Sunny Side /South Park Super Neighborhood

Houston We Have A Problem

Oct 05, 2002

The New Grassroots Move, Movement and Movers
Houston We Have A Problem
By Charles X White
August 22, 2002

A crisis in the public?’s confidence at the top of the leadership ladders in the public and private sectors means that there is most certainly a problem at the bottom of the leadership ladders, grassroots level.

Leadership at the grassroots level has several key positions precinct judge, civic club, PTA, community activist, community organizer, political activist, community service providers, sports teams and various other neighborhood advocates/providers. Key leadership roles at the grassroots level are just as important as the high profile roles in the growth and development of the leadership pool within any community.

Precinct judges and service providers do receive a bit more training in their areas of service however the leadership training camp at the grassroots level is virtually depending on whoever desires to walk that path. The lack of training at the grassroots level is directly related the retardation and death of many of our neighborhood issues not being addressed in a timely fashion by our elected officials, selective funding and the lack of engagement from the grassroots sector.

The future of the African American community is in a high state of collapse from within. Many of these leaders tend to keep their positions until they give them up or an issue develops that divides the group into camps without any intervention process, procedure or evaluation formula to solve the concern. The lack of certain programs, funding and procedures in many cases leads to group number 1 dividing and in some cases creates group number 2 and 3.
Over the past two years the media has been reporting stories that address public trust and bully politics. All of these issues including the upcoming anniversary of September 11, 2001 rank very high on the media radar screen of public alert stories. Challenging circumstances are commonplace in many high profile leadership roles. We have witnessed one of the most racially rousing elections between the first African American Mayor in Houston?’s history Lee P. Brown and his Hispanic opponent. It appears that we may see a repeat of minority vs. minority in the next mayoral race. The vote to approve a resolution on reparations failed, Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M University?’s leaders have been under fire for one reason or another. Harris County Community Development, Constable, Medical Examiner and HISD Trustee and the largest charter school in Texas, all are facing public trust issues. The African American community is experiencing disturbing trends at the dawn of this Millennium and many of them are at the top of the media public alert radar screen. Leadership and public trust issues are not limited to the African American community public and private institutions from the fortune 500 companies such as Enron. Public institutions such as the Houston Sports Authority, Metropolitan Transit Authority, an increase in police brutality incidents, budget cuts, construction and traffic problems naming a few of the cities public trust concerns.

All of these problems are very important however, the infrastructure of the African American community has been in a crisis state for the past 35 years and now it is at the brink of a total breakdown. Other minorities have a distinct advantage regardless to what conditions they left in their home country. Therefore, the decay process still occurred however, not as fast in areas like education. The common link for all minorities is the lack of civic engagement in its various forms.

The lack of a feeder pattern and training programs for the grassroots leadership pool along with many of the leaders in these areas has a negative ten rating on the leadership readiness chart. Many of the existing leaders are ready to retire with no one to replace them and other leaders are part of a system that cripples good efforts that would develop a community work plan for the growth of the neighborhood leadership. This serious state of un-readiness in terms of grassroots leaders has gone almost unnoticed outside of a political youth internship program, it has not been addressed within or without of the African American community. The good news is that we still have a chance to address and fix the problem before total collapse. This is the sixth article on this subject. 713-734-3599