The latest edition of 'Ebony' magazine carried an article by writer, activist, and prospective congressman candidate Kevin Powell, centring on Black Leadership. On reading it I felt the need to reflect my own views on this on-going and endless debate. Powell addresses the issue of the symbolism of Barack Obama's presidency, and reminds us that in spite of being the first black president, he is in effect the President of the United States. An important and valid statement. I remember the day we watched this historic moment and for the first time exhaled. However, the euphoria was short lived. Not that it wasn't massive as an event, but the need for the black community to move beyond the confines of it's oppression is bigger than that of having a black president. Indeed my own observations of life in Baltimore's inner city raises some significant and searching questions around the issue of black leadership and why is it important? I have seen, interacted with, talked to, and engaged with a significant amount of prominent black individuals. However, no-one individual I met, had the credibility and power to unite and galvanise the different sections of the black community.
Leadership for me is a word difficult to pin down, much like the word community. It's a term that means different things to different people. Maybe that's the problem, there is no singular defintion of what leadership is, and what qualities leaders possess, in any definitive way. Yet there are countless books, articles, research investigations, conferences, and so on, all designed to create a unified understanding of leadership. Again I have more questions for anyone taking up the position of leadership. In a community that has gang leaders, business leaders, educational leaders, sports leaders, arts leaders, political leaders, and numerous other contestants, why is there such an outcry in both the US and UK for a single individual to lead the masses to a new place? Powell's assertion raises an important question. We have a black leader in the US, but the absence of a race context to the presidency highlights the difficulty of occupying such a position.
A presidency has to address a diverse range of concerns of which race is only a facet. However, a leader that can unite the masses where race becomes a key factor represents a different context and continuum. So therefore, how can one individual unite a community whose needs, difference, and social reality are so varied and complex? How does or can one individual forge links and empower Baltimore's disaffected, victims of crime, colleage graduates, parents, business people, faith leaders, the unemployed, veterans, the very young, single mothers, and so on. What is the glue that binds this constituency? And what are the ingredients in the make up of the glue? Maybe the answer lays within researching and reframing the history that gave rise to individuals who did galvanise the community. Maybe we need to go back and relook at Malcolm, Martin, DuBois, Fanon, Rosa Parks, The Niagara Movement, Negritude, The Harlem Rennaisance, and any other area of the hidden story. Maybe it's less about one leader and disovering the leader within all of us.
Peace
No comments:
Post a Comment