We waited. Trayvon Martin. Mike Brown. Eric Garner. Nothing. Each grand jury’s decision is acerbic. Our collective conscious repeats the same tortuous dance. Unarmed black man … (Step 2, 3, 4) Jury selection begins today … (Back 2, 3, 4) The DOJ will conduct an investigation in the death of … (And dip) Meanwhile, during this routine of catharsis, we march. And still we wait. As countless numbers of people around the country took to the streets, staged protests, “die-ins,” blocked traffic and expressed their frustration via social media and blogospheres the question remains: What’s next? The dearth of coordination among decision makers in the African American community is appalling. Everyday news outlets play musical chairs with the same popular figures…
We waited.
Trayvon Martin.
Mike Brown.
Eric Garner.
Nothing.
Each grand jury’s decision is acerbic.
Our collective conscious repeats the same tortuous dance.
Unarmed black man … (Step 2, 3, 4)
Jury selection begins today … (Back 2, 3, 4)
The DOJ will conduct an investigation in the death of … (And dip)
Meanwhile, during this routine of catharsis, we march.
And still we wait.
As countless numbers of people around the country took to the streets, staged protests, “die-ins,” blocked traffic and expressed their frustration via social media and blogospheres the question remains: What’s next?
The dearth of coordination among decision makers in the African American community is appalling.
Everyday news outlets play musical chairs with the same popular figures that claim to speak on our behalf. But is regurgitating outrage the solution?
If that’s the case then my barber is a certified civil rights leader.
I have listened to countless discussions about the efficacy of protests, and still I maintain that marching without a plan is an exercise in calisthenics not activism.
Successful movements of social change have always had at least three characteristics present:
1. Cohesion among leadership
2. Clear strategies that target specific solutions
3. Activism outweighing apathy
Remove one attribute and no sustainable change has ever occurred. Period.
The momentum behind the public outcry for justice and change is more tangible now then my generation has ever experienced. Considering the force garnered (no pun intended) by recent events, direction is crucial now more than ever.
Power without direction is not just parochial but dangerous.
Consider the most muscular specimen winding up for a vicious blow.
Without the proper technique, not only will his/her efforts yield little to no results, but the possibility of inflicting self-harm increases dramatically.
And this is what we see occurring in the African American communities with the absence of leadership.
Take the hopelessness of poverty and poor education mixed with indignation, stir that thoroughly and it makes for one hell of a powder keg.
To condemn the actions of a people without providing the context of where that chaos derives is oblique and uniformed.
(Side Note: Every time Charles Barkley opens his mouth, I hear Dave Chapelle screaming “Where is Jah??!?”)
If the NAACP, National Urban League, Congressional Black Caucus, National Action Network and the countless other organizations can’t identify and agree on a platform and capitalize on this social inertia then they aren’t worthy of the recognition we so heavily endow them with.
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