shouldn't have. But does my life have to end because I made a U-turn that I am thrown so far under the jail they will never find me until I become a human being because my father is a councilman in that city and now there is a concern for my well-being? No. What about the 1.5 million Black males that don't have that recognition that we have?…”