I listened with great interest, amusement and political junkie enthusiasm to the State of the Black Union event hosted by Tavis Smiley this past Saturday. As a forum of political thinkers, commentators, intellectuals and activists, it was marvelous. To have an opportunity to hear so many very articulate and lucid thinkers on the black condition in American was very thought provoking. I loved hearing Dyson drop science about Obama and accountability (see the Featured Video). Farrakhan called on people to reconnect to God, quoting the Bible the whole time, which I found intriguing. Perhaps he was just making allowances for the audience before him, but I found it curious that the spiritual leader of the NOI did not once in his remarks acknowledge his own God, Allah, but rather punctuated his comments entirely with the scripture of Jehovah (for the record, I do not believe Muslims and Christians worship the same God, but thats another post). I was interested in the comments of Sheila Jackson Lee and her impassioned, if slightly defensive, championing of Hillary. I was entertained and then a little appalled at the commentary of Dick Gregory. I enjoyed Sharpton being the fly in the ointment, violating the seemingly tacit agreement that the participants would not rhetorically set at each others throats over the Obama/Clinton nomination conflict. And I found much of interest in what many of the people had to say about the state of our black union.But in as much as the commentary and critique was inspirational, I find fault with SOBU as it is put forward on two grounds. For one, as much diversity as there may have been in the panels ideological viewpoints, it is largely the case that those panelists are almost exclusively to the political left, in several cases, the far left. So there is a great deal of sameness in their thoughts. Its a lot of preaching to the choir and celebration of victimhood. Whether its being laid out in Sharpton's hood certified straight talk or Cornel West's incomprehensible and impenetrable intellectual speechification, it all shares a similar premise: the idea that we are the eternal victims of a relentless and unending white supremacist onslaught encoded in the DNA of this nation's every institution. To listen to the SOBU panelists, this victim status is and will always be the defining characteristic of our existence. Its a perspective I reject as self limiting and self defeating. But it is the operative world view of nearly all the SOBU panelists to my mind. Which leads me to the second fault I find with this august gathering, which is that that they are all talk and insufficient, non strategic action. This talented tenth epitomizes, for all the talk of accountability and agenda, the crisis of black leadership. There is a crisis of effective black leadership in America. Simply put, we have too little of it. Across the board, black led organizations are almost incapable of exercising principled, effective, strategic leadership. This phenomenon holds true across the spectrum of black organizations, from churches, to national service organizations to community development corporations. Whether you're talking about homeowners associations, civic organizations, local chapters of national organizations, greeks, or political organizations, effective, accountable, strategic leadership is few and far between.
What happened? There was a time when the black community had more capable leadership. But it seems as though somewhere between the end of the civil rights movement and the beginning of the 21st century, we lost our strategic leadership skills. An older post civil rights generation has remained stuck in the strategies of an era that is long gone, while blocking a younger generation from leadership. The new generation, focused on "getting mine" isn't applying critical thinking or strategic leadership skills to the intertwined political, social and economic challenges we face.
The result: underperformance in nearly every aspect of the community when it comes to implementation of effective strategies that address the interests of the black community. For all the prescriptions of the SOBU panelists, none of them individually or collectively, has an organization articulating AND implementing in a strategic, disciplined way an agenda of rational political and economic action. Where's the beef? Do any of you know how to articulate and implement a vision and strategy for black progress that does not rely on government response or calls to free our minds? Who is articulating a national policy on economic development, social response and political development of the black community that is worth the paper its printed on? Not anybody on those panels.
The State of the Black Union? Perhaps as troubled as it has ever been. Our talented tenth have a variety of answers to our problems, answers which themselves are problematic, shortsighted and grounded in victimhood. But that aside, I don't think any of them has the first clue about how to strategically, on a national level, implement solutions to the problems we face. Unacceptable.
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What's missing is competence. The reason competence is missing from the sort of Talented Tenth is because those people who understand how things work are doing so within the context and framework of American institutions. But what the SOBU audience wants are racially exclusive black institutions. And nobody who becomes competent in racially open institutions ever wants to go back to the racially captive audience.
ReplyDeleteSadly enough, I'm inclined to agree, at least to the extent that few if any of the panelists have some demonstrated effectiveness in obtaining strategic results through organization and people. After 1o years of commentating on the black condition and talking about the "agenda', there ought to be more to show than just a real nice event where everyone puts their intellect on display.
ReplyDeleteThere aren't enough Republican voices. There are Republican voices that aren't Republican hacks. And, also, he needs to add some Black Bloggers - from the left and right.
ReplyDeleteTo your point about the lack of leadership, this is may, in fact, be the leading cause of death among organizations of color-literally. Those who are of the Civil Rights Generation, either out of fear or hubris, believe that only those who endured their form of struggle have a right to sit at the table and offer solutions and that they, alone, are the owners of the Font of Collective Wisdom, and cannot, or will not, "pass the mic" to us, which might have to rip from their cold, dead hands. Too often, members of Generation X, are dismissed because "You don't know struggle." True, I do not know what it is like to have lived in a de jure or de facto segregated world. I do, however, understand the challenges associated with the day-to-day reality of being a member of the Talented Tenth, yet perceived by the Majority community as having made it because of "Affirm Action," while being dismissed by members of my own race as living in a "fairy tale world," free from true struggle. The problem is-if the mantle of leadership is not formally, or informally, passed on, the collective progress and wisdom necessary for our success as a people will literally die when these leaders leave this world! This does not, by any means, absolve us from kicking, screaming, and, if need be, forcing our way to the table, nor free us from taking up our own cross and pushing us collectively from words to action, for "We are are the leaders we have been looking for!"
ReplyDeleteLeading cause of death is right. The majority of both national and local black organizations lack the ability to strategically analyze their environment in light of their mission and determine what rational, focused steps to take to achieve their objectives. This shows up in the most basic issues such as an inability to have a focused, tight meeting and systematically step through an agenda. Financial accountability and organizational management are other compounding issues that get in the way of strong strategic leadership and implementation. All too often I find myself at a complete loss to understand why black organizations, filled with otherwise intelligent people, can do so miserably in this regard. I work with local organizations. What I encounter all too often with black led organizations is that they are much worse at strategic planning and subsequent implementation than their white counterpart organizations who may not be any more organizationally sound than they are.
ReplyDeleteEven national organizations fail miserably in terms of strategic direction. The Urban League Opportunity Compact is a great example. An empty document of policy demands for government with next to nothing about what we will do that is within our own power. Its clear we can talk up and think up some of the greatest ideas, but we don't, won't or can't take real implementation steps based on sound strategic reasoning. And its killing us.