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.

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I really believe the problem is not outdated tactics but self-centered and uninformed youth, who do not understand the sacrifice that was made for events like the Montgomery boycott, or the danger parents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?