Quick quiz. Three seconds allowed for each answer.
Question 1: Name four Asian leaders?
Bzzz. Time’s up. And if anyone you named lives outside the continental U.S., you’re wrong.
Question 2: Name three leaders in the Hispanic community?
Bzzz. Time’s up. If you only came up with Caesar Chavez, wrongo number two. Mr. Chavez did not lead the Hispanic community. He was a Hispanic who led the migrant worker reform. A segment does not count.
Ho hum.
Question 3: Name two American Indian leaders?
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo (one point if you recognized the Jeopardy theme).
Bzzz. Time’s up. No points for Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, or Cochise. They’re dead. And no points for any member of the Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force on Trust Reform. They are a force, but not individually deemed one leader.
Last question. The hard one.
Quick, name the one main Black leader.
Doo … whoa. Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond, Kweisi Mfume, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton. And those are the living ones. Just warming up. Frederick Douglas, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell Sr.. The list goes on … and on, with the legitimate and illegitimate.
Black people are lucky. While only the leader of the free world, one puny little man, leads everyone else tens, maybe a hundred twenty five people, lead blacks. It’s hard to get an exact count because you can’t always count the trees in a forest. And with so many unelected officials, if played right, it’s three 7’s, over and over again.
Consider this, there are 37 million blacks in the United States, that’s one leader for … every 296,000 blacks. California has 34.5 million people, which translates into 52 congressional reps and 2 senators. Forget the D.C. two; lay claim to 52 + 2. It’s only fair. And don’t worry about losing a seat, when one, regretfully, dies, there is always an infinite number ready to lay claim to the deceased’s constituency. Election by a unanimous vote of one is only required.
In fact why not elect all of congress based on ethnic makeup. Hispanics with 35.5 million would also get 52 + 2. American Indians, Asians, all in the calculation. The balance – to Caucasians. That is equality. Until the Supreme Court knocks down all programs with a race consideration.
But we’re talking about black leaders.
Granted the number seems unfairly high in comparison to other communities. But that’s their problem, not yours. Blacks were smart enough to figure out the best way to help their community. They did think this up didn’t they? The benefits to be had are their just due. Misuse or abuse of power? A nonissue. No leader is in it for the money, power, or personal gain. And when the media reports otherwise, and you know they have, it is not true. If it’s not in Jet, you must object.
Yes, black leaders are essential. Before them there was slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow. That was not good. And although there were instrumental and influential blacks, no one person was deemed a leader for the whole community. A. Philip Randolph led the Pullman porters. Whitney Young headed the NAACP (back when people really were colored). W.E.B. DuBois and Mary McLeod Bethune were highly regarded for their educational acumen, while George Washington Carver single handedly revived the peanut farmer. Their modern day counterparts – Johnetta Cole, Ruth Simmons, Hugh Price, Kenneth Chenault, and Magic Johnson. Were they named as leaders? In between then and now were Martin Luther King and Malcolm X along with Harry Belafonte, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Ralph Abernathy, Vernon Jordan, Thurgood Marshall, and others. Fighting to give blacks the liberty and freedom from being born or naturalized an American. God given right by birth, snatched by hand by man. The strides made and blood, sweat, tears, and death earned dreams realized during this time. Priceless.
Today black leaders have accomplished … (your turn to fill in the blank).
Today black leaders have given the black community (your turn to fill in the blank).
Today black leaders have represented the black community … (one more blank to fill).
What other ethnicity is so blessed? None, cuz you couldn’t name them.
When other ethnicities have issues, they must depend on their elected officials or community leaders or church governances to lead the battle. Geronimo. What a mess.
Keeping things on a nice spread out stage may put the masses down below into confusion (Who do we follow? Who will but lead? How can we think if we’re told not to speak?), but is manna from heaven for those above. Again for the community. Not for themselves. The top of the pyramid rests comfortably on the back of its base.
So to present and future black leaders – lead on.
To all blacks, follow on.
It’s in the best interest of the community.
Right? No one else profits from diluting power into a mass of confusion. Right?
So why then doesn’t everyone ethnicity do it? Huh??
