Time for New Black Leaders

The Reverend Jesse Jackson's very crude comment about wanting to cut off Barack Obama's testicles, breached a psychological levee in Black America. Yes, the remark was whispered, unbeknownst to Rev. Jackson, while his Fox News mic was live, but it was said nonetheless. And we know this is not the first time that Rev. Jackson has made a snide remark about Obama. I do not want to pretend to be inside the mind of Rev. Jackson, or any other Black political leader, but it has become evident to me, as a longtime community organizer, and as a current Democratic candidate for Congress, that Obama's campaign has brought the Civil Rights generation's chickens home to roost, finally.

It began as soon as Obama announced his candidacy. Was he Black and qualified enough to be a leader because a) he was biracial b) he was too young to have participated in the Civil Rights Movement and c) he was not a minister. Obama was an enigma to the old Black guard because they did not create him, and because they could not control him. This is the root of the generational split in Black America. The Civil Rights battles were fought to give future generations an opportunity to achieve the unthinkable just forty years ago. But now that many of us have the audacity to run for public office, to own businesses rather than spending our lives working for someone else, to become big-time donors in campaigns, there is a heavy resentment from the established Black gatekeepers. I hear it, often, as I run for Congress: that I didn't come through a political club; that I should wait my turn; that I didn't seek permission to run for office from the right Black leaders.

Frustrated and feeling powerless, some old school leaders have taken to chastising younger ones every opportunity they get. This, to me, is the crux of Jackson's comments, and the reason why so many Black politicians in New York City chose to support Hillary Clinton over Obama. It was not just a Black thing. It was a generational thing. A lack of political and moral courage thing. My opponent in Brooklyn, the 74-year-old Ed Towns, steadfastly supported Senator Clinton, even as nearly 60% of our Congressional district voted overwhelmingly for Obama back in February. Mr. Towns is so out of touch with the district that he did not see the waves of younger Blacks who moved to the district in the past decade, and who have, like me, bought property, and are here for the long haul. And we've been wondering why entrenched Black electeds like Mr. Towns are so disengaged from the community, to the point where many do not know his face nor can name three concrete things he's done in 25 years in office.

That sort of invisibility and do-nothingness, in Brooklyn, in Harlem, in the other parts of New York City where we have Black electeds is no longer acceptable. Neither is it acceptable for these old school leaders to treat their positions as a family business, to be passed to a family member or close friend when they are finally done. Neither is it acceptable for them to sit in office, unchallenged, year after year, while New York's Black communities continue to be mired in poverty, violence, crime, disease, terrible schools, and a sort of despair and hopelessness one would imagine in war-torn countries.

I certainly acknowledge and appreciate what the Civil Righters have done, but we younger African Americans are saying now, loudly, the jig is up and it is time for you to go, especially if you have not created hope and plans of action for our communities. The days of marching and protesting without a clear purpose are over. The days of voting for someone just because they are Black are over. Indeed, the multicultural legion of young Americans who've flocked to Obama's campaign suggest that we want leadership that builds bridges, not be stuck in the rhetoric and realities of the past. I have witnessed this as I've been campaigning. Yes, I must represent the concerns of Blacks and Latinos in East New York. But I cannot ignore the Hasidic Jews in Williamsburg or the young White professionals in Fort Greene. They are all my people. Until we have Black leaders who understand that the America we need now is one where an Obama can be president and a Nas can make a rap song like "Black President," both condemning Obama doubters and reminding everyone of the inequities that still exist, then we will continue to have leadership that is operating as if it is 1968 instead of 2008.

Kevin Powell, author of 8 books and Brooklyn community organizer, is a Democratic candidate for Congress in Brooklyn's 10th CD. He can be reached at [e-mail]

Comments

[MoeB]

EXCELLENT post Kevin! I could not agree more. I do wonder why there is a little pushback from older leaders. Do they not have any faith that younger generations can move the black community and this country in a different direction? I mean, as a 30 year old black man, I am actually enthused by the fact that I see younger black faces involved in politics. To me, it means that they can directly relate to my own struggles TODAY, as opposed to only focusing on the struggles of those who took part in the Civil Rights Movement. Times are different, and our leadership should reflect that.

[Waitaminute]

Times are not really that different. A lot of blacks have been hoodwinked into believing that lie. If you want a scale as to why i am right about this, checkout the prison population. Another thing that bothers me, too many young black are too disrespectful of these older black civil rights leaders. Sure, what Jessie said sucked and what Obama says about responsibility is what we need to hear more often. But, how many of you young blacks would go into these racist police departments, and do in your face protest like black leaders of the 60s and 70s. How many people will call on you when their family members are shoot 50 times, 19 times. How many of you will go back and stand up even when there is a great possibility you may lose your lives by doing so?

When Jessie and MLK came to my hometown in Mississippi. They were putting their lives on the line. I know how brave it was for them to come there. So before you young black people say "its time for them to go" Make sure you are willing to do the samethings. To this this day, people who have serious problem like being shot 19 and 50 times, still call on JESSIE AND AL. Why are they not calling on the the Kevins of the world. Simply step forward and take their places, force them out.

[MoeB]

Waitaminute, I agree with some of your comments. Older black leaders are still out there heading up important causes. I didn't mean to minimalize that.

But I do disagree with your assertion that times are not that different. They are. When I hear my mother talk about her experiences when she was my age, compared to my own and most other blacks I know, things ARE different. We can sit where we want, drink from wherever we want, eat where we want, etc. This is not to say that we don't need to improve other areas drastically (black imprisonment rates, education in urban (aka black) areas, social justice for minorities, etc.), but to sort of gloss over the glaring improvements in race relations in this country is not doing anyone any great service.

Concerning the disrespect issue, I think it goes both ways. There are younger black leaders who feel the approach by older blacks is out-dated and less effective in combating today's racial problems. There are older black leaders who feel that since they went through the Civil Rights Movement, that those younger blacks who have benefited from it, have nothing to offer in terms of effective solutions. BOTH sides have a point.