The need for Black Leadership in America

 

 

 

 

The need for Black Leadership in America

 

What does Black Leadership truly mean ? To some readers this question might be insulting and to others delighted that this question is finally asked. Nevertheless, since last month was Black History Month, the discussion needs to be put on the table. My criticisms are not based on envy or jealously; but rather on reasonable and just considerations, based on a record of performances - formal and/or informal. Since black communities in Westchester and across the nation are facing higher unemployment, incarceration, crime, and disintegrating family and community structure, and as a young, Professional Black man, I must ask, where is the real collective economic and cultural “agenda” to address these issues that are prevalent in the Black community in Westchester?

Is there any justification for some members of the Black Community, mostly young people, to   disconnect themselves from the idea of any existence of effective Black Leadership today? President Theodore Roosevelt on October 31, 1936, at Madison Square Garden said, “Government as an Organized economy is as dangerous as government as an organized mob”. Our young people see our leaders no differently than the gangs that our leaders claim to despise or use as an excuse for their ineffectiveness to communicate with today’s Black youth. So the Bloods and Cripps are just little gangs imitating their bigger counterparts; the churches, the democrats, the republicans and other so called leadership that only show up in the “Hood” for parades and elections.

In black communities in Westchester and across the nation, pressing issues include pervasive violence: gangs and Black-on-Black violence, failing schools, racial profiling and police brutality. A plethora of other problems, including unemployment, health care, domestic violence, child maltreatment and homelessness generate similar indifference toward Black Leadership as well. Many people say we have come a long way from the civil rights movement in the 60’s, others might say that we have a black President now, unfortunately, one man cannot and will not rise above the condition of his people. No different than the military theory that the platoon does not move faster than the slowest man. We can have all the doctors, lawyers and CEO’s we want, but as long as Black CEO’s comprise of 1 percent of leaders of the largest companies in the US, Blacks represent 16.7 percent of the unemployed and 43.6 percent of “households of color” nationwide are “liquid asset poor,” meaning they lack enough money saved to cover basic expenses in case of a job loss or emergency. We have literally gone nowhere since the great Civil Rights era.

Are young black men being made ready for the increasingly brutal, knowledge-based job market in the U.S.? The answer is a resounding "NO," according to a report, Yes We Can: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males 2010. Calling it a "national crisis", the report found that only 47 percent of black males graduated from high school in the 2007-2008 school years. On a national level, Black youth age 10 to 17 constitute 15% of their age group in the U.S. population; they account for 26% of juvenile arrests and 46% of juveniles in corrections institutions.

Where is the real discussion among Black leaders that  in 2012 when there are more African American men in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War. Where is the real outcry from Black Leaders on this true “crisis” in the black community? Where is a solid agenda from our black clergy that reaches outside the walls of the church? When I attend church, it is filled with mothers and daughters, but when I go to work at the county jail it is filled with sons, fathers and husbands. Black families have the largest proportion of female headed households than any other subgroup. More than 44% of black families are female headed and are raising a household at or below poverty level.  I am absolutely sure the message of morality is delivered to every man, woman and child over and over again by parents and church pastors. Still, when you look at the state of neighbourhoods in many black communities you see the same; the churches are building but the schools are failing, the churches are building but there is unemployment and crime is high, the churches are building but the parks where the kids play and elderly walk are decimated. The churches are building and the Black family structure is decaying. It makes you wonder just how deep the preaching of morality is sinking into the minds of the people when so many issues are prevalent in the Black community outside the walls of the church.

To truly address these issues it takes real leadership! Now, will the real Black community leaders please stand up! It will take a collective effort of many to transform the Black communities to a sacred, safe and economically sound place to live.  It won’t take place from behind a desk or a pulpit. It requires boots on the ground, something I’m sure you know, but have not been compelled to do.  No longer can the responsible be irresponsible, especially towards our children in the Black community of Westchester.

I say this out of love for pastors, preachers, community organizers and elected officials. I respect and applaud all Black Leaders for their accomplishments in the past. Like many of my peers I see the same prevalent issues here in the present. It must be a resurrection of committed leadership focused on critical community needs and a revolutionary paradigm shift that is imperative for change. Such a shift will most definitely help us in analyzing our communities, friends, foes and leadership. A failure to do so will continue to result in anger, frustration, ineffectiveness, mistrust and prolonged defeat. Will Black Leaders assume their responsibility- or will Black communities and constituents require them to do so? Time will only tell.