As in the past, recent rhetoric about socio-economic poor blacks, their downfall in education, unemployment, incarceration, and poor parental guidance seems to go nowhere. These topics have been in the news for years and the search for a solution has fallen by the wayside. If fact, I think the effort to find a solution has also fallen by the wayside. Being tolerate has become the norm.

The lack of leadership eventually made it to the forefront of the discussion. Once again the same o’ rhetoric took the stage. Some tried to compare the dismal lack of black leadership of today to historical leaders that got things done. They neglected to mention that leaders of the past were true leaders. They didn’t just create protest marches, they created movements.

This is what most of the black communities are missing.  Without strong black community leadership, the “doom and gloom” will continue to hover over less fortunate black neighborhoods and continue to depress their environment. People must understand that they are their social environment. It is what they have allowed to fester for decades. The environment can be changed, but it is easier to adapt than to try and modify it. Still, if changes do not occur, the train destined for nowhere will run on to eternity. Yes, the laws of nature will give root to a few exceptional souls that will fight their way out of this confinement and move on to better things, but for the most part, the majority of neighborhood kids will pick up where their peers and unwilling adults left off. They are caught up in a perpetual cycle of under achievement and will remain on a continuous path towards that ever running train to nowhere only to face continuous tumultuous times of a life of deprivation.

Consequently, crime will rise and success in education will fall resulting in a lower graduation rate of high school students. The opportunity to obtain a higher level of employment will slip through their fingers. The perception will continue that most Black folks are weak-minded and only interested in taking what they want instead of earning it. For a long time this perception has been a blanket wrapped around the body of Black culture allowing uncertainty to live where confidence and productivity should grow.

The success of a few must become the majority. This will not take place until the status of our social environment changes. That means getting back to the basics.  It takes a whole lot for me to say this, but our Black neighborhoods that are suffering from deprivation and lack of negritude has to commit to the laws of morality. It must be placed in the forefront of how we live our lives. Though there will be some setbacks, overall good will follow.

I’m absolutely sure the message of morality is delivered to every man, woman and child over and over again to every race across the country by parents and church pastors. Still, when you look at the state of neighborhoods filled with Black on Black crime, it makes you wonder just how deep the preaching of morality is sinking into the minds of those committing crimes.

Once again, it all starts with changing the environment and atmosphere within Black communities.

To accomplish this, it takes more than kids fighting an arduous battle in order to succeed, or capitulating parents of dreams gone awry. 

It takes real leadership! Now, will the real Black community leaders please stand up! No one said it would be an easy task. Still, if you are a church pastor or an elected political official, you chose to be a leader. So get to work!  It won’t take place from behind a desk or a pulpit. It requires boots on the ground, something I’m sure you know, but are not compelled to do.  You cannot wait to engage in one individual hail-Mary moment, such as an impromptu protest march after an unjust shooting of a Black man by a police officer, or visit your neighborhood simply to mount a campaign rally.
You must create public movements by instilling vision, while giving people a reason to feel worthy and confident in a progressive way, including those residents that are reluctant to get involved.

So, community leaders, step up and embrace the needs and challenges of developing positive changes in many Black neighborhoods, one street at a time.  It cannot cease until you see a negative to positive change in the neighborhood’s social environment, even if it takes the rest of your lives. That is the sign of leadership and the beginning of a movement. 

Away with the superficial leaders that are sending the message to our children and Black communities that it’s okay to believe in what they say and not in what they do.  We all know who they are, from the glorifying and promiscuous clergyman to the politician with a pocket full of promises and someone else’s money.  

I’ve been looking for Black leaders for a long time.  It has turned out to be a challenge to say the least.  Can anyone name 3 black community leaders from your community? I’ve posed this question several times to prominent figures from teachers to ministers to politicians. No one could name 3. I ask them to name one. The answer was the same.

Some named  are formidable patriots of their communities, but I would classify them as advocates getting things done instead of outright leaders. Community leaders are the checks and balances that control the ramifications of a community’s accomplishments and prosperity.

Though we must all manage our own salvation, sometimes we have to depend on others for help. No longer can the responsible be irresponsible, especially towards our children. The perpetual cycle of strife has lived for too long. It has created atrocities in black neighborhoods, where a large number of adults never completed high school. Sadly,  their children are following the same path.   

How true is that old African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child?”  From the looks of things, perhaps it has fallen to the wayside.