UNITING
GIANTS ARE NEEDED TODAY
NOT CHARLATANS
Al Sharpton
and his girlfriend.
Is this really the
face of African American “leadership”?
TAGS: GEORGE ZIMMERMAN
TRIAL, CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, MARTIN LUTHER LING,
MALCOLM X, NAACP, THURGOOD MARSHALL, VOTERS RIGHTS ACT, JIM
CROW, PLESSY V FERGOSEN,
RALPH ABERNATHY, JESSE JACKSON, AL SHARPTON, REPUBLICAN
GERRYMANDERING,
(Thursday July 18, 2013 NY,
NY) The long storied and often bloody
civil rights movement in America is replete with men and women of uncommon
strength, persistence and moral fortitude.
From the earliest of the abolitionists through the four centuries of
slavery the struggle for equality can be traced through individual lives. The collective experience of segregation,
discrimination, Jim Crow laws, and blatant bigotry was born by all African
Americans. It took the actions of
courageous men and women who were able to galvanize an entire people and bring
a cohesive and united front to the movement.
It took the perseverance of the entire African American populace engaged
in that struggle but it also required some to step forward and bring the cause
out of the endemic prejudice of the Deep South into the national
conscience. The names of these
individuals are forever etched in the history of our Country and they inhabit a
special place in the story of “The Movement.”
Today the African American
community has as its self-appointed “leaders” men devoid of any of the
characteristics of those who truly were leaders for their people and
cause. Men of the ilk of Jesse Jackson
and Al Sharpton are no more than self-serving hustlers who prey on the
community they claim to serve and represent.
There are others such as Cornel West and Michael Eric Dyson who
sanctimoniously preach from their lofty ivory towers in Ivy League
academia. These men are all far removed
from the realities of life and have become wealthy by exploiting the African
American community’s ills and societal maladies. Men such as these seize any and every
opportunity to aggrandize and insinuate themselves into every high profile
controversy with even the faintest scent of racism. The recently concluded trial of George
Zimmerman is only the latest example.
THERE WERE GIANTS ONCE
Long before the landmark
Supreme Court decisions of the 1950’s and 1960’s and the federal legislation
that ensued to eradicate systemic segregation, widespread discrimination, and
the resultant inequality they fostered,
there were brave activists like Harriet Tubman, Jane Pittman, W.E.B.
Dubois, and many other lesser known people who literally put their lives on the
line for what they believed. It was only
in post-World War II America, a global conflict in which tens of thousands of
African American men served with valor that what came to be officially known as
The Civil Rights Movement began. In some
of the earliest legal battles a young lawyer for the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall,
won judicial victories but the real battles were in the cities and towns, rural
and suburban areas, and on the streets of America from coast to coast. Thurgood Marshall went on to become the first
African American Supreme Court Justice and never ceased to champion “equality
under the law” for all Americans regardless of race, color or creed.
The 1960’s would prove to be
the turning point, at least legislatively, in The Movement. As President Lyndon Johnson was signing laws
such as the Voters Rights Act, The Fair Housing Act and other “affirmative
action” measures, their emerged men able to galvanize the African American
community in ways they’d never been represented or united before. From a humble church in Alabama Reverend Martin
Luther King, Jr. claimed his place in the Pantheon of civil rights leaders with
his famous March on Washington in 1963.
He along with Reverend Ralph
Abernathy, Andrew Young, John Lewis, Julian Bond, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Medgar
Evers, James Shepherd, and a cadre of committed activists adhering
to the principal of “peaceful non-violent” demonstrations, marches, and
sit-ins, forced their cause into the conscience of the entire nation. This was no longer about what was happening
on the hard sunbaked red clay of Georgia or in the humid Mississippi Delta, or
any particular location in the Deep South.
No, this was a quest for equality and acceptance touching virtually
every institution and community in America.
Some of these heroic figures paid with their lives while others suffered
brutal beatings and unjust incarceration.
However, in the long run they were victorious in that they paved the
initial inroads that would bring the African American population ever closer to
equality.
THE FALLACY OF A “POST-RACIAL AMERICA”
In 2008 with a huge plurality
of voters America elected our first African American President. The freshman Senator from Illinois, Barack
Obama, obtained his electoral victory by capturing the votes of people across
all demographic blocs. Some in the media
cited his historic achievement as the beginning of a new age in our Country, an
age where we were the “colorblind” society Martin Luther King dreamed of and
spoke about so eloquently over 40 years before. Of course, given our nation’s
history regarding race relations, this was a Pollyannaish pipe dream. But, it was an impressive start to what is a
new chapter in our history. Those among
us of a certain age, both Black and White never imagined we’d see an African
American man and his family living in The White House.
