It’s no secret that Black America has gotten very complacent over the years.  Gone are the days when standing up and demanding better for your family and your community was a way of life.  If you’re looking for the objectification of women and the perpetuation of negative stereotypes to become unpopular in TV and media sometime soon, I’d suggest that you stop holding your breath.

I take the unpopular position of pointing the finger at the long-standing “leaders” in our community who may have done a few things in the 60’s and 70’s but haven’t done anything since then, the Old Guard.  The Old Guard has not done their part in cultivating new leaders and passing on the torch

Complacency and the pursuit of a dollar at ANY cost has become our undoing in our communities.  Think about it: …every African-American community has churches and a NAACP branch.  When was the last time you heard about a congregation stepping outside of their sanctuaries and knocking on doors, doing REAL outreach?  As far as the NAACP is concerned, can you name ONE program, event, or MEMBER of your local branch?

Let’s talk about this “worship” of the dollar in our community, especially by our youth.  How many Facebook statuses or Twitter updates have we seen saying “Get Money” or “Getting’ this money”…by people with NO JOBS!! Well, not legal ones, at least.  Even with that, is the chase of an easy dollar worth the deterioration of families and being unable to look our children in the eyes when they ask why you willingly and unapologetically sell DEATH to the community in which they grow up? It’s time for us to WAKE UP, plain and simple.

The truth is this: we, the Black community, have waited and suffered long enough.  Statistics aren’t getting any more hopeful, and disparities aren’t getting any narrower.  How many more of us have to be incarcerated before we decide to re-evaluate how our young boys and girls are being raised?  How many more children have to slip through the cracks of our educational system before we call for action from our local school boards?  How many of our young people with aspirations of excelling in life have to lose hope and go in the wrong direction because they lacked mentors to give them proper guidance?

If change in our community is to occur, and I mean REAL, SUSTAINABLE change, we have to make solid demands and stand by them. What demands? I thought you’d never ask.

1)     WE HAVE TO DEMAND MORE OF OURSELVES. 

Ignorance and lack of interest in current events must be deemed unacceptable from this day forth.  Whenever people become one-dimensional, they lose. Period.  How we go from a one-dimensional people to a dynamic one starts with you.  We can never stop learning or stop improving.  We can’t afford it as individuals, and we certainly can’t afford it as a community.  I will go deeper into this next time.

This also has a moral aspect attached to it.  We must learn to support each other, empathize with each other, and treat each other right. In order to do that, we must do the simplest thing that is seemingly so hard for us to do, which is SPEAK to each other. (MESSAGE!!)

2)     WE HAVE TO DEMAND MORE OF OUR LEADERS.

Just as we can’t afford to stay complacent ourselves, we can’t afford for people in leadership positions to sit and not do the work they were elected to do.  It’s time to tell these people and organizations to SHAPE UP OR SHIP OUT.  We must do away with these “cute” programs and community service projects that don’t have any true impact. 

Look at your long-standing activist organizations, cornerstones of the “Old Guard.”  What made activist organizations such as the NAACP so effective is that they were ACTING, really doing things and havingdiligently creating and sustaining a strong presence in our communities.  Today, some of these branches are more RE-active than anything, and they’re terrible at that, too.  When organizations become stagnant, we have to call the leadership to the floor and demand answers.  If they’re unwilling to get with the program, they must be replaced. B, bottom line.

3)     WE HAVE TO BECOME LEADERS.

All of us have to accept the challenge of turning around our communities.  If for no other reason, we must because we have been part of the problem at one point or another.  We’ve seen our young children model themselves after negative portrayals of Black men and women on television, yet passed on opportunities to address and correct the detrimental words or behaviors.  The reason why we’re in our current predicament to begin with is because we have collectively turned our heads and closed our ears to the things going on as if nothing was ever taking place.  That has to end, on ALL levels.

Furthermore, if we have to uproot stagnant, incompetent leaders, with whom will we replace them?  The[AG1]  We have to be able to recognize who is for the betterment of our community and who is against it, reaping the benefits of the position by doing nothing more than doling out empty promises and cheaply posturing themselves for the media.  We must step up, accept the call for us to do more than the status quo, and do the work that doesn’t just benefit us and our household, but our neighbors and the generation after us.

We can talk about gangs, drugs, economic disparities, and a broken family structure until we’re all blue in face, but what we really need to move forward is a CHANGING OF THE GUARD.  We are in desperate need of new leaders and, new ideas, …revitalizing our neighborhoods, our organizations, and, ultimately, our purpose. 

In the same way, one can’t do the same things and expect different results, the Black community cannot be led by the same people and expect our situation to get better as we move forward.
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Stephen Smith is a recent graduate fromt the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with degrees in Political Science and Africana Studies.  He is currently working in Tennessee as a Field Organizer for Organizing for America.  In 2009, he created StephenJSmith.com, a fully -interactive site, featuring the latest world news, blogs, interviews, social commentary, and preferred readings.  He can be contacted at stephen.smith1911@gmail.com.
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In recent weeks, we've heard quite a few rumblings about the Tea Party Movement and its racial undertones.  The recent happenings have the whole country talking.  However, where has all the talk led us? Do many of us even know what the Tea Party is about? Do we realize the potential damage the Tea Party Movement can do to American politics as we know it today? Let's take a closer look...


