(“Black Power Fist” image courtesy of Osiris Black)
“Follow the leader is the title, theme, task/ Now ya know, you don’t have to ask.” - “Follow the Leader”, Eric B and Rakim
An election was held in Harlem yesterday to elect a new national
Black leader. For months, top contenders, Rev. Jesse Sharpton and Dr.
Cornel Smiley, had been trying to out shine each other in an attempt to
grab the coveted title. However, when the final vote was cast, the late
rapper “The Vanglorious Makaveli Smalls” won a decisive write-in
victory. Sharpton and Smiley took the first flight out of town, ashamed
that the biggest civil rights leaders in the world had been beaten by a
rapper from the ‘hood who was murdered 15 years ago.
For the last few years, there has been an uncivil war going on in
the Black community between Rev. Al Sharpton, reppin’ the old school
Civil Rights crew, and the intellectual tag team of Dr. Cornel West and
Tavis Smiley. For months they have traded disses back and forth like a
“Freestyle Friday” battle over who is the legitimate leader of the
masses of Black folk.
Problem is, neither side really speaks for the streets – especially
the youth. It can even be argued that the late Tupac Shakur is still
more politically relevant to this generation than today’s Black leaders.
Traditionally, Black leadership has been made up of members of the
middle class who use the poor as political pawns. In 1957, E. Franklin
Frazier wrote in his book, Black Bourgeoisie, “As the
intellectual leaders in the Negro community, they have never dared
think beyond a narrow, opportunistic philosophy that provided a
rationalization for their own advantages.”
How many forums have you watched on C-Span where a bunch of highly
educated Black “leaders” in expensive suits talked for three hours
about the problems facing America and not a word was relevant to the
‘hood ?
As Dr. Carter G. Woodson wrote in The Mis-Education of the Negro,
“One of the most striking evidences of the failure of higher education
among Negroes is the estrangement from the masses, the very people upon
whom they must eventually count for carrying out a program of progress.
“
The biggest scam played on the streets by “Black leaders” is the
“non-economic liberalism” con, which Harold Cruse discusses in his
book, Plural But Equal. According to Cruse, groups like the
NAACP traded Black economic empowerment for the impotent, feel good
ideology of civil rights. So people died for the right to sit next to a
white person in a restaurant when they should have been fighting to own
the joint.
The fight over who should be the leader of Black Americans can be
traced back to the 1843 National Convention of Colored Citizens and the
debates between Frederick Douglass and Henry Highland Garnet. According
to Bradford Chambers in “Chronicles of Black Protest, ” Garnet wanted
to go hard against slavery with his “Call to Rebellion” speech, but his
efforts were undermined by Douglass’s softer call for “moral suasion.”
Because Garnet was seen as too radical, Douglass became America’s first
national Black “leader.”
During the early 20th Century, the fight for Black leadership was
between Booker T. Washington and Dr. WEB DuBois. Washington was the
reigning champion after the 1895 Atlanta Exposition, where he delivered
a speech that, according to his book, Up From Slavery, was
used to “cement the friendship of the races and bring about hearty
cooperation between them.” Dubois, however, wanted to intellectually
and politically challenge the idea of white supremacy. After the death
of Washington, Dubois went against Marcus Garvey, an advocate of Black
Pride, self sufficiency, and a strong identification with Africa, as
discussed in detail in Dr. Tony Martin’s work, Race First.
The conflict of the ’60s was between the Civil ights leaders led by
Dr. Martin Luther King and members of the Black Power Movement who
followed the ideology of Malcolm X. Because they were less threatening
to the staus quo, the followers of King became the “official” Black
leaders.
During the late ’80s, a second Black Power movement emerged via
Hip-Hop, as young Black kids began to identify with the outcasts.
Instead of repeating the “I Have a Dream Speech,” Hip Hop artists such
as Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy began to sample speeches by
Kwame Ture, Dr. Khalid Muhammad, and Min. Louis Farrakhan. Also, a new
generation of Black youth begin to embrace Afrocentric thought,
courtesy of scholars like Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Leonard Jeffries,
and so-called “conspiracy theories” by Del Jones and Steve Cokely, who
mainstream Black leadership had deemed political pariahs. These
vibrations still flow through underground, conscious Hip-Hop, even in
2012.
This is the real reason that the torch was never passed to the
Hip-Hop generation. Although the old school Civil Rights leaders always
complain about how young people aren’t willing to “pick up the mantel
of leadership,” in truth, they ain’t givin’ that up without a fight.
The only way to get that golden mantle is to pry it from their cold
dead hands. Even today, it is the clones of Dr. King who sit on the
thrones of Black leadership, as they have the cable news networks,
radio stations, and magazine covers on lock.
But we have something they never will – Hip Hop and the ears of the streets.
Hip-Hop still remains the most volatile weapon that can be used to
challenge the status quo. What if rappers used the money that they are
spending “makin’ it rain” in the clubs to build more Black businesses?
Or instead of rapping about “Rack City,” they used their words to make
a strong “Black City?” Maybe it’s time for the Hip-Hop Nation to
overthrow traditional Black leadership and replace them with people who
truly rep’ the poor and oppressed in ‘hoods across America.
The choice is yours.
Like Nas asked on “My Generation, “What’s up with tomorrow?/ Will you lead? Will you follow?”
TRUTH Minista Paul Scott’s weekly column is “This Ain’t Hip Hop,” a column for intelligent Hip Hop headz. His website is www.NoWarningShotsFired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com or follow him on Twitter (@truthminista).Chanzo ni allhiphop.com
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