Yes, we live in a Country with
a twice elected African American President and that is a remarkable fact that
will never be diminished. Still, we live
in a society with deeply ingrained prejudices and biases although the younger
generations are coming of age in a vastly different America as far as race
relations are concerned than did their parents and grandparents. However, as the jury decision in the State of
Florida v George Zimmerman case clearly illustrates, we are far from a
colorblind society; if anything, we appear to be taking some backwards steps as
a people. Contrary to some of the
ascertains from the cable infotainment chattering class, the Zimmerman verdict
will not prompt a “national debate” about race.
When have we ever had a “national debate” about anything? What passes for national debate are the
conversations we have with our families, friends, neighbors and coworkers. Since our elected representatives in Congress
have no vested interest in responding to the desires of their constituencies no
“public debate” is possible.
The notion that we are in a
post-racial era in America has been fomented by very strange bedfellows. The Republican Party claims that our society
has evolved racially and that affirmative action initiatives are no longer
needed. Yes, it is true that affirmative
action has leveled the playing field over the last 40 years for minorities
including African Americans and yes, some of those programs have outlived their
utility. However, in the same breath the
Republicans in Statehouses across the Country have done everything in their
power to disenfranchise voters of Color.
Similar measures have been taken in Congress and it was just two weeks
ago that the Supreme Court eviscerated the Voters Rights Act when they struck
down Amendment 4 of that landmark Bill.
The so called “Tea Party” has taken up the cause to suppress the vote
joining with their Republican colleagues by redrawing Congressional districts
with convoluted gerrymandered maps.
These maneuvers are designed to assure that their “seats are safe” while
simultaneously making it more difficult to have fair elections. No, we are far from a post-racial America
when efforts are on-going to this day to make it increasingly more difficult
for people of color and poor urban voters in general to vote.
FROM GIANTS TO DWARFS
That we are in a new era in
our history regarding race is undeniable.
The United States Census Bureau said earlier this year that America is
no longer a “White” majority Country.
The demographic shifts are tectonic and will continue as we become “Browner”
and the birth rate among “Caucasians” continues to decline. This new era requires a different brand of
leadership in the Black and Brown communities; leaders more adept at truly representing
underrepresented segments of the electorate.
Sadly what passes for leadership today in the African American community
are no more than cheap hucksters, charlatans, blowhards, and rabble rousers. Gone are men like Martin Luther King and Thurgood
Marshall. In the void left by the true
pillars of the civil rights movement are shallow, craven men like Jesse Jackson
and Al Sharpton. These two men are
greedy opportunists never far away where ever a racially controversial issue hits
the media. They are shameless ambulance
chasers out to enrich themselves under the guise of “spiritual advisors” and “activists”.
Just as crass and craven are
the members of the “professional Black class” like West and Dyson. They write books and collect huge speaking
fees for exploiting the conditions their “people” live in. They do not offer scholarly work that
provides practical remedies. Not at
all. They write books titled to get them
maximum exposure while breathing the rarified air only available to those who
have risen in intellectual academic circles.
They may be more damaging to the African America cause than Jackson or
Sharpton because their “influence” is more insidious. Their education and the perches from which they
pontificate lend them a measure of respectability that the like of Jackson and
Sharpton can only dream of.
What is needed is for some of
the highly successful African Americans we have become familiar with over the
last decade or so to step up and contribute to their community. There is certainly no lack of prominent
African Americans to become engaged in a serious manner addressing some of the
seemingly intractable issues that plague pockets of Black America. Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, J.C. Watts, Dr.
Ben Carson, and so many more brilliant accomplished African Americans should be
involved in a broad sense. They serve as
powerful examples and are great role models. They should be at least as well
known as the hottest rapper or athlete of the day.
If there is one major lesson
that was taught by MLK and his peers is that unity is the key to progress. When a group of disparate people with diverse
circumstance are able to come together as a united bloc, they can affect more
change than any number of “activists” working in their own self-interest ever
can or will.
President Obama was twice
elected to his Office by the votes of a vast coalition who came together and
made history. There is still much more
history yet to be made.
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