The Tea Party movement is an American socio-political movement that arose in 2009 as a result of several nationally and locally coordinated protests.  Its roots stem from Ron Paul's presidential campaign in which supporters rallied behind Paul's fiscal conservatism, a value which the Tea Party strongly advocates.


Tea Party protests are usually in opposition to federal laws, mainly economically-focused.  The main laws protested through the Tea Party movement are the Healthcare Reform Bills, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (commonly known as the "Stimulus Bill") , the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (also known as the financial bailout). Tea Party supporters emphatically express their dissatisfaction with government spending, taxes, and government involvement in the private sector.


Local Tea Party protests have drawn a great amount of negative press over the last few weeks.  Statements of hate and bigotry made at these rallies have overtaken news outlets and have sparked intense debate about whether the movement's real problem is with the president's policies or the president's pigment. However, bigoted statements and other unfounded accusations about our current government are to be expected considering the movement's purpose: speak out against and derail any of the POTUS and Democratic Party's plans.
The dangerous aspect of the Tea Party movement is that most of the supporters cannot even articulate their grievances with the government in power.  You'll always hear "OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST," "STOP THE SPENDING," and "CUT TAXES," but when asked about specific socialist practices of which the Obama administration has been guilty or about the specific things on which the government should stop spending, most have absolutely no clue. Some Tea Party supporters speak in pure, unadulterated hate
aimed at the Obama administration, the Democratic Party, and anyone else that does not align with their views.
This type of "blind protesting" can be dangerous on both political and social levels.  Put it this way: with a lack of knowledge on the issues, it is easier to stray from the original focus of the debate and wander into personal bias and prejudice (racial, political, etc.), which can lead to a skewing and slanting of the facts.  This, in turn, can mislead many voters and have an incredibly negative effect on several aspects of government, with campaign strategies and nationwide distrust of politics feeling the most immediate of consequences.


In conclusion, do not be led to believe this is only about the Tea Party movement.  If we're all honest with ourselves, a large majority of people against the Tea Party movement and other conservatives are just as uneducated/uninterested in the real issues of our government.  Each and every one of us living in this country should feel as if they are personally responsible for educating not only ourselves on the issues, but also each other.  


The government will never truly work for the people until the people begin to engage in RESPECFUL and EDUCATED dialogue. Only then will be able to demand what is REALLY needed for the country as a whole to move forward.
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Race relations have come a long way in the United States over the past few decades.  Monumental policy changes have opened many doors for African-Americans and minorities across the country.  Many of these opportunities for our generation were made possible by the efforts, and sometimes lives, of those that came before us.  Civil rights organizations were instrumental in creating change in the way minorities were treated by society and how we were governed by the American democracy.

One of those civil rights organizations at the forefront of change was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  Founded in 1909, the NAACP has been the most influential civil rights organizations in this country.  Since its inception, the organization has fought to protect the rights and civil liberties of African-Americans and other minorities.  Whenever racial issues have arisen, the NAACP has been viewed as the voice of the entire African-American community. The organization today has over 250,000 members in over 2,200 units across the United States. 

While the organization has opened many doors for minorities in the last century, its recent years have been met with a widespread skepticism concerning its future.  The question of whether the organization is needed after the election of President Barack Obama has been asked by many in the African-American community and several others. 

Local NAACP branches have suffered from stagnant leadership which, depending on who you ask, is a reflection of the organization's national leadership.  The overall age of the organization is increasing due to a lack of presence among youth and young adults.  While there are those that feel the organization should simply be put to rest, there are many that believe the NAACP's vision should change as the country has changed over the decade.

In my opinion, the NAACP should go back to the drawing board, internally and externally.  From within, it should re-define their purpose according to the issues of today's world, and this should start from the national leadership and trickle down.  The African-American and other minority communities are much more diverse within themselves than they were during the days of Jim Crow and earlier.  Therefore, the NAACP should diversify its efforts to accommodate a changed society.

The NAACP should also re-evaluate its leadership, from national to local executive boards.  A long-avoided issue in African-American leadership is the unwillingness of the previous generation to pass down the torch to the younger.  Whether this is a lack of mistrust or simply wanting to maintain their position within a circle of power and privilege, it is not advancing the situation of the African-American people.  If the leadership is too stagnant, it is time for members to demand fresh, new perspectives on how to effectively serve their communities and cultivate the next world leaders.

From an external aspect, the NAACP needs to diversify their voice in the eyes of the media.  The only people the general public sees in regards to issues that involve the NAACP is Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and they are not even the spokespeople for the organization.  While the message should be most important, the choice of messenger can also help or harm the impact of the organizations messages and initiatives.  This is why new faces must step to the forefront, preferably younger faces, to connect with the younger generation.

To conclude, there are many that still believe the organization has a rightful place in today's America.  The racial inequalities and institutional barriers that minorities are still faced with on a daily basis are well-documented, and the NAACP still fights the good fight for an even playing field for all minorities to prosper and grow as equals with our Caucasian counterparts.

I honestly believe the NAACP is well-aware of their current situation. They are aware of the fact that the foundation of their 101 year-old house is getting weaker by the moment. 

How they plan to renovate their house is anybody's guess.
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