Dr. Cornel West and Crisis in Black Leadership

Dr. Cornel West speaks about there being a crisis in black leadership. He gives examples of largely popular leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as problematic in the ways that they choose to portray themselves in the public. But for my connection I chose to use examples on a less public platform. In the Black in America article “Commentary: Good schools aren’t only for rich kids.” Steve Perry got the idea to open a charter school that would cater a good education to all kids but mainly African American children. When only in the beginning stages of getting the school together he stated “ I assembled an all-black team. My plan was to put black educators together, and we would show’em. Brothers and sisters were gonna opens a successful charter school. Black educators serving black kids.” In the article he goes on to admit that that was a major mistake because “Talent and communication have no color.” Like many of us, Steve Perry put a color on an agenda that should have only called for qualified professionals based on a resume and not on the color of their skin. This black leader fell into the classic pitfall of just wanting to go against the grain and prove that black people can accomplish major goals but he forgot the main focus from which he started, to provide an excellent education to children. It is really up to an individual when pursuing a dream to stay focused and let their deeds speak for them. But it is also the responsibility for those on the outside looking in (those who attend the meetings and go to see these public figures speak) to evaluate themselves and make sure that they are supporting someone who has an objective that first off is that they want to see come to reality and that the person is going about getting these objectives met in the right way.