Entry Level Living

As some of you may know I work with teenagers in a leadership training program. One of the first activities that I had them do was define leadership and give examples of the people who fit that definition. Pretty much everyone listed the same leaders (Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and Mom) for the same reasons (they stood up for what is right, she takes care of me when she doesn’t have a lot of money).

While I understand why they chose these leaders I asked them to dig a little deeper. Do all leaders lead the same way? What are some common characteristics of the leaders you listed? What are some of the differences? And, most importantly, with whom do you most connect and why?

During this activity, I realized something: there was little enthusiasm about historical leaders. Many of my students are told over and over again (as I once was when I was in high school) to respect and remain in awe of past black leaders. Students were very much able to connect with and support adults that they see regularly and list why they see these adults as leaders, but when it came to older more prominent leaders it was simply “because they fought for what was right.”

Leadership that results in blind yet ambivalent support is not leadership that inspires. Unfortunately, discussions about black leaders/leadership (like the ones that occur during black history month mainly about the civil rights movement) do not inspire. In fact, they are alienating and rather uninteresting for the following reasons:

1. The individual and their passion are the only things emphasized. To a certain extent this is understandable since in America we value the rugged leader who rises to greatness with nothing more than his persistence. However, the reality is that passion, while being important is only one part of success. Skills and strong support networks are crucial as well.

2. Leaders are spoken about as if they were angels. Show me that these people are human! Perfection is nonexistent and I find that learning about a leader’s problems or short comings does wonders for making me comfortable with the fact that I am not perfect. We can learn from mistakes as well as successes: where did they fail—professionally and personally?

3. The same leaders are talked about ad nauseum. I love people who made history, like Martin Luther King Jr. for example. But seriously—the chance of someone becoming the next MLK is highly unlikely. That’s not to say people shouldn’t dream but how about we look at people who made change locally through small steps?

In other words, while we should appreciate the contributions of many historical leaders, in order to make them inspirational we have to make them accessible. The best leaders inspire us to become great no matter where we are. Yet we can only be receptive to their inspiration if we see them as human; as people who need support , who make mistakes, and who are not the only ones brining about change.

A while ago “Men United for a Better Philadelphia” had a talk that featured Bill Cosby. Nothing said was earth shattering—in fact the talk itself was rather boring. I left a little frustrated not because of the usual “all talk and no action” atmosphere that generally cloaks these events but because I think a lot of people misunderstand what it means to be a young person in today’s world.

It is not enough to simply “mentor” young people: taking them to play basketball and play cards with them in order to “keep them off the streets.” While I understand the importance of strong families and positive relationships, we are dealing with a collective systemic failure that requires more than friendship and kind words. The issue with youth, in particular “inner city youth” is that there is a lack of constructive engagement: utilizing and developing their skills in a way that demonstrates their importance to their communities and to the world at large. It is unfortunate to send them into a world feeling unloved but it is sabotage to send them into a world with no skills.

In other words, there is a disconnect that is greater than just whether or not the older generation likes the young generation. It extends to perception of what the younger generation needs and if the older generation can or is willing to fulfill that need. Below I listed 4 major changes to black youth that need to be considered when trying to reach us.

1. We do not view leadership the way older folks do. This does not mean we don’t appreciate the sacrifices of the older generation yet our leaders are coming from the studio and the business office, not the church. In fact, we don’t even go to church and those of us who do are all too aware of pastors who have sexual relationships with their parishioners, gossip about others instead of making them feel welcomed, and using god as an excuse not think critically and offer real solutions to real problems. In other words we are disillusioned with the origins of many older leaders and have begun looking elsewhere for our own.

2. We are concerned about our jobs. We want to work, we want love what we do, love who we do it with. The older model of working until retirement, working all day just to get by, working with one company for the rest of your life, and working with no fulfillment in and outside of your job is not only out of sync with our generation but out of sync with the general changes in the work force.

Who stays at the same job for 30 years? Please. I work to expand my skills so I can move on to the next big thing. Who works 80 hour weeks so they can retire at 65? Please. I am all about time flexibility and mini retirements throughout my lifetime. Working towards retirement implies that you hate your job and we don’t have time to do stuff we don’t like.

3. We do not identify solely around race. I for one am deeply concerned about gender related issues. Others are concerned about their sexuality. Most focus on their age and their income. What does this mean? It means making us chant in Swahili, going on and on about Kwanzaa, or discussing ad nauseum older leaders in the most uncontroversial way are pointless. If you are going to talk about race, don’t just focus on the oppression and don’t focus on the same old people in the same old way. You do us and the community a great disservice by acting as though nothing has happened beyond 1969.

4. We are part of the mainstream—for better or worse. Not only are we present in the mainstream but we are eager to join the mainstream. We see the wealth and we see the privilege and that’s what we want. I have said this before and I will say it again: African-Americans are AMERICANS. While we may have unique experiences we are not immune from the general trends of the nation. And in a capitalist system if it can be marketed and sold, it will.

There was a period of time when you couldn’t find a black movie to watch and had to stay up late just to hear some hip hop. Now we are every where—America and abroad—catering to a wide range of audiences. Young blacks are growing up feeling celebrated not ignored.

What does this mean? The trick is to empower us to create new images; to reclaim them and the own the institutions that create them, not boo hoo and go marching and bury the “n-word.” Whose battle was that? Not ours.