EDITORIAL: Marvin Abney Is a Throwback Candidate for Congress

EDITORIAL: Marvin Abney Is a Throwback Candidate for Congress

The announcement by Marvin Abney of his candidacy for Congress is a very interesting addition to the group of candidates running for the first district seat in Rhode Island. 

Abney is not your young gun progressive — he is a throwback.

In his announcement statement, Abney, who is originally from Texas, talked differently. He talked about service — service to the community. He also talked about his life's journey. 

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“Nearly all of my adult life has been spent in public service.  I served 20 years in the United States Army, of which 5 were spent overseas living and working with our NATO allies. It was an incredible experience that taught me and my family a valuable lesson in learning how to live and work with people and cultures that were different from our own,” said Abney.

“I’ve used that experience in serving and working in nearly a dozen cities and towns across our great nation. My civic involvement has never been about me personally, but more about how my family and I could best serve the common good of our friends and neighbors," said Abney, who is the Chair of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Finance Committee. "That is the essence of our American society; agree to disagree, but in the end, serve for the common good."

 

Abney sounds more like Eisenhower, Kennedy, or Rhode Islanders John Chafee and John Pastore.

John F. Kennedy – “Let the public service be a proud and lively career. And let every man and woman who works in any area of our national government, in any branch, at any level, be able to say with pride and with honor in future years: “I served the United States government in that hour of our nation’s need.”

Who talks like that anymore?

 

Abney is the outlier. He is 73 years old. He did not attend an Ivy League school — rather, his career was built in the U.S. Army, where he rose to the rank of Major. 

He is not from a trust fund family. He is from Texarkana, Texas. That is a place far different from Rhode Island today.

On May 22, 1922, Hullen Owens, a Black man, was lynched by a large white mob made up of thousands of people. It was not the only lynching down there in Texarkana. It simply made national news because the crowd was so big. 

Abney said, “During our campaign, we will focus on the positive aspects of Rhode Island society, the things that will make us stronger as a state in which to live and raise a family, not just a laundry list of problems that do little to unite us or make our lives better.  I will work tirelessly with our federal team in order that as resources are available at the federal level, Rhode Island gets its rightful share.”

This is a crowded field, and the addition of Abney certainly creates some contrasts. 

He is a candidate to keep your eye on. 

 

EDITOR'S NOTE; Abney rose to the rank of Major in the United States Army, a previous version reported Colonel.