A few weeks ago Charles Rangel, the Lion of Lenox Avenue, was carried into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City with a full military guard. Rangel, a longtime U.S. congressman from Harlem, was the chair of the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives, the committee with authority over taxes, tariffs, and benefits; many consider it to be the most important committee in the House. Until the election of Barack Obama, Rangel was arguably the most powerful African-American politician in the history of the United States.
As mourners gathered in the cathedral, two scandal-ridden New York politicians running to become the next mayor of the city, ex-governor Andrew Cuomo and current mayor Eric Adams, glad-handed up front with congresspeople and other notables.