WASHINGTON — The 1965 Civil Rights Act truly irks some former descendants of slaveowners and like-minded folks. I personally know four Black billionaires and none of them bounced a ball, hit a ball, ran with a ball or threw a ball professionally. Their backgrounds were much like mine.

We belonged to hardworking two-parent households, attended academically challenging high schools, were first generation college educated, enrolled in elite colleges, and worked for Fortune 500 companies before starting our own businesses. Some would like to block these pathways of success for Black people.

By my late 20s, I was earning much more money than my managers’ boss, thanks to my “side job” as a real estate investor. Then I got involved in politics and became a target for my enemies.

I was the first Black person from an Ivy League undergraduate college to go on to Congress. Over the decades, many have followed, including former President Barack Obama. And I did it the hard way, in a 4% Black district. I was the first Black Republican in the U.S. House of Representative in nearly 60 years. (Today, most of the new Black members of Congress represent majority-white districts).

This has bothered those who have a difficult time with the success of Black people.

Within the first 60 days in Congress I got to know three of the four Black people who were or would go on to become Black billionaires.

During my three-terms in Congress I had frequent requests from Black business owners interested in marketing or selling their products and inventions to the federal government.

The big challenge I saw as a congressman and consultant was with new inventions. Racism seemed to raise its ugly head here. White-owned companies always wanted to buy the Black person’s invention for a bag of peanuts.

The recent wildfires in California made me think of the Pyrocap company. And, with immense sadness, I mourn those who have lost their lives, had their lives turned upside down, and as a region had billions of dollars in property lost. Could we have put the fires out faster?

As a freshman congressman, I met one Black gentleman who had a new way of putting out fires. I reviewed the background of the company, Pyrocap, and their product. It could actually put out fires quickly with a small amount of their “secret sauce” substance.

I immediately called the White House to inform them that I knew a businessman who could help put out the fires burning at the oil fields in Kuwait in the wake of the first Persian Gulf War in 1990. I expected this very high-level official (who will remain nameless) to be excited. I heard silence on the phone. Then he said, “What makes you think we want to put the fires out quickly? I was stunned and felt like dropping the phone. I could not believe what I had just heard.

I refused to let it go. I continued to try to assist Pyrocap. We made overtures to the nation’s fire departments. The owner said that I was wasting my time due to racism.

Many years later the Black and Native-American owned Pyrocap – which was deep in debt – sold their business to a white firm. This saved the invention. Today, it is an ingredient in millions of home fire extinguishers.

Even after my days in Congress I was a magnet for companies that had a new mousetrap. My clients were an equal mix of Black and white people. Yet I had amazing success with my white business owners and dismal results for most of my Black-owned companies. To me, their products or inventions were comparable.

I hated to think that race played a role but unfortunately that would not be true in most instances. The decision makers rarely sided with the Black-owned businesses.

For example, I had as a client a Black college dropout who baffled the engineers from MIT and other leading engineering schools. He developed and had implemented a product, via a prototype, that would allow mechanical energy to be converted into electrical energy. It was easily scalable.

Erica’s energy producing companies turned their backs on the product while internationally, years later, it became a big hit. In fact, in Japan, they are gathering energy from the flow of people walking to work. My client’s product captured energy through the flow of trucks and cars. Meaning, high traffic areas would be able to generate a large amount of usable energy.

I went to the Department of Energy and even state capitols. They liked the project, knew it would work, and saw the test results, but refused to financially support it.

Here too, the owner blames racism. He too was financially driven into the ground, but he refused, unlike Pyrocap, to sell his patented invention and product for a bag of peanuts to a white company.

What is most intriguing about three of the four Black or Hispanic folks who went on to become millionaires and billionaires is that all had as one of their early jobs a low-level position as a congressional staffer.

Now I challenge you to find more than one Black staffer (most have none) working for a Republican member of Congress, unless that member is also Black (probably not much better in Democratic offices).

I strongly believe that bad white folks who seem to question the competence of Black people are truly more interested in stopping the progress of Black people. The fact that I personally know four Black billionaires who have not earned their money by entertaining white folks is further proof of my assessment.

Yet, Black people are the same as Irish, Polish, Germans, Italians, Jews, French, Greeks, Scandinavians, English, and others deemed white. God has never been known to “create” junk. All men are created equal.

Plus, God has given us all talents. When bad people suppress the talents of some people, as the story of Pyrocap shows, especially given the L.A. wildfires, sometimes it can bite you in the derriere.

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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