WASHINGTON — We lost a man who served his country well for many decades in Congress, including being chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and a war hero as the recipient of a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart after being wounded in combat. I was honored to know, work with, and to have been befriended by this giant of a man, Charlie Rangel.

But when I was in high school in Connecticut in 1970, I was distraught when I heard that my idol, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. from New York, from Harlem to be exact, had been defeated by Rangel.

Back in the day, it was a family ritual to go to the neighborhood convenience store after church. It was also a habit for my sister, Joan, many years my senior, to buy the weekly Jet Magazine and Afro-American Newspaper. It was a rare week when we were not able to read about the antics of the premier political Black leader in the country, Congressman Powell.

For most folks in the Black community, Powell had no rival, politically speaking. His accomplishments were legendary, including his role in passing the Civil Rights Act. His Powell Amendment said that if you discriminate against Black people and other suppressed folks, you would not receive federal funding of any kind.

Rangel also became a champion of civil rights, justice and economic empowerment.

Today, those in power insist that fighting racial discrimination is an attack on white people.

I feel confident that if Powell or Rangel were alive today, they would say that what we are witnessing would be similar to a call from racists or members of the Ku Klux Klan declaring an end to racism. That just kind of rings hollow. Both men would recognize the follies of our times in this regard.

So, when I was a member of Congress, I had the opportunity to meet the man that removed Powell from office. I was highly inquisitive and apprehensive. Once, I had a chance while sitting in the House chambers in between votes to ask the now very senior member of Congress why he decided to challenge Powell. I waited patiently for his response.

Charlie told me that it was a tough decision, but the arrogance of Powell and the disrespect he displayed to his constituents forced him to take action and challenge him.

lly boasted that he could get elected without campaigning or even being in the district. He had missed scores of votes during his last term as well. This is all after being stripped of his power in Congress and being relegated to having the credentials of a freshman member of Congress. Powell acted as if the joy had been sapped out of his role.

In essence, Rangel put him out of his misery. Even if Powell had won in 1970, he would have failed to finish his term as he had been suffering from cancer and died in April 1972.

Charlie, as we all referred to him in Congress, and I became friends though we were politically as different as pancakes and eggs. I was a Republican and first Black conservative ever and Rangel was one of the most liberal members of Congress.

Rangel was one of the founders of the Congressional Black Caucus, arguably one of the most revered caucuses in Congress. As the years passed, however, dozens of caucuses were born in Congress – women, hispanics, Irish, Italian, the New England Caucus, Rust Belt Caucus. I could go on and on.

We quickly bonded when I brought my wife, daughter, and newborn daughter, Jessica, into a CBC meeting to introduce her. Charlie was quick to say, “I knew I could get to like you, Franks.” Everyone in the CBC looked surprised as to his remarks. Someone said sarcastically, “Why?” Charlie responded, “Because little Jessica was born on my birthday” (June 11). I quickly responded: “No, Charlie, I rather say that she was born one day before President George H.W. Bush’s birthday.”

Everyone laughed loudly, except for Charlie who paused for a second or two and then joined in the laughter.

Years later a much larger CBC had an impromptu vote to kick me out of the caucus because of my conservative views – mainly because I had the audacity to say that we should not create gerrymandered congressional districts in order to elect Black or Hispanic politicians to Congress. (Let the record show that today, most of the growth of the CBC has come from Black people who represent majority-white congressional districts. Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so). Turns out that white people would vote for a Black candidate, which I stated about 30 years ago.

Rangel cautioned his fellow Black Democrats by saying, “You are going to make Franks more popular and more well-known by throwing him out of the caucus. He is only one person, with one vote.”

They refused to listen to him. Before the votes were cast, Rangel and a few others left the CBC meeting rather than cast a vote against me. I lost unanimously, but many of the wiser members, like Rangel, left before a vote could be taken. The CBC’s action backfired on them as they were forced to allow me back into the caucus.

Rangel was my first Democratic co-sponsor of the first bill I introduced to Congress called the Urban Entrepreneurial Opportunities bill. Ninety percent of the current HUBZone program (Historically Underutilized Business Zones), the current law of the land, was taken from that bill. Over the decades it has created billions of dollars in economic development. Rangel saw how it related closely to the Empowerment Zones legislation, which he had authored.

When I had a debit card legislation idea that eliminated cash in our disbursement of federal welfare funds via EBT, along with Rep. Harold Ford Sr., Rangel ushered this part of the Welfare Reform Bill of 1996 through the Democratic side, so my provision was met with no true opposition. It has gone on to eradicate billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse over the last 30 years.

Any member who served with Charlie during his decades in office would concur that one would be hard pressed to find a more capable, more respected, and more friendly giant of a man than the gentleman from Harlem.

God broke the mold after he made Charlie Rangel. He is one of a kind. May he rest in peace.

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Gary Franks served three terms as a congressman from Connecticut’s 5th District. He was the first Black conservative elected to Congress and first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years. Host: Podcast “We Speak Frankly” www.garyfranksphilanthropy.org