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Time for
New Black Leaders
by Kevin Powell
 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
kevin@kevinpowell.net
Source: Huffington Post
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