Wanted: Courageous Black Leadership
By: Richard A. Rowe
 Someone once stated that the only safe ship in a storm is leadership. Well we are certainly in a storm, and if there was ever a need for courageous black leadership to lead and to develop a psychological evacuation plan, then the time is now. To paraphrase one of our great leaders, all is not well on the black home front. We have serious economic, political and "human" problems that will stop any serious development if not addressed.
We have far too many black men in prison, far too many divorces, far too many children dropping out of school and far too many black women trying to be both mothers and fathers to their children. Unfortunately, we have very few life-giving and life-sustaining institutions to prepare and protect our worn and battered psychics and communities from the pernicious winds and hurling micro-aggressions of a racist and morally bankrupt political and economic system.
To weather the storm from within and without, we will need, I believe, leaders who have demonstrated a penchant to put the Black community's interest before their own and who can walk away from the glare of the TV camera, photo-ops, sound bites or celebrity status. Moreover, we need leaders who possess an outrage over the current conditions of African Americans and who possess the courage to take immediate action.
We must, once and for all distinguished the aforementioned profile of leadership from the profile, which includes leaders who are, as suggested by Dr. Earl Ofari, author of The Disappearance of Black Leadership, "sustained by the cult of personality, or who have been anointed, appointed, designated or propped up by the corporate and political structure." Unfortunately, we now have far too many black "leaders" who move only to the winds of personal egos and agendas and who have become complacent and reactionary.
Dr. Claude Anderson in his seminal book, Black Labor White Wealth concludes that today's appointed Black leaders are "reactive rather than proactive, single issue or event oriented and only focused on alleviating symptoms rather than causes." Under this type of leadership the conditions of black America fail to significantly change, and rhetoric is substituted for long-term planning.
The worse kind of ship in a storm is self-assigned "sponsorship." We have been looking in all the wrong places for courageous black leadership. More often than not, we are still looking for Black leaders on Meet the Press, Good Morning America and Nightline. I propose that we start looking for courageous Black leadership in some of our homes, churches, at PTA meetings, and little league sports teams.
In addition, I suggest that we comb our neighborhoods for those many unsung and courageous Black leaders who have stood up to drug pushers, unscrupulous elected officials and corrupt police officers. Finally, let's begin to really honor courageous Black leaders by supporting them with our time and our dollars. Only then will we be able to truly empower those individuals who are focused on developing strategies for optimal black development and who are committed to building self-sustaining black institutions. The storm in America is raging and out of control. Wanted: Courageous Black Leadership-ASAP.
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