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FinalCall.com News
National News
New School Leaders
By Jesse Muhammad
Staff Writer
Updated Dec 17, 2008 - 9:14:00 AM
State of the Black World panel discusses youth, elders and the Black freedom movement
NEW ORLEANS (FinalCall.com) - Alongside longtime giants in the Black struggle at the State of the Black World Conference II was a cadre of young people eager to learn, dialogue, participate and discuss their role in the future of the Black freedom movement.
Unlike many other conferences, the youth were embraced.
“We, who are in the retiring generation must stay on the field to back them (youth) up and offer guidance from our experience,” said opening speaker Dr. James Turner, a professor of African and African American Politics and Social Policy at Cornell.
The multi-talented Dr. Kimberly Ellis, also known as “Dr. Goddess,” moderated the panel discussion, which centered on the need for young people to take the reins of the struggle while not forgetting to pay homage to those who came before them.
“Whenever we talk about the state of our Black world, I don’t think we should start with the high moments but with the suffering of people who are catching the most hell,” said Prof. Marc Lamont Hill of Temple University.
“We need to communicate across generations. History tends to be a baton that is beaten across the head of youth rather than something used to move us forward. We need more intergenerational dialogue because we couldn’t be in those moments, so now we as young people have to create our own.”
Malika Sanders, of the Selma 21st Century Youth Movement, shared the story of how “there was a six year old boy in Selma passing out Barack (Obama) flyers before the election and some elders told him that a Black man would never be president. But that young boy didn’t get discouraged and look what happened. That young boy has hope now and so do other youth.”
Being the daughter of a former Black Panther, who is a political prisoner, Veronica Conway said, “Our problem is the way we think. The revolution will not be televised because it is internal. We have an opportunity to chart our own courses but we have to decide. I have watched my father imprisoned yet live like a free man. It’s the state of mind. We forget our mastery powers.”
The conversation shifted to the problems that plague Black organizations, the need to properly train up the next crop of leaders and how to shape an agenda with youth at the table.
“I first want to humbly acknowledge in terms of leadership that there are a lot of great young people in this room who are doing great things that could be up on this stage,” said hip hop journalist Davey D. “I think that’s one thing our generation has learned from the past; that most movements back then were headed by one or two people and once they got taken out, it was a wrap for a long time. That’s the lesson my generation has learned. If one of goes, the movement must go on.”
Sister Thenjiwe of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, “The state of our Black world is that somewhere there are children who are not eating tonight. There are Black women losing their babies at twice the rate of White women because they don’t have health care. There are freedom fighters who have been in jail for years. I got involved in this work so our children won’t suffer like they do. ‘Yes we can’ make sure poverty ends. ‘Yes we can’ stop the miseducation of our children.”
Mr. Hill pointed out that there seems to be no exit strategy for leadership. “We talk about exit strategies for Iraq, but we need it. I’m not saying our elders should leave the scene as such, but there has to be a way that we can share the platform and usher in a new generation of leadership. It’s very difficult to sit at the feet of an elder who feels as if a brother or sister is threatening their position. Often in these movements we tend to wage intergenerational warfare.”
“I say to my elders that if Malcolm X had the Internet, a blog, YouTube, a video camera, and a cell phone, what would he do today?” asked Dr. Ellis.
The Nov. 21 event was brought to a close with a keynote address by Dr. Ron Daniels, whose Institute for the Black World 21st Century organized the conference. “We had to have the young people a part of this conference because we have a lot of work to do. It’s an even harder task without the youth element. We must work with our young people and guide them. We don’t need a leader; we need leadership. We can’t live in the past. Where are our latest pyramids?” he asked.
