Transforming Black Leadership

Cal Thomas | Syndicated columnist | Published: Jan 17, 2001

Transforming Black Leadership

A fascinating and possibly transforming meeting took place Monday here in Washington, DC. A group called the independent black majority called together a new coalition of black leadership that is committed to replacing the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons. Their attitude is to replace whiners and victims with "doers and winners."

Robert Woodson, president of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, said that black history goes far beyond "slave ships to plantations to ghettoes to welfare. We need to imbue our people with an attitude of victory about what we can accomplish."

The consensus was that whatever good was done by the civil rights leaders of the 1960s is now history -- the '60s are over, and so should be the '60s' approach to civil rights.

These are the type of black leaders who can help minorities actually improve their lives, not just talk about it. My own hope is that they represent a new generation of black leadership that has ideas that will actually benefit poor minorities, unlike the current bunch.

Transforming Black Leadership