The Role of the Black Elite in Outreaching to the Black Lower Class... - A Black Civil Society Revitalization Movement

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A Black Civil Society Revitalization Movement

The Black Civil Society Revitalization Movement will address a variety of problems associated with the social crises of poverty and joblessness. Problems such as fragile families, teenage pregnancies and unwed motherhood/fatherhood, macho-violence and the related Hip-Hop influenced macho-male “gansta-culture”, massive Black youth homicides spawned by macho-male violence patterns, drug abuse, high HIV/AIDS cases (today disproportionately highest among Blacks in general and Black women in particular), so forth and so on.

A viable Black Civil Society Revitalization Movement will also focus on Black neighborhood renewal and development. Especially as this relates to rehabilitating decrepit physical infrastructure (housing, basic commerce relating to food business, barber and hairdressing shops, restaurants, etc.) in so many urban Black neighborhoods. The new class of Black entrepreneurs, financial experts, bankers, media entrepreneurs (e.g., Oprah Winfrey, Tom Joyner, Tavis Smiley, Reginald Hudlin), clothing entrepreneurs (e.g., Russell Simmons), millionaire sports figures (e.g., Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson), millionaire entertainment figures (e.g., Bill Crosby, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Chris Rock), could take leading roles in launching the Black Civil Society Revitalization Movement.

Another sector among the Black elite should also be identified as potential contributors to the leadership roles needed to mount a viable Black Civil Society Revitalization Movement. The sector I have in mind involves the numerous African-American professional associations that have evolved in the post-Civil Rights Movement era. Associations like the following:

  • National Black Law Students Association (founded 1968)
  • National Association of Black Accountants (1970)
  • National Association of Black Manufacturers (1971)
  • Council of Black Trade Unionists (1971)
  • National Association of Black Contractors (1972)
  • National Black Media Coalition (1973)
  • Council of Concerned Black Executives (1975)
  • National Black MBA Association (founded in late 1970s)
  • 100 Black Men (comprising lawyers, doctors, architects — founded in 1980s)
  • 100 Black Women (comprising lawyers, doctors, business executives, administrators — founded in 1980s)

Furthermore, owing to the Democratic Party’s fortuitous victory in the 2006 congressional elections, the political class sector of African-American leadership underwent a ground-breaking metamorphosis. Historic legislative power became available to the 42 African-American U.S. Congress legislators. Above all, 4 African-American U.S. legislators for the first-time ever gained the chairmanship of 4 House of Representative Committees and 16 House Sub-Committees. The long-tenured Black congresspersons are now at the helm of politically powerful House Committees. For example:

  • Representative John Conyers (Michigan) chairs the Judiciary Committee
  • Representative Charles Rangel (New York) chairs the all-important Ways & Means Committee
  • Representative Benny Thompson (Mississippi) chairs the Homeland Security Committee
  • Juanita Millender-McDonald (California) chairs the House Administration Committee

In short, when these new advancements in the political attributes of the aggregate
African-American leadership sector are taken into consideration, a somewhat phenomenal “big leap forward” now characterizes the Black elite’s capabilities. This development is, in turn, reinforced by the important advances by African-Americans in upper-tier occupations in the American national economy. There can be little doubt, therefore, that today’s Black elite sector is capable of launching a viable Black Civil Society Revitalization Movement. Let’s get-on-with-it!