A few weeks ago I went to the premiere of Black Night with some friends from Rappers I Know and GAK City (I’m so shameless with it) and I must say, the movie was incredible. Yes, it is long (2 hours 35 minutes) but it is jammed packed with action and surprises. And Heath Ledger was amazing (and no I’m not just saying that because he died).
But this isn’t a movie review.
Instead, I feel like pondering a concept that was repeated throughout the movie: heroes.
How long should a hero “stick around?” Why do some heroes die young while others live long enough to turn into villains? Naturally, my mind turns to Mugabe (if you’re out the know, read up here). How does a man transform from a national hero into an international villain? Or in our own backyard – how does someone like Jesse Jackson (not a villain, per se) fall so hard from grace?
Are the untold secrets of heroes knowing when to say when? Is that why we still adore Mandela? Are untimely deaths part of the secret to eternal adoration? Would MLK and Malcolm X still carry the same pull if they were alive today? Or would we be giving them the side eye and telling them to go sit somewhere and be still? Is the sign of a true hero one who knows when to bow down? Does a great leader pave the wave for younger talent and leave while they are still adored and relevant?
This recent “Black leadership clash” has really made me think. I have often joked that “old school leaders” need to stop because they are irrelevant and because their tactics are no longer effective (it’s 2008, enough with the marches!). But this movie really made me think, it really is time for new leaders and heroes.
Our needs in 2008 are different from the needs of the 50′s and 60′s. Yes, we have many of the same problems, but we need to think of solutions in new ways. We need to connect to one another in new ways. And not surprisingly, tactics that didn’t work in the 50′s and 60′s aren’t working now. We need leaders we can relate to, who understand the world we live in. So I’m sorry but Jesse and Al aren’t cutting it for me. One of the reasons we look to Obama is because he provides hope and that is something we desperately need in times like this. We listen to people like Kevin Powell because he speaks to us like us.
It is not my intention to discount the contributions of our old leaders because their work is truly important. However, when you are doing more ill than good, it is time to step down. And when you need to resort to antics and schemes for any recognition it is time to step aside. And if I learned anything from Dark Knight, that’s what true heroes do anyway…
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You have a point. The older generation sometimes doesn’t realize that new tactics are needed to reach and mobilize a new generation. After all, that’s what happened with the whole shift from civil rights to black power, right?
I don’t think our “old leaders” are doing more harm than good. If you look at who was truly exceptional during the Civil Rights Movement, they are all dead (for example, the “firsts” in higher education). And some did bow out gracefully (Rosa Parks).
Furthermore, our history was not about marches. It was about activism and accountability, and suffering for the greater good. Marches didn’t accomplish anything; it was boycotts and sit-ins and people being willing to go to jail.
As for Jessie Jackson, while I think he means well, he rode the coat-tails of other great leaders until he finally got his shine (when most either bowed out gracefully or were assassinated). He was not the architect; he was just present.
I don’t think that new tactics are needed per se. I think that self-sacrifice is needed. Obama is a wonderful example. He gave up a road to wealth to become a politician. And he just paid off his student loans!
I really believe the problem is not outdated tactics but self-centered and uninformed youth, who do not understand the sacrifice that was made for events like the Montgomery boycott, or the danger parents lived with when they sent their children to desegregated schools (and in some places it was the 70′s and not the 60′s). And such sacrifice is hard; don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know if I could willingly walk to work for a boycott today. But this idea of greater good, of power in numbers, and other “methods” that should have transcended the movement for equality seems sadly missing today in an era of prosperity and “all get along” messages. And we are getting along alright! Because years later, schools are now informally segregated, housing discrimination is still common place (I worked in housing law), and a Black person is seven times more likely to be a victim of a crime. I wonder where the accountability went, forget the leaders. While they were important, it was community activism that achieved results. Where is the community?
wow great blog.
I think that men like Jesse Jackson and Robert Mugabe, not in the same intensity, suffer from power madness much like your typical police officer. Sooner or later, these people get drunk with the power they wield. Eventually, that power gets abused. Why? We’re all human beings with human weaknesses. Just as our politicians are bought and paid for by corporate money. We all have a point where we would do anything to maintain – keep a presidency, hide a love child, or a free trip to the islands.
My feeling is that a hero should stick around as long as they can stay heroic. There’s no reason Superman should stop saving lives if he’s got the strength and will to continue. At the same time, we’ve got to have the sense to develop the future generations. That’s the job of the previous generation.
If this has taught us anything it’s that we’ve got to be more progressive in our thinking, not just for our generation but for future generations as well. We can’t make the baby boomer mistake and try to force our own relevance in a society that’s not just changing but has changed many times over.
At the same time, we’re going to have to take the throne, so to speak. And that may mean turning our heroes into villains in the sense that when they mess up, we need to blow it up. But, that’s a different issue.
Great points…but Kevin Powell is no great leader of a new generation of politicians. I refuse to support someone who has such a graphic record of violence towards women.