Something to Ponder

[Professor]

"No group seems to be more willing to recruit ill-equipped and unqualified
spokesmen to argue its own cause than black people. Too frequently, black
America demonstrates its willingness to throw its support behind
self-proclaimed leaders who lack the training, intellect, and discretion
that are required to give direction to a people....these groups have
exhibited a tendency to appoint and hold on to middle-aged, sixty-something
staffers and directors. They aggressively favor out-of-touch bureaucrats
and ministers who earned their 'civil rights seniority' by merely outliving
their colleagues rather than select younger, more innovative leaders. This
is not only a symptom of but also a cause to why these institutions are
falling out of touch with younger constituents and new methods, attitudes,
and management techniques

-Lawrence O. Graham
"Member of the Club"

[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.

[The Original Ape]

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.

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.

[Dexter]

You know I am a man who pledged undergrad, and one of the lessons that the process taught me was to be PRO-active and not RE-active. The problem is that a lot of our people are RE-active instead of being PRO-active. These organizations need help. Just like running a chapter. If you don't hit the ground running the chapter will die. We as a people need to get a fire under our backsides and get out here and fight for our families. If you are not PRO-active, then you need to get out of the way and not say anything about how others make decisions to run your life.

[The Original Ape]

Originally posted by Dexter:
You know I am a man who pledged undergrad, and one of the lessons that the process taught me was to be PRO-active and not RE-active. The problem is that a lot of our people are RE-active instead of being PRO-active. These organizations need help. Just like running a chapter. If you don't hit the ground running the chapter will die. We as a people need to get a fire under our backsides and get out here and fight for our families. If you are not PRO-active, then you need to get out of the way and not say anything about how others make decisions to run your life.

See; that's what I'm talking about!

[Professor]

I started to make statements but have opted to hold off. I want to ponder the comments a little more.

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"The World Belongs to Those Who Care Deeply,
Who Dream Broadly, and Who Work Steadfastly."

[novella000]

Leadership - Are we speaking of that ability that develops first from the aptitude to follow & proactively support those in command? If so, then we should take a long hard look at the general Black American Youth. Until the general majority of blacks (especially the youth 18-30) in America develop the ability to FOLLOW and PROACTIVELY support those who are already in the "lead" then the young blood won't "take over" and provide Quality Leadership. Maybe we just need to re-examine who we are referring to as Leaders… Are we speaking of those with the TITLE of Leader?? ( Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell, blacks in any Community Affecting Org. with the title of President, Vice-President etc.) -- because I will be making that assumption as I proceed.
It's sad but, I consistently see a marked disability in my peers to simply follow instructions AND think "outside of the box." That is where the problem lies.
EXAMPLE
One of my office buddies wants soooo badly to be promoted to management. She has mad skills, does a decent job, gets her work done… The only thing is she will not do ANYTHING outside her general realm of responsibility... When she does "do her job" she has the wrong attitude - thinking current management mistreats her because they would like to see some proactive support from her. No one wants to hear what the sista' has to say because she is so busy talking about what's WRONG in the department. I sat in on a staff meeting and she talked so badly about the status of a current project -- for so long -- that we never got to hear how she wanted to improve it. She had a proposal prepared -- but her attitude was shot to the curb.
I can correlate her situation to the general state of leadership in Black America:
-We have leaders who need support and new ideas
-We have young blood with excellent credentials and ideas
-We DON'T have the general attitude that goes along with all of that
Therefore, we lack the "quality" of leadership you see in other 'races' and establishments…
I stress the term GENERAL STATE here, because my opinions do not apply to every single Black American/Organization.
Until the Black youth in America decides that they are willing to follow, consistently support, and PROACTIVELY support (as 'Dexter' pointed out) -- we cannot lead. Maybe our current leaders would feel more comfortable "stepping out" of their roles and letting the youth take over if we would SUPPORT them WITH our ideas (not just attendance to meetings, and complaints)…
Right now, we have to ACT. The TITLE of Leader can come later. As I said, qualified Leadership begins while you are following with proactive support. I realize that opposition may come with presenting new ideas… However, we have to move.
For example if the current leader of an Org. says he likes the idea that someone presented for a new program, but won't come up off the funds, then a proposal to obtain the funds should be prepared. Allocate the support of peers, respectfully present ideas, and show the HNIC that there IS support, effort, and a positive outcome on the other side. We have to SHOW that we only want what's best for our Organizations, let the HNIC (with the poor leadership skills) remain in their "position." That is all they have, "position"… When the next election for the Org. comes around (whatever it may be), and everyone sees how young-Mr./Ms. so-&-so pioneered this-that-or-the-other program then we will get some "new blood." Similarly, if the Org. ALREADY has good programs in place… do what needs to be done to "spruce" that project up. Many times, that could just mean getting butts in gear to WORK…
It is going to be a long haul. It may be the next generation before we honestly see any improvement in our Community Leadership as a whole. Maybe our children will have the correct mindset a lot sooner than we got it. It is almost too late for us (18-30) to get that type of mindset going across the nation. We have to wait our turn, and in turn, do what we can and raise our children to know how to follow so that they may lead at 18-30… We will be willing to let them lead when their time comes, right??
I understand that some of my peers (myself included) are currently doing what needs to be done to be/get some QUALIFIED blacks running thangs… Nevertheless (and quite obviously), at this time it is not enough. (Although we DO have Harold Ford Jr. in Congress -- THAT'S MY BOY!!!!!)
BTW - Take these words for what they are -- my opinion.
I will wrap it up here…

SisterFriend 'Vella, from around da' way.