Sunny Side /South Park Super Neighborhood

The New Grassroots Move, Movement and Movers:

Oct 05, 2002

Preparing the New Grassroots Moves, Movement and Movers
Leadership ?– Forward-Backward or Standing Still
By Charles X White ?–November 13, 2001

There are several difficulties in trying to write a series of articles on a subject that has many versions, different levels of understanding of the subject and language use to convey ideas. This series of articles on leadership could start many ways such as research shows, empirical data points to, history identifies, etc however, lets start with a series of questions.

How are all levels of leadership connected to serve the grassroots issues as well as issues that evolved from the grassroots?’ level and beyond?
What levels of leadership are connected vertically or horizontally?
How wide or deep is the connection? When did the connection occur?
How can we connect the head (leadership) to the rest of the body (masses)?
Has the African American leadership at any level developed a revolving and evolving process to produce qualified leadership for the African American community for the 21st century?
If the answer is no, then the question is why? If the answer is yes please provide the information supporting your answer. If you work for or with a large, medium or small size social, civic, religious, educational, political, financial or health group please consider solutions for this state of affairs. These questions and state must be addressed in the 21st century, if not now, when?
There is another set of questions that should be considered such as where do we start; (leadership or masses), how did we get in this condition;(force, fear, separation, lack of education), how long will it take us to get out of this condition? What are the benefits of being out of this condition? (Self-determination ?– self government from the neighborhood level to the national and international level ?– etc) and how is our condition defined now? (Slave, liberated, dependent, independent, a nation of consumers, the best educated, lost, found, undefined as a people, America?’s tool and fool and stepping stone, the best time we have ever had, God?’s chosen people etc. These comments point to the fact that we have different views on the same subject.
Our problems have been the same depending on the readers point of view; for example for the past (310 years) 1555-1865 our problem was one of how not to be a slave and how to survive; the next period (100 years) 1865 to the 1965 we struggled for equal access on all levels and the next (36 years) 1965-2001, we are still looking for the same answers in all three periods. We have not connected the resources of mother Africa to the intellectual, financial, political, and technological opportunity to the grassroots people that all groups claim to serve. All the questions pertaining to self-determination as a people are still unanswered as a people another way that this condition is expressed is, we are known as a nation of consumers. The income that we extract from the American economy is more than five hundred billion; our combine dollar total has ranked us at times as large as the eighth largest nation in the world. Without a national and international banking system the question of reparations becomes interesting in terms of management and distribution.
Special interest groups mentality such as the NAACP, church, educational system, financial groups, media, civic system, social clubs, health associations, Masonic system, political system, or sports system are secular. All of the so-called institutions are secular and producing secular results. All levels of leadership produce a measure of needed good and have limited value in their current mode of operation. All have a common interest but have not collaborated to any degree to impact the grassroots leadership in a comprehensive way. All claim to be addressing grassroots issues. The contradiction is we have made gains in many areas. However, economic, self-determination, and a system that produces leadership aimed at securing and enhancing the struggle for liberation has not been significantly achieved. Are the problems are so great and continuous that they can?’t be solved? How can you effectively address the problem without engaging the grassroots leader from the areas in which the problems grow? The other factor that makes this study needed is that this condition has existed for over thirty-six plus years. How can secular interest be channeled to include the common needs of the community? How can we institutionalize our leadership from the grassroots sector, civic, social, and business, special interest groups, political activist and service providers? How can we maximize our skills to collaborate for self-determination and empowerment without unjustified or justified fear and envy within our own community? There are many other reasons that handicap our development as a group as well as interacting in the global community. In this article we will look at the types of leaderships in the African American community at different services and interest levels in relationship to the grassroots sector.
However, the main focus of this series is on the grassroots sector is to answer the questions related to the lack of developing and connecting leadership from all levels of the African American community. Grassroots, for the purpose of this series is defined as blue collar, parent, PTA, civic clubs, neighborhood sports leagues, election judges and community businesses. Establishing a track for grassroots leadership?’s development could provide an unlimited source of young people to be trained and groomed for all levels of leadership in our community. At some point we will map the money trail and corporate links of the special interest groups to show how the broad-base leadership groups bottle neck issues that stem from the grassroots sector. We will also present several observations as to the reasons other leadership groups benefit from the existing system and why they are hesitant to change the current situation of being disconnected. Conversely, will we also point-out the benefits of leadership being connected with a shared vision.

If the future of African American issues is to have proper representation at any level, all leaders claiming a portion of or representing a grassroots base must understand the legacy. Leadership is a position to protect with a destiny to fulfill. By developing qualified leadership and a vehicle to insure the development process we will improve our quest for self-determination. Those who may read this article should get the entire series before judging the outcome. The purpose of these articles is to activate a solution for the condition that is very real and very common. Those who may overreact calm down and help develop a plan of action. If you don?’t have a solution keep reading these articles and you might see an idea that will help.
The Need:
Grassroots people and leaders are more than a tool to be used for a special interest groups. Special interest groups have a history of mobilizing grassroots people on an as needed basis. Whatever the issue police brutality, voter registration, education, funding for parks, discrimination, streets-sidewalks or any number issues that would invoke a need to mobilize the grassroots sector of that special interest group. The cycle of selective use must be redirected from the grassroots level, to accomplish this the grassroots leadership must be retrained, reeducated and in some cases removed to accomplish this goal. Just visiting the neighborhoods and listening to African American residents throughout America one can vividly observe the common conditions and concerns.
The political arena is the most visible example of special interest groups at work and the lack of independence and leadership at the grassroots level. In the next article we will outline the structure and training cycles for the grassroots level.