Through the adversity he faced on the 2018 campaign trail, Andrew Gillum seemed to rise up and overcome every challenge. The former Tallahassee mayor and FAMU alum sent shock waves throughout the state of Florida. And even though he didn’t come out with a victory, Floridians were sure this wasn’t going to be the last of him.
After joining CNN as a commentator and using social media platforms to stay connected with the people, Gillum remained relevant like everyone thought he would. However, to the surprise of many, after being involved in an incident in Miami Beach in the beginning of March, Gillum’s career ended faster than anyone ever thought.
According to the police report, Gillum and another male were found in a hotel room under the influence of an unknown substance.
Gillum was “unable to communicate with officers due to his inebriated state,” and after police found “three small clear plastic baggies containing suspected crystal meth,” Gillum eventually left the hotel room and returned home.
Days later, Gillum then released a statement saying,
“I was in Miami last night for a wedding celebration when first responders were called to assist one of my friends.”
Gillum went on to say that he never used methamphetamines and he had too much to drink. Gillum has also recently checked into rehab as he described this whole situation as a “wake-up call” to deal with his alcoholism.
There have been rumors that Gillum possibly was considered as a running mate for the eventual Democratic presidential nominee. Unfortunately that will not happen. His political career is over and here’s why:
As a black male in America, there is automatically a higher standard to which you are held. The margin for error and mistakes are much smaller because a good amount of people don’t want to see a minority in a high position.
This situation will cause Gillum not to be trusted by many and it will take a long time for him to recover from this situation.
Although steps have been taken for Gillum to get treatment, there is still the thought that runs through everyone’s mind of whether or not he deserves to represent us as a people.
Even though everyone makes mistakes, there are just some things people can’t recover from; this is one of those things. Gillum’s reputation is tainted and white America will never look to support him again.