The Final Call

Measuring the Movement: Leaders share group goals for next 12 months

By Saeed Shabazz -Staff Writer- | Last updated: Apr 28, 2010 - 4:13:20 PM

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Leadership roundtable (l-r) Rev Al Sharpton, Congressman James Clyburn, Mark Morial, Angela Sailor, Danny Bakewell, Dr Elise Scott and Ben Jealous. Photo: Lem Peterkin/The Final Call

NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - The Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, assembled a diverse group of leaders and activists from the Black community in a Harlem church for a forum, “Measuring the Movement: Black Leadership 12-Month Action Plan,” aimed outlining action over the next year.

The forum is to be used as a tool to determine how leaders will “commit to significant and measurable goals that will advance” the standing of Blacks over the in the areas of political power, economic power and social and cultural influence in society, according to the civil rights leader.

The April 17 leadership forum was the final event in the four-day 12th annual National Action Network convention, which was held here. Rev. Sharpton's Network was founded in 1991, with the aim of working to promote a modern civil rights agenda, dealing with issues such as social justice and developing one standard of justice for all races and religions in the U.S., according to the group.

In explaining the bottom line for the two-hour nationally televised forum, Rev. Sharpton told a Sunday morning radio audience April 18 the forum “was about accountability for those who are raising the issues; people ought to earn leadership by what they do.”

The list of panelists included leaders House Majority Whip Cong. James Clyburn (D-S.C.); NAACP president Ben Jealous; National Urban League executive director Marc Morial; Danny Bakewell of the National Newspaper Publishers Association; Boyce Watkins, professor of finance at Syracuse University; Angela Sailor, coalitions director of the Republican National Committee; Dr. Elsie Scott, president and CEO Congressional Black Caucus Foundation; radio host Warren Ballentine, of the nationally-syndicated The Warren Ballentine Show; Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia; Dr. Debra A. Toney, president National Black Nurses Association; Dr. Lenora Fulani, co-founder, All Stars Project, Inc.; and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, of Georgetown University.

Rev. Sharpton participated on the panel, calling it a conversation on setting goals for progress. The National Action Network committed to increasing by 5 percent Black voter turnout in 6 key states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey for mid-term elections.

“It's about strategizing a time-table for action,” Rev. Sharpton said.

The Washington Post, in a recent front-page story on Rev. Sharpton, quoted an NBC/Wall St. Journal poll that said interest in the upcoming November elections by Blacks had dropped 33 percent from the November 2008 presidential election.

Congressman Clyburn said he and others of the Congressional Black Caucus would use the next 12 months to show the Black community how to access the Recovery Act dollars. Mr. Jealous said the NAACP would be spending the time “directing our people on how to deal with the census” and its benefits.

“We need a wake-up call,” said the Urban League's Marc Morial, adding that in the next 12 months his organizations would work on bringing jobs to the Black community.

Mr. Ballentine and Dr. Dyson both stressed the need to educate the community on the importance of buying Black.

“We must target our money towards Black banks,” Mr. Ballentine stressed. “That's the bottom-line, concrete things Black people can do today; support Black businesses, Black banks—just buy Black,” Dr. Dyson added, which drew loud applause from the capacity crowd.

Mr. Bakewell also drew applause when he said White companies must give back at minimum 25 percent of their advertising dollars to the Black-owned press. He called it “respect and reciprocity.”

Mr. Bakewell told The Final Call after the forum he wanted people to “recognize” the power of the Black press. Commenting on the forum he said, “I thought it was an opportunity for Black people to specifically speak to the things our people need to get done; and now we have to be held accountable.”

Some writers and commentators, including Junious Stanton of Harambee Internet Radio, were concerned about the nature of the event and the “movement” spawned. “The forum perpetuates the theory that we can solve our multi-generational problems in 15 minutes,” Mr. Stanton said. “What criteria are in place to measure this movement? Where is the follow-up mechanism?”

“There will be a Measure the Movement organizers' follow-up meeting in Chicago in May,” said Mark Allen, founder of the Chicago-based Black Leadership Development Institute. He told The Final Call the National Action Network called grassroots leaders from across the nation to help plan the forum.

“We are about to be in a place where we haven't been before,” Mr. Allen predicted. He talked about street putting gang members in Chicago with people from the White House, who have the power to get things done. “We have a proposal for the White House that utilizes our youth in maintaining community gardens, where fresh fruits and vegetables would be sold and green jobs would be created,” said Mr. Allen.

Grassroots organizations complained to the forum's organizers that they are tired of having proposals rejected, said the activist. “Now we have a real measurement of our power,” he said.

DeLacy Davis, an anti-police brutality activist and principal of the Adelaide B. Sanford Charter School in Newark, New Jersey, told The Final Call “leadership develops from the ground up, from the needs of the people. I think leadership is many things and somehow we have been unable to pull all of the pieces together because we are only able to win battles, not the wars. But we do have to be careful of corporations picking our leaders,” added Mr. Davis, who said he was invited to participate in the forum but had a prior commitment.

Dr. Ron Walters, a nationally-respected political analyst, said he would like to see more discussions such as the one sponsored by Rev. Sharpton. “These discussions are generally always positive and it allows for us to get some sense what is going on,” Dr. Walters said. “And we need to be able to hold people in leadership accountable,” he added.

Linda Cresswell, 56, of Staten Island, traveled by ferry and subway and stood in line for over an hour so she “could find out what is going on.” “I came to learn what is going on, what is being planned, or what is being developed,” she said.