Quote:
Originally posted by justmyo:
Sir,I totally agree.It is about time most of the leaders of our organizations step aside and let some new blood take control.They are not in tune with whats going on today or they are so set in their way that the refuse to acknowledge what's wrong within the organizations.I will name them,Operation Push,Urban League,NAACP,UNCF,most of the members of the boards at our HBCU schools,and the ministers of most of our Churches.This is the 21st century,it time for us to move on.
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Brother Justmyo,
I hope you take another look at your response. It glows with age discrimination. Isn't that one of the things these organizations are fighting? I can understand the need for new ideas, and I acknowledge the fact that times have changed. More contemporary methods are needed to take on age-old problems for us as a people; but I think there are many factors to running the organizations you've listed that you have not considered. The leaders of these organizations earned their right to be called our leaders, and have demonstrated their ability to lead us-considering the epidemics of APATHY and DISUNITY among our people. Perhaps their effectiveness was limited only because the members of these organizations, didn't do their part when it needed to be done. When they campaigned for our people to register to vote, they were very successful; problem was, not many of the newly registered voters actually voted on election day-for whatever reason.
It is easy to believe, as most young African-Americans do, that voting is useless; and twice as hard to convince them that it is not. I don't have to remind you how important it is. Look around, and recall your college days. You know as well as I do that most college students are primarily interested in social affairs, and could care less about politics. They have little knowledge how politics impacts them individually. I seriously doubt that they(younger officers) would be any more effective against apathy and disunity than their older counterparts. Also, don't forget how the government regulates these types of organizations. The government has imposed new rules on how they are defined, their tax-exempt status and other functions, in addition to more stringent rules on accounting procedures. This directly affects how much an organization can do. It is also a factor beyond the control of these organizations. Many of the old people running these organizations simply don't have the support of the people that elected them. If you pledged an undergrad chapter, you should know how it is to have many brothers in the chapter, with quite alot of work to do, but only so many willing to help you when you need them. Officers of every organization-whatever their purpose-experience this. Turnover is a phenomena that occurs naturally; why should we begin to look at removing our leaders simply because they have grown grey. Have we as a people actually supported the ideas of these oldheads? Their hearts are still with us, and they could be alot more effective if we would stop criticizing them, and do their part to get the job done. We do need to funnel young members that have a genuine concern for the agenda of these organizations into leadership programs; and then give them the positions. It's not the old folks' fault that the younger people find these organizations outdated; it's just that the younger people aren't concerned with the agendas of these organizations.